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Ohio's legalization of recreational marijuana goes into effect, GOP proposes sweeping changes (www.cbsnews.com)
submitted 7 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
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At the stroke of midnight, recreational marijuana became legal in Ohio.

Voters approved last month that adults 21 and older are allowed to use and grow cannabis.

However, Ohio Republicans may be putting the brakes on it.

On Monday, Ohio Senate Republicans proposed banning at-home growing, increasing the substance's tax rate, and altering how those taxes get distributed.

The ballot measure, dubbed Issue 2, passed on the Nov. 7 election with 57% of the vote - but since it is a citizen's vote, the legislature is allowed to make tweaks to the law.

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[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 114 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Every Ohioan needs to contact their representative and explain that we voted on what we wanted including where the taxes go

I already contacted mine. And yes, it’s passed the senate, contact them anyway, make sure they understand you don’t want the cops getting money, you don’t want this to go to building new fucking jails (like seriously wtf), we specified 12 plants per household, and we voted to treat it like alcohol so it’s really fucked up that they’re trying to ban sharing a bowl between adults or picking up some bud for your buds.

[-] Chainweasel@lemmy.world 57 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I've emailed my representative, Darrell Kick, twice now. Once before Wednesday's vote and again yesterday while the house was discussing further changes to issue 2.
The onslaught of emails they received the first time is the whole reason why they started panicking and couldn't get anything passed on Wednesday.
It worked, and I also highly suggest everyone do the same.
But please write your own email, hundreds of identical emails won't send the same message as hundreds of unique voices all saying similar things.

[-] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 9 points 7 months ago

Send actual letters too. That is so rare it alarms them apparently.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago

Yeah I saw them ceding to phone calls and realized that enough people bother them they might actually change.

[-] andrewta@lemmy.world 34 points 7 months ago

What you guys need to do is do a lawsuit and sue the government. Making tweeks is one thing, straight ignoring the will of the people is another.

[-] Chainweasel@lemmy.world 39 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

We did that with the voting maps and the Ohio Supreme Court ruled the maps illegal, they ignored the Ohio Supreme Court and did as they please anyway.
Lawsuits have no power with the current administration here.

[-] andrewta@lemmy.world 16 points 7 months ago

Take them back to court and,,,, on I'm not an attorney but there has to be some penalties the Supreme Court can hand down for ignoring what they say.

Maybe present alternate voting maps and ask the Supreme Court to put those into place.

Also ask for jail time for those that ignored the Supreme Court the last time

Again not an attorney but it seems to me that there has to be an option.

[-] newthrowaway20@lemmy.world 30 points 7 months ago

Take them back to court and,,,, on I'm not an attorney but there has to be some penalties the Supreme Court can hand down for ignoring what they say.

This requires enforcement, and Republicans don't enforce rules on each other. It's a big club and we're not in it.

[-] andrewta@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

True. Is it possible to take this to the Supreme Court and claim violation of rights?

[-] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

You mean the majority republican USSC that has already done some pretty insanely right-wing things like get rid of well established Roe v. Wade ruling on behalf of their party???

[-] SCB@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

Issue with this is it takes a long time, and during that period of time, a bunch of conservative justices can be (and have been) appointed.

[-] ExcursionInversion@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago
[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

Yeah exactly I love it and want that to stay and that’s something we left for them to decide.

I am however wondering if we need a constitutional amendment granting a grace period for ballot initiatives to prevent them from being altered or repealed by the legislature for X amount of time. If after the effects of legalization have settled something needs changed sure let the legislature change it, but they seriously think they have the right to preemptively change it. My wife suggests 5 years so they have to be re-elected first.

[-] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 1 points 7 months ago

Shouldn't people who need medical cannabis be able to get their prescription reliably? It kinda seems like there's a real risk of recreational users gobbling up their supply, leaving them without treatment for whatever they're going through.

[-] SCB@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

The biggest issue in most states with legal recreational weed is excess supply tanking the market. I understand the concern, but it's unlikely to pose a significant challenge in the short term, and it's possible to legislate that some quantity be set aside for medicinal purposes if need be in the long term.

https://apnews.com/article/cannabis-marijuana-420-e11c85fbaa6f0b82c1b0aa52312c4187

[-] squiblet@kbin.social 2 points 7 months ago

There have been issues briefly in other states of a shortage of supply after starting a rec program, caused by regulatory restrictions of course in the face of booming demand. After that, though, the issue has I overwhelmingly been an excess on the market… California, Oregon, Colorado, Oklahoma.

[-] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 81 points 7 months ago

So the GOP, the party of personal freedom, has specifically taken aim at the most personal aspects of the bill. They want to tell you what you can grow in your house and tax it higher. Republican voters are fucking morons.

[-] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 16 points 7 months ago

I think we need a new corollary to "every accusation is a confession": everything they promise is something they want to take away.

[-] shiftymccool@lemm.ee 62 points 7 months ago

The people have spoken, the politicians need to sit down and shut up... especially the republican ones. Who keeps voting these assholes into office anyway?

[-] Candelestine@lemmy.world 38 points 7 months ago

Gerrymanders, mostly. If we played ball the way they did, first off nobody should vote for us then because we'd be assholes too, but also, they'd disappear in a puff of smoke.

It's a pleasant daydream sometimes, but we'd be selling our souls to corruption just to win, which probably wouldn't end well.

[-] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 18 points 7 months ago

rural people and the the god-fearing. look at the maps, there is a reason they have to gerrymander.

it takes less human density to be capable of the lack of empathy of which conservatives exemplify.

[-] SCB@lemmy.world 40 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Some bullets to provide more info on this, as an Ohioan who has been following it closely.

  • GOP has gerrymandered the everliving fuck out of Ohio and has a supermajority despite not regularly winning a majority of votes

  • This means the GOP House is only afraid of being primaried

  • One of the worst Senate provisions, in the view of many Ohioans who spoke at hearings, is the move of tax revenue from the local governments where dispensaries are to funds for police and the general fund. The GOP, in violation of state law, has commonly robbed poorer communities of education funding by appropriating it in the general fund and spending it in affluent neighborhoods.

  • GOP House has been fighting the Senate revisions, for reasons that should be immediately obvious, and posting their own (far less severe) restrictions

  • Both groups had to pass a bill by yesterday, 12/7, to provide legislation that supplements the citizen-passed law. If they didnt, weed would be legal but there would be no structures by which businesses could operate, so you'd still have to buy on the black market

  • End result is worse weed, and less weed, and Ohio will probably lose a lot of revenue to Michigan. Voters across the political spectrum have been pretty pissed off about this and I expect it will come up in 2024 elections.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/adults-can-now-legally-possess-and-grow-marijuana-in-ohio-but-theres-nowhere-to-buy-it

[-] Chakravanti@sh.itjust.works 1 points 7 months ago

Nowhere to buy it? I'd link you to the darknet but I ain't gonna convince some sucker to do anything but use taxi. Even for that I don't give a fuck about anything pushing to you educate yourself on doing smart shit like using GNU/Liniux etc. etc.

[-] SCB@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

I am aware of how to buy drugs illicitly.

Our dispensaries did not have the necessary legal foundations to function as businesses.

[-] Chakravanti@sh.itjust.works 1 points 7 months ago

Sue the fucking government.

[-] SCB@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

What?

[-] FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world 37 points 7 months ago

Classic small government and individual liberties

[-] be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social 10 points 7 months ago

Can anyone even find a conservative who claims with a straight face to be for small government anymore? I'd literally laugh them out of the room if someone said that in my presence.

[-] admiralteal@kbin.social 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Some claim it, but the definition of the word conservative has nothing to do with small government and individual liberties.

Wanting a better, more effective and efficient government is the domain of progressives.

Wanting a government that respects and protects individual liberties is the domain of liberals.

And wanting a government with fairness for all is the domain of the socialists.

What it means to be conservative is wanting to preserve traditional hierarchies and values even at the expense of individual rights, a well-functioning state, or fairness and justice for all.

Conservatives tell us they are not progressive, they are not socialist, and they are not liberal. Believe them.

[-] squiblet@kbin.social 1 points 7 months ago

Hell, these days they’re straight up saying they don’t think democracy is a good idea.

[-] FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Yes, because all of them do despite the fact that it's blatant bullshit.

That's their thing though, they make up all sorts of crazy shit like being better for business than democrats, when, in fact, Republicans are bad for the economy, bad for job growth, and worse than democrats in every measurable way from employment levels to recessions when it comes to the actual numbers.

This is no surprise to anyone has been paying attention, there are shitloads of CBO reports going back decades to back up the above.

The two party system sucks and democrats can be shitty too, but the GOP is measurably worse for the average person in pretty much every way.

[-] Furedadmins@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

Small government just means less taxes to help others.

[-] HiddenLayer5@lemmy.ml 11 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Voters approved last month that adults 21 and older are allowed to use and grow cannabis.

However, Ohio Republicans may be putting the brakes on it.

The ballot measure, dubbed Issue 2, passed on the Nov. 7 election with 57% of the vote - but since it is a citizen’s vote, the legislature is allowed to make tweaks to the law.

How democratic of them. It really should go the other way, where if a bill is passed by the direct vote of the citizens, that should be considered the highest level of democratic prudence.

[-] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 7 months ago

What you need to do is, get the fuck out of backwards ass Ohio! Just fuckin leave! That state is beyond fixing at this point.

[-] lingh0e@sh.itjust.works 12 points 7 months ago

Ohio isn't backwards. The fact that both issues 1 & 2 passed by such (relatively) large margins is evidence of this.

Thanks to gerrymandering, our leadership IS regressive and backwards thinking. But I'll be damned if I'm going to jump ship instead of staying and fighting.

There's a very progressive population of new or about to be new voters living in those gerrymandered districts who can absolutely help turn the tide. Then there's all the Gen X folks like me who were too apathetic or cynical to vote (especially in midterms and local elections) who are suddenly witnessing how important their participation is.

I'm not a religious man at all, but I have faith in this state and the people who live here.

[-] lordxakio@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago

Ohio is actually, despite a lot of prejudices (albeit justified in many instances), a very open and happy place for all folks. The Republican Party took major points, especially with Covid. I’ve seen a jump in anger and even hate to everything that is not “my thing and my right”, basically the last big guy’s thinking.

The young folks in Ohio and really not liking what they are seeing and they are the next generation of leaders.

The biggest problem is democrats and their in ability to do anything useful aside form condemning the shit others do. The party of do nothing fast

“The Corporations as People Act/Ruling” what I like to call the beginning of the end of America, is THE single most dangerous thing ever in America’s, and let’s be real, the worlds existence.

  • btw, corpos don’t get forced to suck dick in prison or other movie stuff like you peasants
[-] Zombiepirate@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago

Many people don't have the luxury of leaving their support network behind.

Alternatively, I live in Texas and I'm not going be chased out of my home by bigots. I'll do my part in cancelling out the vote of some racist lunatic. If we all leave it just empowers the people who want us gone anyway.

[-] Jaysyn@kbin.social 4 points 7 months ago

Yet more evidence that the #fascist #GOP wants to rule & not govern.

[-] HubertManne@kbin.social 1 points 7 months ago

Ohio's legalization of recreational marijuana goes into effect, GOP proposes sweeping restrictions.

this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2023
326 points (99.1% liked)

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