Press release from the Ohio Green Party:
The Ohio Green Party wishes to acknowledge and congratulate the local activists working with SE Ohio NORML for their successful efforts in the city of Logan, OH. Logan residents will have the chance to vote on an issue this fall, that if passed, would lower the penalties prescribed by law for marijuana possession and cultivation.
Logan joins Toledo OH in having a marijuana issue on the ballot this November. The Toledo effort is being managed by recently named Ohio Green Party Political Director, Sean Nestor.
We also note the efforts of Ohio Green Party Co-Chair Connie Gadell-Newton and Columbus attorney Dennis Day in providing legal advice to the initiative in Logan.
The statewide legalization effort being promoted by Responsible Ohio fell short of the number of required signatures in their initial filing and are in the midst of trying to collect the additional needed signatures.
The Ohio Green Party reiterates our opposition to the Responsible Ohio plan. We feel that proceeding with local ballot initiatives is a excellent example of grassroots democracy at its finest.
Until such time as a meaningful and fair statewide ballot issue is ready to be voted up or down by our citizens, we wholeheartedly support local efforts such as the ones in Logan and Toledo.
Thanks to Phil Mohorich for this news.
I am sort of shocked Responsible Ohio couldn’t get the required sigs. I assume they had the same deep pocket supporters that we did in WA?
The WA State law is far from perfect, but you have to give it credit for keeping people out of jail and out of the criminal justice system. I still thinkk the OH Greens are off their rockers for not supporting RO’s initiative.
Even after alcohol prohibition was abolished it took decades for WA State to get rid of various reactionary, ie dumb, elements from those days.
But the cannabis law has been on the books for only a year or two and already the dumb aspects of that law are being gotten rid of. So I would guess that even if the RO initiative was imperfect, times are different and that law can be improved fairly quickly.