Local cops, Ohio AG DeWine voice opposition to Issue 3

October 16, 2015 at 12:06a.m.

By ROBERT CONNELLY

YOUNGSTOWN

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine gathered with local police officials to urge voters to vote no on Issue 3.

DeWine visited the Mahoning County jail Thursday with County Sheriff Jerry Greene, Youngstown Police Chief Robin Lees, Boardman Police Chief Jack Nichols and Austintown Police Chief Robert Gavalier.

DeWine spoke of visiting Colorado to see how legalizing marijuana affected the state and law enforcement there.

“The message they sent back to Ohio through me is, don’t do it. Don’t make the same mistake Colorado did,” DeWine said.

The proposed constitutional amendment would make marijuana legal for adults 21 and older to use, purchase or grow in limited quantities. ResponsibleOhio has proposed the amendment to create a network of 10 authorized growing facilities and five research and testing facilities to check drug supplies for potency and safety.

One of those test sites would be in Mahoning County. Retail sales of the drug would be taxed at 5 percent, while growers and processors would pay a 15 percent tax on their purchases.

DeWine said about 45 percent of all legal marijuana sold is edible, such as in brownies and gummy candies. “The visits to emergency rooms by parents with their real little kids have gone up dramatically because these kids got into the marijuana thinking it was a gummy bear, a brownie,” DeWine said.

Proponents say Issue 3 will free law enforcement to pursue other issues. DeWine and local officials disagreed with that sentiment.

Greene noted that though Colorado expected $100 million in revenue, it received about $52 million, which was “spent on regulating the laws, making sure that people are following the laws with it.”

He further said drug dogs used by area agencies would have to be retired, due to the way they currently detect drugs.

“Everybody knows that this heroin thing is a complete epidemic. We’re continuously scrambling and fighting against this heroin epidemic when it’s killing our youth, when it’s in the cities, the rural areas,” Greene said. “And we have to deal with this [constitutional amendment]. I don’t know what better template that law enforcement and the attornewy general [can have] than other states that are screaming at us ‘don’t do this.’ This is a mistake.”

Greene and DeWine said black markets for marijuana remain in Colorado. Lees said guns and violence follow where black markets operate.

When asked about what would happen if both Issue 2 and Issue 3 pass, DeWine said, “Nobody knows – we’ll be in court.”