Ohio’s Road to Marijuana Legalization
Riley Peters
Hannah Potts
EDITOR’S NOTE: While elements of this story were revised following the outcome of the Nov. 7 election, the reporting and sourcing for this story was completed prior to the election.
With Issue 2 passing by 14% of the vote on Nov. 7, recreational marijuana is now legal for all Ohioans over the age of 21. This follows the 2016 legalization of medical use in Ohio, though legalized recreational use has faced challenges on its journey to the ballot.
It joins 23 states and Washington D.C. who have legalized recreational marijuana use, with another 17 having legalized medicinal use. A Forbes Magazine poll conducted prior to the election stated that a majority (59%) of Ohioans support legalizing recreational marijuana.
Issue 2 will create a new Division of Cannabis Control in the Department of Commerce and will allow people to possess 2.5 ounces of marijuana. It will also create a minimum 10% sales tax on all recreational marijuana products, according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office. Medical marijuana in Ohio has a sales tax rate of 5.75%, according to Ohio’s Cannabis Information Portal.
The official initiative petition requested that this 10% tax on marijuana products be distributed to several funds in the state treasury that Issue 2 will create: 36% to the cannabis social equity and jobs fund, 36% to the host community cannabis facilities fund, 25% to the substance abuse and addiction fund and 3% to the division of cannabis control and tax commissioner fund.
One 21-year-old woman from Oxford said she has been using marijuana for five years, but she was too young for the drug when she first began smoking.
“The way I started using it when I was 16 wasn’t healthy,” she said.
Marijuana is often referred to as a “gateway drug” to using other substances, a term that this user agrees with. Her friends, even those who don’t participate, are understanding and supportive of her use.
“They know where I’ve come from, what I’ve dealt with and [that] now I’m using it responsibly,” the Oxford resident said.
She believes that a recreational user’s relationship with marijuana depends on several internal and external factors.
“It really just depends on how you use it and where you’re at mentally,” she said. “It allows me to take a step back and center myself, and focus on what’s actually important.”
Now that marijuana is legal, she will consider switching to dispensaries depending on cost. Currently, she spends about $100 per month on marijuana and would stay with her current dealer if their price stays better.
Right now, she gets her marijuana through acquaintances and friends, and she never buys from someone she doesn’t know. She believes that the overall safety of the product will increase with legalization.
“You won’t have to worry about someone lacing it with fentanyl,” she said. “People wouldn’t have to do sketchy shit to get it. The quality of the weed will increase, especially since they will have more ways to grow it.”
In addition to having more varieties of product, she is excited by the prospect of larger stores selling marijuana.
“It would be cool if big stores sold it, dispensaries sold it or certain gas stations sold it if they could get the rights to do that,” she said. “They’re already doing that with delta-8.”
According to the FDA, delta-8 is the legal synthetic by-product of the CBD chemical found in hemp plants. Hemp plants are a type of cannabis plant and are federally legal to grow due to the low content of THC, the chemical that makes you high.
“Weed allows you to get outside, be around the people that you love, and go and see the world,” she said. “If I'm being completely honest, I've never gone hiking so much in my life to smoke a blunt. I've seen so much more than what I would just by exploring with your friends.”
Despite medical marijuana being legal in Ohio since 2016, some medical users have faced judgment for their marijuana use. The Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program lists up to 26 conditions that currently qualify for medical marijuana use, with almost 400,000 patients registered.
One Miami student with a medical marijuana card went from having three to five seizures per week to not having them at all. She takes her regular seizure medication in addition to a cycle treatment she created with one of her doctors, who believes in a holistic approach to treatment. Her four-day cycle changes her dose each day from five milligrams of THC to 10 milligrams, then back to five, with two days off.
The medical card initially cost her $120, and after a short phone call with a doctor he sent over her medical card information. She said the people who judge her marijuana use are swayed when she explains her medical experience with it.
“Having a medical need for it, having a medical excuse, it makes people a little bit more accepting,” the student said. “It makes people feel a little bit better.”
For recreational use, racial disparity in drug offenses and sentencing has dominated the conversation around legalization. According to the National Library of Medicine, people of color convicted of drug offenses on average receive sentences of more than double the length of white people.
Thomas Ratliff, visiting assistant professor of criminology at Miami University, believes that policy enforcement is flawed largely due to socially constructed patterns.
“There is clear evidence in the criminal justice system that there is a dysfunctional system when it comes to the equal distribution of punishment and reward,” Ratliff said. “The law in action is often not exactly what it says on the books.”
Ratliff believes the disparity of incarceration between races results in minority groups being “normalized as scapegoats” for drug use and criminal behavior. While legalization at the state level may alleviate some of these biases, federal laws on marijuana use continue to spark frustration.
“The structural policy and direction doesn’t line up with the cultural adaptation,” Ratliff said. “I think we’re going into a big period of unsettledness over these issues. We already are.”
Cultural perception of marijuana use has changed in recent years.
“The cultural aesthetics, the general norms and beliefs have shifted enough to where it's either a more pragmatic, utilitarian or libertarian stance where it's like, ‘Well, I don't like it, but I can see how it can be used in good ways,’” Ratliff said.
In Oxford, legalization poses various challenges for local law enforcement.
Lieutenant Lara Fening of the Oxford Police Department (OPD) is wary of how legalization will affect law enforcement and social culture in Oxford. Fening, who has been working in law enforcement for 30 years, said officers are not equipped to handle marijuana violations when it comes to OVI (operating a vehicle impaired) checkpoints.
“There’s a big gap right now in the law that will have to get more specific,” Fening said.
Fening said for enforcement to be fair and equal, state organizations must “hone existing laws or amend them to adjust for this change in society.”
For OVI checkpoints, there are standardized tests that officers can use to determine possible impairment for alcohol, but not for marijuana. Because of this, checkpoint officers must use a “common sense approach” for marijuana violations.
“Give us some standardized tests, so we can appropriately and equitably determine if drivers are OK to go,” Fening said.
There are still potential concerns with regulating marijuana, such as the length of time between smoking when someone becomes sober enough to drive or what access to marijuana should look like in a home with children.
“You want consistency,” Fening said. “Everyone would want to know, ‘What am I not allowed to do?’”
Fening said the “risk-taking behavior” that legalization could bring to Oxford has given her concerns regarding a spike in various health problems within the community.
“I’m afraid that we will be uncovering a lot of side effects,” Fening said. “There will be new things that pop up, and that will be a monstrous challenge for us.”
From law enforcement to sales to taxes, the legalization of recreational marijuana will pose a variety of changes both statewide and on the more local level. The state measure will take effect on Dec. 7, 30 days after the election.
