A-G nixes medical marijuana amendment

Ohio Attorney General’s information

COLUMBUS — Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has rejected the petition for a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would attempt to legalize marijuana for medical use in the state.

On July 20, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office received a written petition to amend the Ohio Constitution, entitled “Ohio Medical Cannabis Amendment,” from the group Ohio Medical Cannabis Care LLC. A total of 1,000 valid signatures from registered Ohio voters were submitted; however, Attorney General DeWine found at least four defects with the summary language:

The summary language omits references to amendment language explaining that patient registry cards are automatically accepted if the proposed Ohio Medical Cannabis Commission fails to enact an approval process or to respond to applications within a specified time.

The summary language omits the reasons listed in the amendment for which the proposed commission may revoke patient registry cards.

The summary language omits references to amendment language specifying certain actions the proposed commission must take in a certain period of time after the effective date.

The summary language states that certain individuals administering marijuana to underage patients “shall not be criminalized,” when no such prohibition exists in the amendment language.

“For these reasons, I am unable to certify the summary as a fair and truthful statement of the proposed amendment,” DeWine stated in a letter to the petitioners,” DeWine noted.

The full text of today’s letter and of the amendment petitions submitted can be found at www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/BallotInitiatives.