Recreational Marijuana Petition Rejected In Ohio

COLUMBUS, OH — A petition to legalize marijuana in Ohio was rejected Thursday by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. The proposed legislation would have made recreational marijuana use legal in Ohio.

The amendment would have allowed Ohio residents that are 21 or older to "possess, produce, process, use, transport, sell, purchase and share marijuana in Ohio." Effectively, the substance would have been treated like alcohol.

The proposed amendment would not have altered any part of the state's budding medical marijuana program. However,employers would have been able to declare their work places "drug free" and still make employees take drug tests.

The petition for the "Marijuana Rights and Regulations Amendment" was submitted April 9. Ten days later, DeWine announced he had rejected the petition. He said he had at least three reasons for rejecting the petition.

The Ohio Attorney General and candidate for Ohio Governor said the language in the summary describing the legislation did not accurately reflected the actual amendment language. The summary omits references in the amendment that "Marijuana businesses shall be lawful only in those voting precincts in which the majority of the voters approved this section." And, finally, the summary omits references in the amendment that “The General Assembly shall within 240 days after the effective date enact and enable laws, rules, and regulations consistent with this section.”

“For these reasons, I am unable to certify the summary as a fair and truthful statement of the proposed amendment,” Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine stated in his letter rejecting the petition. “However, I must caution that this letter is not intended to represent an exhaustive list of all defects in the submitted summary.”

The legislation of the amendment can be found by clicking here.

Photo from Shutterstock