Ohioans vote ‘yes’ to legalize recreational marijuana use

Recreational marijuana will soon be legal in Ohio after voters passed Issue 2 on Tuesday. 

With over 95% of votes tailed, the proposed law passed with 57% of the vote or 2.1 million voters out of over 3.8 million.

Ohio is now the 24th state to legalize recreational marijuana.

Adults 21 and over can buy and possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis flower and 15 grams of extract, as well as growing up to six marijuana plants at home. Households would be allowed to cultivate up to 12 plants collectively.

It also imposes a 10% tax at the point of sale for each transaction.

“Marijuana is no longer a controversial issue,” said Tom Haren, the spokesperson for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol, told Ohio Capital Journal.

“Ohioans spoke loud,” he said. “They spoke clear. They know that they want a regulated adult use market here in Ohio; they want to get rid of the illicit market, and they want to bring that tax revenue back from the state of Michigan and to bring it in and admit and invest that money right back into their local communities.”

Haren and the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol brought the law to the ballot, and will become effective 30 days after the election.

Since Issue 2 is an initiated statute that would create a law under the Ohio Revised Code, state legislators still get the final say, meaning legislators can still propose and pass modifications to the law. 

In a statement released Tuesday, Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) said tax revenue should be allocated to investing in country jail construction and funding law enforcement training. 

“I think that there’s been a long-running stigma around weed,” Anthony Lambert said. “It’s not something I do, but by being around it with friends and family, I just think that it was time.”

For Benjamin Lambert, he’s felt the drug laws in America have been “archaic.”

“They lend themselves to a lot of discrimination,” he said. “So even though I am pro-weed, I think it’s the right thing to do for overall justice to vote yes.”

Allowing the government to regulate rather than prohibit is essential to Matthew Craig.

“This allows for government agencies to step in to regulate illegal stuff, theoretically illegal substances, for good use of the public,” he said.

Having marijuana no longer be a controversial issue in Ohio was important to Haren. 

“Ohioans demonstrated this by passing State Issue 2 in a landslide,” he told 10 WBNS. “Ohioans are being extremely clear on the future they want for our state: adult-use marijuana legal and regulated.”