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Ohio Marijuana Proposal OK'd to Start Collecting Signatures

photo of marijuana
United States Fish and Wildlife Service

Backers of a state constitutional amendment that would allow voters to decide to legalize and regulate marijuana like alcohol will soon start collecting signatures to put it before voters. 

The Ohio Ballot Board has unanimously approved the language proposed by backers of the marijuana legalization plan as a single issue.

That means the activists who want to put it on the Fall 2019 ballot can begin collecting more than 300,000 valid petition signatures. Backers had hoped to get it on the ballot this fall but acknowledge that would be difficult considering the deadline is in early July.

Ohio’s medical marijuana program, which is set to be fully operational by Sept. 8th, would not be affected by the proposed ballot issue.

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.