The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) plans to launch a medical marijuana initiative in Ohio with new organization “Ohioans for Medical Marijuana,” after last year’s “Issue 3” by ResponsibleOhio failed at the polls.
The new initiative would allow the opening of state-licensed dispensaries, give patients suffering from serious conditions such as cancer and Crohn’s disease access to medical cannabis, and allow home cultivation. It’s a more restrictive program than the one pitched to voters last year by the now-defunct ResponsibleOhio, which critics claimed would have established a cannabis monopoly in the state.
Mason Tvert, the MPP’s Director of Communication, said that the failure of Issue 3 doesn’t reflect the national tone on medical marijuana.
“It only reflects where Ohio voters stand on a specific and rather unique proposal in an off-election year.” As many as nine out of ten Ohio voters supports legalizing medical marijuana, and 56 percent of the state’s voters support legalizing recreational marijuana.
Ohioans for Medical Marijuana has just begun its work, said Tvert. “We are in the very initial stages of this process—filing a committee, starting to build a campaign team, and conducting outreach to potential coalition partners and donors.”
Another group called Legalize Ohio also plans to put an initiative for full recreational legalization in front of voters in November, ensuring 2016 will be an interesting year for cannabis legalization in Ohio.
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