Voters in more than a dozen Ohio municipalities will decide on ballot measures to decriminalize marijuana next month.<\/p>\n
As it stands,\u00a022 jurisdictions across the state have already adopted local statues<\/a> effectively decriminalizing cannabis possession, some of which have been passed by voter initiatives while others were adopted by city councils.<\/p>\n Now, activists have succeeded in collecting enough signatures to qualify cannabis proposals for the November ballot to reduce the local punishment for low-level marijuana possession to the \u201clowest penalty allowed by state law,\u201d which is zero days in jail and a fine of zero dollars.<\/p>\n The initiatives will go before voters in Brookside<\/a>, Dillonvale<\/a>, Laurelville<\/a>, Martins Ferry<\/a>, McArthur<\/a>, Morristown<\/a>, Mount Pleasant<\/a>, Murray City<\/a>,\u00a0New Lexington<\/a>, New Straitsville<\/a>, Powhatan Point<\/a>, Rayland<\/a>, Tiltonsville<\/a> and Yorkville<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n NORML Appalachia of Ohio and the Sensible Marijuana Coalition also sought to qualify reform initiatives in dozens more cities and villages this year, but not every effort made it across the finish line. In those places where petitioning efforts fell short this cycle, the advocates say they\u2019ll try again in future elections.<\/p>\n \u201cThis gets easier each time,\u201d Don Keeney, an activist with the NORML chapter who has been involved in efforts for several election cycles, told Marijuana Moment. \u201cWe get better as we do more.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a separate campaign recently cleared a final hurdle to begin collecting signatures for a 2022 ballot initiative<\/a> to legalize marijuana statewide.<\/p>\n The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CTRMLA)\u00a0launched its ballot effort in July<\/a>. And the attorney general certified the measure in August after his office rejected summary language of an earlier version<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ohio voters rejected a 2015 legalization initiative that even some reform advocates opposed because of its oligopolistic model that would\u2019ve granted exclusive control over cannabis production to the very funders who paid to put the measure on the ballot.<\/p>\n Advocates suspended a subsequent campaign to place a measure on the 2020 ballot<\/a>\u00a0due to the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n For this year, some of the 14 local measures that activists qualified for ballots read, simply, \u201cShall [jurisdiction] adopt the Sensible Marihuana Ordinance, which lowers the penalty for misdemeanor marijuana offenses to the lowest penalty allowed by State Law?\u201d<\/p>\n But others, such as the ballot question in New Straitsville, are lengthier and spell out changes to local statutes, specifying that \u201cif the amount of the drug involved is less than two hundred grams, possession of marihuana is a minor misdemeanor drug abuse offense\u201d and that \u201cpersons convicted of violating this section shall be fined $0.00.\u201d<\/p>\n The same zero-dollar fine would also apply to cultivating less than 200 grams worth of cannabis or possessing less than ten grams of solid hashish or less than two grams of liquid hashish. Gifting less than 20 grams of marijuana would also be covered, as would possessing or selling cannabis paraphernalia. Finally, the measure specifies that court costs for violations of any of the sections of the measure would also be set at zero dollars.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, addition to targeting Ohio cities for local reform measures, the Sensible Marijuana Coalition is also expanding its efforts to cover West Virginia and South Carolina<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n\n Looking ahead to 2022, Ohio isn\u2019t the only state where voters could see cannabis reform on the ballot.<\/p>\n Nebraska marijuana activists last week began petitioning for a pair of\u00a0complementary initiatives to legalize medical cannabis<\/a>\u00a0that they hope to place on the state\u2019s 2022 ballot.<\/p>\n Florida activists recently filed a ballot measure to legalize marijuana<\/a> for adult use.<\/p>\n South Dakota marijuana activists are\u00a0now ramping up for a signature gathering effort<\/a> to put marijuana legalization on the 2022 ballot as the state Supreme Court continues to consider a case on the fate of the legal cannabis measure that voters approved last year.<\/p>\n New Hampshire lawmakers are pursuing a new strategy to legalize marijuana in the state that involves\u00a0putting a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot<\/a>\u00a0for voters to decide on in 2022.<\/p>\n Lawmakers in Maryland are also crafting legislation to\u00a0place a marijuana legalization referendum on the 2022 ballot<\/a>\u00a0after the House speaker called for the move.<\/p>\n Missouri voters may see a\u00a0multiple marijuana initiatives on the state\u2019s ballot next year<\/a>, with a new group filing an adult-use legalization proposal that could compete with\u00a0separate reform measures that are already in the works<\/a>.<\/p>\n Arkansas advocates are collecting signatures to\u00a0place adult-use marijuana legalization on the ballot<\/a>.<\/p>\n Activists in Idaho are working to advance separate measures to legalize possession of recreational marijuana and to create a system of legal medical cannabis sales. State officials recently\u00a0cleared activists to begin collecting signatures<\/a>\u00a0for a revised initiative to legalize possession of marijuana that they hope to place before voters on the 2022 ballot. Meanwhile, a separate\u00a0campaign to legalize medical cannabis in the state<\/a>\u00a0is also underway, with advocates actively collecting signatures to qualify that measure for next year\u2019s ballot.<\/p>\n After a House-passed bill to\u00a0legalize marijuana in North Dakota was\u00a0rejected by the Senate in March<\/a>, some senators hatched a plan to\u00a0advance the issue by referring it to voters on the 2022 ballot<\/a>. While their resolution advanced through a key committee, the full Senate blocked it. However, activists with the group\u00a0North Dakota Cannabis Caucus are collecting signatures<\/a>\u00a0to qualify a constitutional amendment to legalize cannabis for the 2022 ballot.<\/p>\n Oklahoma advocates\u00a0are pushing two separate initiatives<\/a>\u00a0to legalize marijuana for adult use and overhaul the state\u2019s existing medical cannabis program.<\/p>\n Wyoming\u2019s attorney general recently issued ballot summaries for proposed initiatives to\u00a0legalize medical marijuana and decriminalize cannabis possession<\/a>, freeing up activists to collect signatures to qualify for the 2022 ballot.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s not just marijuana measures that reform activists are seeking to qualify for state ballots next year. A California campaign was recently cleared to begin\u00a0collecting signatures for an initiative to legalize psilocybin<\/a>. And advocates in Washington State have announced plans to\u00a0put a proposal to decriminalize all drug before voters<\/a>.<\/p>\n Marijuana Isn\u2019t Exactly On Virginia\u2019s Ballot Next Month, But Legalization\u2019s Fate Is, Advocates Say<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Democracy Chronicles<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post More Than A Dozen Ohio Cities Will Vote On Marijuana Decriminalization Ballot Measures Next Month<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Voters in more than a dozen Ohio municipalities will decide on ballot measures to decriminalize marijuana next month. As it stands,\u00a022 jurisdictions across the state have already adopted local statues effectively decriminalizing cannabis possession, some of which have been passed by voter initiatives while others were adopted by city councils.Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50301"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50302,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50301\/revisions\/50302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: More Than A Dozen Ohio Cities Will Vote On Marijuana Decriminalization Ballot Measures Next Month<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"