Marijuana Amendment Language on Ohio’s Ballot to Be Fixed

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Summary: The Ohio Supreme Court is requiring the Ohio Ballot Board to change the language on the marijuana-legalization amendment so that it does not mislead voters.

Coming November 3^rd, Ohioans will either pass or reject the legalization of marijuana. Until that time, the ballot wordage must be changed. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the Ohio Ballot Board’s language for the marijuana-legalization constitutional amendment was misleading.

  

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The Ballot Board is controlled 3-2 by Republicans so their choice of words to mislead voters may have been intentional. The Court found four areas of the amendment that needed to be fixed.

ResponsibleOhio, the group backing the marijuana-legalization movement, can call the court’s decision a victory. They brought the attention of the wording to the State Supreme Court. The court agreed that the language “inaccurately states pertinent information and omits essential information. The cumulative effect of these defects in the ballot language is fatal because the ballot language fails to properly identify the substance of the amendment, a failure that misleads voters.”

While ResponsibleOhio is getting some of the language changed, two of their issues will not be fixed. The use of “monopoly” in the title of the amendment will remain, as will the use of “recreational” in relation to marijuana use by anyone 21 and over.

The four paragraphs of the amendment that need to be fixed deal with the ban on marijuana shops be located within 1000 feet of certain buildings, the ability of individuals to have one ounce of purchased and eight ounces of home-grown marijuana, local control of marijuana businesses, and the addition of marijuana cultivation facilities after four years.

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2015/09/title_on_marijuana_issue_can_s.html

Photo: wcpo.com