A major investor and attorney with the group behind last year’s failed marijuana legalization amendment are involved in the process and indicated they would not pursue a new ballot issue in November. Rosenberger, a Clarksville Republican, has said the issue has some support within his GOP caucus. “This is the best way we can possibly go about it”.
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There are 15 members – lawmakers, medical professionals, law enforcement leaders and one member of Responsible Ohio, the group which spearheaded Issue 3. “People spoke loudly on Issue 3 that if it’s going to be medical marijuana, it has to be about the medicine and not about the money”. “So now’s the time for us to have a clearinghouse of conversations and ideas, not just from these task force members but from the community as a whole, the state of OH”.
Rosenberger has asked the group to finish their work by the end of March or, if needed, by early April.
He also said the task force was not a “stall tactic – it’s not a task force to just be some kind of fancy report that they’ll hand out at the end of the day”.
The task force will hold seven meetings, open to the public, with the first coming on January 28. The group gathered more than 30,000 signatures to get its initiative to legalize medical marijuana and recreational pot use.
State lawmakers have been weighing how to address the issue. The proposal called for reviewing sentences and expunging criminal records for people with previous convictions if their actions would no longer be considered illegal.
The ResponsibleOhio campaign had advanced the plan.
An attorney for ResponsibleOhio, which is backing the so-called Fresh Start Act, says his clients do not intend to try to get the measure before voters.
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Gould told reporters that the expungement proposal was based on Issue 3 passing. “They knew exactly what they were doing when they voted the way they voted”.
