Ohio Attorney General\u2019s Office news<\/i><\/p>\n
COLUMBUS — Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine on Monday rejected the petition for the proposed End Ohio Cannabis Prohibition Act of 2012 because the summary of the petition was not \u201cfair and truthful.\u201d<\/p>\n
On August 2, the Ohio Attorney General\u2019s Office received a written petition from Responsible Ohioans for Cannabis to amend the Ohio Constitution by adding the End Ohio Cannabis Prohibition Act of 2012. DeWine\u2019s letter rejected the summary because it was unable to be certified as \u201cfair and truthful\u201d for the following reasons:<\/p>\n
The summary omits references to amendment language that repudiates federal cannabis prohibitions.<\/p>\n
The summary omits references to amendment language that persons cannot be considered to be under the influence of cannabis \u201csolely because of the presence of metabolites or components of cannabis in his or her body.\u201d<\/p>\n
The summary states that educational courses may be held by licensed commercial production companies or educational institutions to teach people, among other things, about \u201cmedical harms or benefits from the personal use of cannabis products.\u201d However, no such language referencing medical harms or benefits exists in the amendment.<\/p>\n
The summary omits references to amendment language that confer new duties and responsibilities on the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Ohio Department of Commerce.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor these reasons, I am unable to certify the summary as a fair and truthful statement of the proposed amendment,\u201d DeWine stated in his letter rejecting the petition. \u201cHowever, I must caution that this letter is not intended to represent an exhaustive list of all defects in the submitted summary.\u201d<\/p>\n
In order for a constitutional amendment to proceed, an initial petition containing summary language of the amendment and 1,000 signatures from Ohio registered voters must be submitted to the Ohio Attorney General. Once the summary language and initial signatures are certified, the Ohio Ballot Board would determine if the amendment contains a single issue or multiple issues. The petitioners must then collect signatures for each issue from registered voters in each of 44 of Ohio\u2019s 88 counties, equal to 5 percent of the total vote cast in the county for the office of governor at the last gubernatorial election. Total signatures collected statewide must also equal 10 percent of the total vote cast for the office of governor at the last gubernatorial election.<\/p>\n