An effort to legalize recreational marijuana in Ohio will appear on the ballot in November, the secretary of state confirmed Wednesday, after petitioners collected the required number of signatures.
Activists submitted 127,772 signatures, surpassing the 124,000 threshold that was needed.
The ballot measure would legalize the sale of marijuana to people 21 and over, and its growing. Any person of legal age would be able to grow up to six plants at home. Marijuana sales would be taxed at 10 percent.
“We are grateful to the thousands of Ohioans who helped us get to this point and are excited to bring our proposal to regulate marijuana like alcohol before Ohio voters this coming election day,” said Tom Haren, the leader of Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.
The marijuana measure will join the November ballot alongside an ACLU-backed ballot proposal that would effectively outlaw any restrictions on abortion and other procedures that involve reproduction, including gender-transition surgeries. It would also remove parental-consent and notification requirements for minors who undergo the procedures.
The marijuana measure makes the ballot just a week after Ohio voters rejected a measure that would have increased the threshold required to pass a constitutional amendment.
Ohio has used a simple-majority requirement since 1912, but the measure, Issue 1, would have bumped the threshold up to 60 percent. The “no” choice to keep the simple-majority threshold under current law won with 57 percent of the vote.
Ahead of the special election, supporters and opponents of Issue 1 agreed that the vote could have far-reaching implications. Special-interest groups committed millions of dollars to the race to ensure that it would remain easier to push their legislative agenda via ballot amendment.
Conservatives warned that leaving the threshold at 50 percent plus one vote could cause Ohio to become a blueprint for progressive groups to circumvent the normal legislative process in states across the country on a number of issues, including the legalization of recreational marijuana, an increased minimum wage, and livestock-care standards.
If the marijuana ballot measure passes, it could be modified or repealed by state lawmakers. Governor Mike DeWine has spoken out against legalizing marijuana.
However, roughly 58 percent of Ohioans would support the legalization, according to a Suffolk University/USA Today poll from late July.
If the law passes, Ohio would become the 24th state to fully legalize the drug and could stand to bring in $275 million to $450 million in tax revenue after five years, according to a study from Ohio State University.