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Pot legalization plan would put testing lab here
YOUNGSTOWN
A proposal to legalize marijuana in Ohio for medical and personal use, which would place one of at least five regional marijuana- testing facilities in Mahoning County, has local college and university officials scratching their heads.
ResponsibleOhio, the Columbus-based political action committee promoting a November ballot issue to legalize the drug, would place testing labs near colleges and universities in Mahoning, Lorain, Athens, Scioto and Wood counties.
Those counties that would house the licensed testing labs are specified in the proposed amendment to the state constitution.
The purpose of those centers would be “to engage in research related to and/or to certify safety and potency of medical marijuana, marijuana and marijuana-infused products,” according to the proposed marijuana legalization amendment.
“It’s just way too premature for us to speculate in any way on what’s being proposed” and its implications for Youngstown State University if it becomes law, said Ron Cole, university public information officer.
“We don’t know what we would legally be permitted to do,” Cole said, adding that the university has not discussed the matter on campus or conducted a legal review of the issue.
“There are dozens and dozens of unanswered questions,” Cole said.
These include whether YSU, as a federal grant recipient, legally could participate in a lab venture associated with a state-legalized marijuana trade if the drug remains illegal under federal law, he said.
Laura Meeks, who will retire in July as president of Eastern Gateway Community College, which has a downtown Youngstown classroom facility, said her policy would be that the college would consider participation in such a lab if marijuana would become legal under both federal and state law and if participation would fit the college’s mission.
Meeks added, however: “I don’t see how it would fit under the mission of the college. ... We don’t do research. We’re a teaching college.”
Ian James, ResponsibleOhio’s executive director, said the Mahoning County testing facility would create 50 to 100 jobs.
“They’re not obligated to participate,” James said of YSU and EGCC.
“We have waited for 18 years for the Statehouse to take action. If we’re going to wait now for Congress to take action, I’m not certain how long we’ll be waiting for that dog to start hunting,” James said.
“I understand where the colleges are coming from because they’re looking at this the same way the banks do. It’s federally prohibited,” James acknowledged.
Under the ballot proposal, Ohio’s marijuana trade would be regulated by the Ohio Marijuana Control Commission, whose seven members would be appointed by the governor.
The amendment specifies 10 counties with each having one commission-licensed marijuana-growing site, including Stark, Summit and Lorain counties.
The list of marijuana-growing counties does not include Trumbull, Mahoning or Columbiana counties.
The amendment includes a nonprofit medical marijuana dispensing system and specifies that no marijuana retailer may be within 1,000 feet of any school, church, public library or licensed day-care center.
Only those over 21 would be allowed to buy marijuana, and it would be illegal to drive under its influence or consume it in public.
Marijuana for personal use would be taxed 5 percent at retail and 15 percent at the wholesale and manufacturing level.
Fifty-five percent of the tax revenue would go to municipal and township government, 30 percent to county governments and 15 percent to the commission.
“There are a lot of potholes in Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley. We envision filling those potholes with pot money,” James said.
Ohioans over 21 would be allowed to grow up to four marijuana plants per household at home in a locked room that is inaccessible to children after paying $50 for a license; and they’d be allowed to have 8 ounces of usable product at a time.
ResponsibleOhio needs 305,591 signatures of registered voters by July 1 to get the amendment on the ballot.
James said his organization is “on target” to have 250,000 signatures by the end of this week and about 800,000 by July 1.
Signatures must be gathered from at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties.