Ohio Attorney General Certifies Revised Cannabis Legalization Petition

Ohio Attorney General David Yost (R) today certified a revised petition for recreational cannabis legalization put forth by the activist group the Coalition To Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CTRMLA). The revised petition was handed in last week after the group’s original petition was rejected by Yost earlier this month on “procedural grounds.”

Per the official press release from Yost’s desk, the AG’s role was to look over the revised petition and “determine whether the summary is a fair and truthful representation of the proposed statute. The revised petition does meet that requirement and a certification has been submitted to the Ohio Secretary of State.” The next steps toward getting the measure on the 2022 ballot, however, are far from simple, just like the rest of the CTRMLA’s journey thus far.

“Next in the process, the Ohio Ballot Board must determine whether the proposal contains a single law or multiple laws. After the Ballot Board certifies the petition, the petitioners must collect signatures from registered voters equal to at least 3% of the vote cast in the last gubernatorial election. In addition, those signatures must come from voters in at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties and, for each of those counties, the number must equal at least 1.5% of the vote cast in the last gubernatorial election.” If that sounds complicated to you, you’re not alone. While it seems like a new state legalizes some form of cannabis on the daily, the process of getting to that point is often murky, complicated, tedious, and lengthy. But if the CTRMLA’s persistent progress so far tells us anything, it’s that the group isn’t giving up on their passionate project to get adult-use cannabis legalized in Ohio. 

The proposal in question lays out a plan that, if actually passed, would legalize possession up to 2.5 ounces of flower and 15 grams of concentrates/extracts. Ohio residents would also be allowed to grow up to six marijuana plants at their homes with a cap of 12 plants per household. A 10% sales tax on cannabis would go into effect “with revenue being divided up to support social equity and jobs programs (36 percent), localities that allow adult-use marijuana enterprises to operate in their area (36 percent), education and substance misuse programs (25 percent) and administrative costs of implementing the system (three percent),” according to Marijuana Moment. And, as with every other state legalizing cannabis, a Division of Cannabis Control would be established.

The new cannabis division, which would fall under the Department of Commerce, would be in charge of licensing, regulations, enforcement, and more. Speaking of licenses, the proposed measure would require the Division of Cannabis Control to begin issuing adult-use licenses (40 recreational cultivator licenses and 50 adult-use cultivator ones) within nine months of the legislation taking effect (if it does, of course). According to Marijuana Moment, there will be “a preference to [license] applications who are participants under the cannabis social equity and jobs program,” something many states are including in their cannabis legislature.