Ohio may be the next state to legalize marijuana. Responsible Ohio, a group backing marijuana legalization in Ohio, recently collected enough signatures to qualify for the state’s November election ballot.
Unlike recent ballot measures in Washington and Oregon, the Ohio ballot measure would legalize both medical and recreational marijuana. Another big difference from marijuana legalization in other states, is that the proposed Ohio law would only allow ten marijuana production facilities; and the ten facilities are controlled by the backers of the initiative campaign.
The proposed limitation on marijuana growing facilities in Ohio has faced a great deal of criticism. If the ballot measure does pass, however, it will open up marijuana legalization in a part of the country where this had not been anticipated to occur.
As I discussed in a recent interview with WCPO in Cincinnati, if marijuana is legalized in Ohio, marijuana businesses will face the same hurdles as our Washington clients. Namely, federal taxation issues and lack of banking opportunities. More from this article can be found here.
For more on the Ohio legalization effort, see our news page for articles on this and other issues.
For more information on the regulation of marijuana businesses, please contact Heather Wolf.