Ohio pot legalization group spent more than $21M in failed effort

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Supporters spent more than $21 million on a losing fall campaign to legalize marijuana in Ohio for personal and medical use, campaign finance reports filed Friday show.

Most of the nearly $12 million ResponsibleOhio raised from July to October came from 10 companies or organizations listed under corporate names, according to the figures reported to the Secretary of State’s office. About 250 people gave individual contributions during the period. Their contributions of $2 to $200 totaled less than $8,000.

Filings showed Ohioans Against Marijuana Monopolies raised and spent about $2.1 million. Its opposition campaign against the legalization question centered on the proposal’s creation of 10 exclusive marijuana growing sites.

Approval of Issue 3 would have made Ohio the first state nationally to take marijuana from illegal to fully legal in a single vote.