Measure that may block pot ballot issue heads to Ohio House

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio House is expected to soon consider a fast-moving proposal that some say could block an effort to legalize marijuana if both issues are approved by Ohio voters.

The full House could vote Wednesday on the resolution, which aims to make it harder to amend the constitution with ballot issues that provide commercial economic benefits to a few individuals or create monopolies.

Some opponents argue the proposal is too broad and could affect various types of ballot issues in addition to the marijuana legalization effort often discussed in conjunction with the resolution. Among them is Chris Stock of Responsible-Ohio, the group that wants to legalize marijuana and create 10 designated grow sites around Ohio and hopes to get that issue on the ballot.

Stock said the group followed an existing process to bring forth its proposal, and he accused lawmakers of trying to change the rules at the last minute.

The anti-monopoly resolution would need approval from lawmakers and then voters. It must clear the Legislature with a three-fifths majority before Aug. 5 to appear on fall ballots.

“If ResponsibleOhio is such a bad deal for Ohio, as its opponents claim, then voters will reject it,” Stock argued at a committee hearing Tuesday. “No constitutional harm … no constitutional foul.”

Legislative leaders and others opposed to the legalization effort say it is misusing the Ohio Constitution for business interests.

But backers of the anti-monopoly resolution argue it isn’t merely about the ResponsibleOhio issue.

“This is not about marijuana,” state auditor Dave Yost testified. Instead, he said, the measure would close a legal loophole.

The measure cleared a House committee Tuesday after lawmakers changed the wording in an effort to narrow its effect, specifying that it would apply to citizen initiatives that might create certain privileges of a commercial economic nature.