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Ohio voters in five cities approved local marijuana decriminalization ballot initiatives on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Activists in the state have been working to enact local cannabis reform over recent election cycles, with most efforts proving successful. While decriminalization didn\u2019t qualify for every municipal ballot that advocates targeted for 2022, a half dozen got the chance to make a policy change.<\/p>\n
The Sensible Movement Coalition and NORML Appalachia of Ohio have been at the helm of the local movement for the better part of the last decade.<\/p>\n
Voters decided on decriminalization in Corning<\/a>,\u00a0Hemlock<\/a>,\u00a0Kent<\/a>,\u00a0Laurelville<\/a>,\u00a0Rushville<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Shawnee<\/a> on Tuesday\u2014and every jurisdiction except Hemlock passed the reform.<\/p>\n \u201cThe results of yesterday\u2019s general election show beyond a reasonable doubt that the people of Ohio are ready for a change in cannabis laws, even at the local level,\u201d NORML\u2019s Don Keeney told Marijuana Moment. \u201cFrom the city of Kent to the small villages of Southeast Ohio, they want this! These are sold red areas with elected officials that say their people don\u2019t support this. Yesterday\u2019s vote shows something different.\u201d<\/p>\n Local officials\u00a0certified petitions for some of those jurisdictions<\/a>\u00a0before summer, with others being finalized more recently.<\/p>\n Activists said that they met the requirements to qualify an additional decriminalization measure in Helena, but officials declined to officially certify it and it is now subject to litigation in court.<\/p>\n Voters in seven other cities\u00a0approved ballot measures to decriminalize marijuana possession<\/a>\u00a0during last November\u2019s election, building on a slew of previous local reforms in the state.<\/p>\n Prior to that election, more than 20\u00a0jurisdictions across the state had already adopted local statues<\/a>\u00a0effectively decriminalizing possession\u2014some of which have been passed by voter initiatives while others were adopted by city councils in major cities like Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, activists are positioned to bring statewide adult-use legalization to a vote at the ballot next year.<\/p>\n The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CTRMLA) submitted signatures to put legalization on this year\u2019s state ballot, but a court ruled in May that they would not qualify because of timing problems. However, as part of a legal settlement, the court\u00a0did clear activists to take the reform back up in 2023<\/a>\u00a0without having to collect a new initial batch of signatures to prompt a legislative review again.<\/p>\n A pair of Ohio Democratic lawmakers\u00a0separately filed a bill to legalize marijuana<\/a>\u00a0in April that directly mirrors the proposed initiative that activists are pursuing, but it is not expected to advance in the legislature.<\/p>\n \u2014 A GOP legislator who sponsored a\u00a0different bill to tax and regulate cannabis<\/a>\u00a0has tempered expectations about the chances for legislative reform, signaling that the issue will\u00a0likely have to be decided by voters<\/a>.<\/p>\n Activists suspended a subsequent campaign to\u00a0place a legalization measure on the 2020 ballot<\/a>\u00a0due to the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n A recent poll found that a\u00a0slim majority of Ohio voters would support<\/a>\u00a0marijuana legalization at the ballot.<\/p>\n As of September, Ohio medical marijuana sales\u00a0officially surpassed the $1 billion mark<\/a>\u00a0since dispensaries started serving patients in April 2019, state data shows.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, voters in several states decided on statewide marijuana legalization ballot initiatives<\/a>\u00a0on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Missouri Voters Approve Marijuana Legalization Initiative<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Ohio Voters Approve Marijuana Decriminalization Ballot Measures In Five Cities<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Ohio voters in five cities approved local marijuana decriminalization ballot initiatives on Tuesday. Activists in the state have been working to enact local cannabis reform over recent election cycles, with most efforts proving successful. While decriminalization didn\u2019t qualify for every municipal ballot that advocates targeted for 2022, a half dozenContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":57918,"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\/57917"}],"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=57917"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57919,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57917\/revisions\/57919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Ohio Voters Approve Marijuana Decriminalization Ballot Measures In Five Cities<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"