Smoke, mirrors & marijuana

If voters in Ohio decide to legalize marijuana in the November general election, the ultimate winners won’t be the dopeheads who will lose touch with reality, but the so-called investors who stand to become very, very rich.

So, who are the members of this exclusive club – state Auditor David Yost has dubbed it a “cartel” – who are spending many millions of dollars to make sure the constitutional amendment is approved?

According to a story in The Columbus Dispatch by veteran reporter Alan Johnson, the 24 known investors include two individuals with ties to the Mahoning Valley.

One has already received wide publicity because of her family. New York fashion designer Nanette Lepore is originally from Youngstown and is the sister of state Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan. The legislator’s husband, Robert F. Hagan, is a former state lawmaker and now a lobbyist in Washington.

The other investor with local roots is Brian Kessler, president of Maui Toys Inc., located on Crescent Street in Youngstown. According to Johnson’s story in the Dispatch, Kessler is the son of the man who patented the Hula Hoop.

The story does not say how much money Lepore and Kessler are investing, but ResponsibleOhio, which is leading the campaign for the passage of State Issue 3 on behalf of the cartel, says they intend to spend at least $20 million to persuade Ohioans that legalizing marijuana is good public policy.

Passage of the constitutional amendment will open the door to recreational and medicinal use of the drug. Supply will come from 10 megafarms in 10 counties. The closest county to the Mahoning Valley with a farm is Stark. The farm will be operated by Kessler and another investor, Ben Kovler, a Chicago investment banker, who created a business called Green Thumb Industries to sell lighting, fertilizers and other items to marijuana-growing farms in Illinois, where medical marijuana is legal, according to the Dispatch.

Kovler sold shares in his investment in Alliance, Ohio, to 23 investors, according to U.S. Security and Exchange Commission records reviewed by Johnson.

MEDICINAL USES

Kessler, who is described as presiding over one of the world’s largest toy manufacturers, and Kovler plan to focus on growing the weed for medicinal use.

Lepore is involved in a group that would own the marijuana farm in Butler County.

Here’s what she said in a statement to the newspaper: “This is an incredible opportunity for a place like my hometown of Youngstown to generate significant dollars for things like road and bridge repair, which in turn will create thousands of needed jobs.”

Who can argue with such altruism?

Curt Steiner, a well-known political operative in Ohio, certainly can – and does.

“It’s a shame that a small number of wealthy individuals are trying to get richer by cementing themselves into the Ohio Constitution,” Steiner said.

When the legalized marijuana industry in Ohio is in full swing, it will generate at least $2 billion in five years.

So, who else is putting up his or her money to give Ohioans the opportunity to live drug-infused lives? The Dispatch’s list includes legendary basketball player Oscar Robertson, entertainer Nick Lachey and two great-great-grandnephews of President William Howard Taft. Woody and Dudley Taft are related to former Gov. Bob Taft.

As you read the comments from the investors in Johnson’s story, you get the impression that the main reason they’re involved in this endeavor is to bring relief to individuals suffering from debilitating diseases and other medical conditions.

“Our current laws are archaic and cruel to people in Ohio who need medical marijuana,” Woody Taft has said.

And that raises an important question Ohioans should ask themselves before they decide to make members of the cartel even richer than they are: If these individuals are so concerned about bringing relief to those in pain, why didn’t they push for a constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana for medicinal uses only?

State Issue 3 would allow individuals 21 and older to smoke pot recreationally and even to grow their own.

By now it should be clear what State Issue 3 is all about: Smoke and mirrors.