A petition to amend the Ohio Constitution to legalize medical marijuana has been certified by both the Ohio Attorney General and the Ohio Ballot Board. The initiative, submitted by Ohioans for Medical Marijuana and backed by the national advocacy group, Marijuana Policy Project, must now obtain signatures from 305,591 registered voters by July 6 in order to make it onto the November 2016 ballot.
The proposed amendment would allow for the medical use of marijuana by qualifying patients with debilitating medical conditions. It would also allow for the licensed and regulated cultivation, manufacturing, testing, distribution, and dispensing of marijuana for medical use. Qualifying patients and their designated caregivers would register with the Medical Marijuana Control Division, comprised of five members appointed by the Ohio director of commerce, and would receive identification cards that must be renewed annually. Additionally, fifteen commercial growing licenses for large-scale growers would be available, with an unlimited number of licenses for small and medium growers available, at least until 2020.
A second proposed amendment was certified by the Ohio Attorney General on April 7th and is ready for the Ohio Ballot Board’s determination as to whether it constitutes one or multiple amendments. This second proposal, submitted by Grassroots Ohio, seeks to remove medicinal cannabis and industrial hemp, in all forms, from the Schedule 1 classification in the State’s Schedule of Controlled Substances. Residents would have the right to farm, process, and conduct commerce in industrial hemp, which the proposed amendment defines as “non-intoxicating varieties” of the cannabis plant.
Neither proposed amendment would interfere with or replace Ohio’s Smoke-Free Workplace Act. As such, the ban on smoking in public places and places of employment would remain in effect. If one or both of the proposed amendments are added to the November ballot, Ohio will join Florida in deciding whether to legalize medical marijuana. The issue of recreational legalization is on the ballot in Nevada.