Help save Ohio's adult-use marijuana law
Three years ago, Ohio citizens gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures and placed an initiative (Issue 2) on the ballot to legalize adult-use marijuana.
In November 2023, Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved Issue 2 with over 57% of the vote. That’s a huge percentage in a state like ours.
It’s important to mention that Issue 2 was an “initiated statute” instead of a constitutional amendment.
What does that mean?
It means Issue 2 changed state law instead of changing our state constitution.
The problem with “initiated statutes” is that the Ohio legislature (state House and state Senate) can change the law back whenever they want.
And that’s exactly what Ohio Republicans are trying to do.
(Side note: This is why other ballot initiative efforts — like the abortion rights campaign — chose to change the state constitution instead. It’s harder for the legislature to overturn the will of the people when voters amend the constitution)
This past December, Ohio’s Republican supermajority passed a bill (SB 56) to gut the adult use marijuana law Ohioans voted for.
SB 56 re-criminalizes marijuana in several different ways:
It bans legal marijuana purchased in other states
It criminalizes having marijuana in your car anyplace other than the trunk — even when it’s not being used (you can guess how that law will be used….)
It allows landlords to ban all marijuana use in property they own. 1/3 of all Ohioans are renters. They could be punished for using this legal product in their own homes.
It expands employers’ power to punish/fire Ohioans who use adult-use marijuana legally
If this law goes into effect, Ohio will return to arresting citizens and/or ruining their lives over a product that’s being purchased legally a few miles away in other states.
On top of all that, Governor DeWine made the bill even worse when he signed it into law.
The governor vetoed (rejected) the parts of SB 56 that allowed for THC drinks to continue for a few years.
THC drinks will now become fully illegal in Ohio when the law goes into effect on March 20th.
To be clear: every Democrat in the Ohio Statehouse voted to respect the marijuana law and Ohioans’ votes.
Nearly every Republican voted to pass SB 56 and re-criminalize several aspects of adult-use marijuana.
See the vote breakdown here.
Ohioans are rightfully outraged by their government’s utter lack of respect for voters. After all, didn’t Republicans used to stand for small government and personal freedom?
But Governor DeWine’s response? Stop whining.
Thankfully, there’s a chance to stop SB 56 from going into effect.
Ohio citizens are gathering signatures to place a referendum on the ballot that would repeal SB 56.
They will need over 248,000 signatures by March 19th. You can help make it happen.
Sign up and share this link everywhere to spread the word: https://NoOnSB56.com
Even if you don’t use marijuana yourself, this issue impacts you. It can and should supersede political parties.
Politicians should respect their voters. They should fear losing their elected offices if they ignore their voters. Let’s remind them together.
