Philly420: A strong effort in Ohio to legalize marijuana

Ohio voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to fully legalize marijuana for adults in the state. Polling shows an even split with 51 percent in support.

If the Buckeye State joins the new cannabis economy of Colorado, Washington, Alaska, Oregon and Washington DC it could have a big impact across the region.

ResponsibleOhio submitted more than 300,000 petition signatures this summer in a drive to add the initiative to the ballot. That was no small feat in itself.

The group spent nearly $3 million gathering the petition signatures. It will cost additional millions for an awareness campaign to get it passed.

On Aug. 12, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted certified the initiative as Issue 3.

A bright green campaign bus is visiting towns and cities. The first television commercial went to air this week. The ad featured retired Cincinnati Police Captain Howard Rahtz  who is with the national group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).

Standing in front of a police cruiser Rahtz says: "As a police officer, I walked a beat, served on the vice squad and SWAT team and became an expert on drug addiction. I saw firsthand the effects of Ohio's destructive marijuana laws. Simply put -- they don't work. Ohio spends more than $100 million each year on this failed effort. It's time for marijuana reform. So law enforcement can spend their time cracking down on real criminals and making Ohio a safer place for our families. Vote yes on 3."

Meanwhile the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Ohio School Boards Association, Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association along with many Republican state legislators, Gov. John Kaisch and private hospital associations are opposing the measure.

There is also a middle ground. The Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association is staying neutral.

The ResponsibleOhio plan calls for 10 businesses to grow the marijuana. Contracts and licenses for cultivation would not be up for bid but have already been predetermined. The very companies that would control the cannabis farms are bankrolling the initiative campaign. However, other companies will have the ability to open just over 1,000 retail locations across the state.

That business side of the effort has created controversy even among those who traditionally back reform. Some advocates and activists have cried foul, saying the condensed, corporate model does not fit with the free-market theme available in other states.

The Green and Libertarian Parties of Ohio, who generally support marijuana legalization and an end to the War on Drugs, recently came out against the measure.

Green Party of Ohio co-chair Bob Fitrakis said in a statement that "what we would be doing is exchanging an illegal cartel for a legal one, representing the worst of cannabis capitalism."

To that end a separate initiative will appear on the ballot that prevents a "monopoly, oligarchy or cartel" from operating in the state. Some local experts, including Secretary of State Husted, say if both initiatives pass there could be a conflict.

ResponsibleOhio has changed the language of proposal to allow state residents to grow four plants at home. The Green Party also backs home cultivation. The new language also dropped the proposed cannabis tax from 15% to 5%.

It is interesting that the word "cartel" is being thrown about in the Ohio effort. That term could easily apply to the small groups of medical cannabis operators in many states.

Ohio arrests about 17,000 people every year for possessing small amounts of marijuana. Those arrests would stop if Issue 3 is approved.

Stopping the arrests is paramount to many advocates. The details of the cannabis market are secondary. The mere smell of pot is often used as a pretext for harsh treatment by police. Possession of a few grams is used to take children away from parents. In extreme cases, having a few joints is enough for authorities to take away homes, cars and cash from otherwise law abiding people though overly aggressive civil asset forfeiture laws.

Keith Stroup, the founder of National NORML which is supporting the Ohio measure, said "the bottom line is that someone gets rich off legalization, regardless of how it is funded, or structured."

Pennsylvania is now standing conspicuously alone with few options even on the table when it comes to ending marijuana prohibition.

Maryland and Delaware have decriminalized simple possession statewide. Both of those states are considering legalization. New Jersey and New York have allowed medical marijuana, albeit very limited. Even West Virginia lawmakers are now pondering a regulated cannabis market.

Right now lawmakers in Harrisburg are struggling to pass a budget. To that end the Pennsylvania House has continued to delay any action on a medical cannabis bill that already passed in the Senate in May. A "working group" of House reps has been meeting over the summer in an attempt to sort out the differences. Still, nothing definitive has been announced. House Speaker Rep. Mike Turzai has been opposed to medical marijuana and he ultimately controls any action on the bill.

Senate Bill 3 is a very limited medical cannabis model that allows for a short list of qualifying conditions and even prohibits smoking raw plant material.

St. Senators Daylin Leach and Larry Farnese have introduced a bill to fully legalize marijuana but it has received little attention and no additional co-sponsors.

Pennsylvania has no process available for voters to decide the issue. Only the General Assembly can make the decision.

The Commonwealth already has an estimated $2 billion per year underground marijuana market. In 2013, Pennsylvania arrested 20,698 adults and juveniles for possessing less than 30 grams of weed. We spend almost $75 million each year just arresting and prosecuting those possession cases.

But if the Keystone State could regulate cannabis we could see hundreds of millions of dollars per year generated in tax revenues.

That is no pie-in-the-sky number. Colorado is on track to collect almost $100 million in cannabis taxes this year and they have half the population of Pennsylvania.

Combine the potential taxes with the cost savings on enforcement and you have a major windfall for a state trying to balance a very tight budget.

Chris Goldstein is associate editor of Freedom Leaf magazine and co-chair of PhillyNorml. Contact him at chris@freedomisgreen.com.