A group in Ohio wants the state to join Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska in the legal recreational marijuana club, with a new petition to amend the state’s constitution.
The petition from ResponsibleOhio must collect 300,000 signatures before the amendment making marijuana legal medically and for recreational use could be put to a vote in November, reports CNNMoney.
The group is made up of investors from several companies who want the state to allow residents 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of pot for personal use and allow doctors to prescribe marijuana for some medical conditions. Residents could also grow a limited amount of cannabis plants at home.
Under the amendment, nonprofit dispensaries for medical marijuana and retail stores for recreational weed would get permits from the state to sell their wares. On a large scale, production would be limited to 10 commercial growing facilities in locations throughout the state.
As such, critics of the effort say the investors just want to create a marijuana cartel to control those facilities and thus, run the pot business in the state. But ResponsibleOhio insists that the facilities would be operated by different companies that would compete for consumers’ business. There would also be 1,100 permits for Ohioans looking to get into the world of small businesses, the group says.
“There is no coordination between them, they will be trying to make money by selling the best goods at the best prices to stores, dispensaries and manufacturers,” ResponsibleOhio says on its website.
Ohio may legalize pot this year [CNNMoney]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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