Ohio voters won’t decide on marijuana-related amendments

Staff report

COLUMBUS

Ohio voters won’t decide on marijuana-related amendments, efforts to drive down prescription drug costs or any of nearly two dozen potential ballots issues in November.

As of Wednesday’s deadline, no citizen groups had submitted the required signatures for their proposed constitutional amendments or initiated statutes to appear on the statewide general election ballot, according to Josh Eck, spokesman for Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted.

State lawmakers have until Aug. 10 to place issues before voters, but that appears unlikely; the Ohio House and Senate have recessed for the summer, with only one session day – Aug. 2 – scheduled in the Ohio House to fill a couple of vacancies.

According to Eck, there are 21 other citizen-initiated constitutional amendments and two pending initiated statutes that could have moved prior to this week’s deadline. The list includes a clean energy bond issue, a measure to institute tighter term limits for lawmakers and an effort to increase Ohio’s minimum wage.

Supporters of medical marijuana legalization opted to drop their amendment proposal after the legislature moved on the issue, setting the stage for medical use of the drug for specified conditions within two years.

Groups hoping to qualify for the ballot currently have to collect more than 300,000 valid signatures from registered voters.