Ohio citizens will vote on whether to legalize recreational and medicinal marijuana use in November, a decision that could concentrate the state’s legal marijuana business to 10 growers.
Ohio’s secretary of state Jon Husted said on Wednesday that a measure to legalize marijuana had collected enough signatures to appear on the ballot in the state’s 3 November election.
The measure includes a provision that would allow only 10 growers to grow and sell pot commercially.
Critics, including the state legislature, say this could create a monopoly. The legislature added a measure, called Issue 2, to the ballot that would block monopolies from operating in Ohio.
According to Husted, if both measures are approved, the one introduced by the legislature would take precedence.
Pro-legalization group ResponsibleOhio drove the efforts to get the marijuana bill on the ballot.
Husted said ResponsibleOhio collected 320,267 signatures to get the measure on the ballot, exceeding the 305,591 required. Next week, the ballot board will meet to determine the final language for the measure.
ResponsibleOhio executive director Ian James celebrated the news in a statement.
“Drug dealers don’t care about doing what’s best for our state and its citizens,” James said. “By reforming marijuana laws in November, we’ll provide compassionate care to sick Ohioans, bring money back to our local communities and establish a new industry with limitless economic development opportunities.”
Last month, Husted announced that ResponsibleOhio was being investigated for election fraud because of discrepancies in the signature petitions. The group had initially turned in 695,273 signatures, but Husted said that only 276,082 of those were valid.
