Friday, May 15, 2015
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
A Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate voiced his support for efforts to legalize marijuana use, including a proposed constitutional amendment possibly headed for the November ballot.
Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld told reporters after a Thursday speech at the Statehouse he favors “getting rid of old and frankly broken” marijuana-related laws.
“I look at the current laws around marijuana, and I see brutal drug dealers and cartels make billions of dollars,” he said. “That money could be going to rebuilding roads and bridges. I look at folks who have cancer or Alzheimer’s [disease] and need the palliative care. And I look at the uneven application of justice where even within Ohio if you’re African-American, you might be four or eight times more likely to go to jail for possession of marijuana.”
Dennis Willard, a spokesman for the campaign of Ted Strickland, who is running against Sittenfeld, said the former governor is studying the potential marijuana ballot issues.
“Ted supports medical marijuana when prescribed by a doctor so that families coping with epilepsy, cancer and other conditions can get the care their doctors recommend,” Willard said in a statement.
In a conference call with reporters, Republican Sen. Rob Portman said he supports taking a new approach to dealing with drug use — spending more money on prevention and education and less on prosecution and incarceration.