OHIO VOTERS IN SEVEN MORE CITIES WILL DECIDE ON
MARIJUANA DECRIMINALIZATION AT THE BALLOT THIS
NOVEMBER

Ohio voters in at least seven cities will get a chance to join many of their neighboring jurisdictions in enacting local marijuana decriminalization at the ballot this November.

Activists targeted more than a dozen cities for this year’s election, collecting signatures to place cannabis reform initiatives on local ballots. The Sensible Movement said in a blog post on Monday that they and NORML Appalachia of Ohio secured enough petitions to put the issue before voters in seven cities.

Both groups have organized efforts to locally decriminalize marijuana across the state for the better part of the last decade.
To date, the reform has been enacted at the ballot in more than two dozen Ohio localities.

This year, voters will decide on decriminalization in Corning, Helena, Hemlock, Kent, Laurelville, Rushville and Shawnee. Local officials certified petitions for some of those jurisdictions before summer, with others being finalized more recently.

Voters in seven other cities approved ballot measures to decriminalize marijuana possession during last November’s election, building on
a slew of previous local reforms in the state.

Marijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,500 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any
developments.

Ohio voters in at least seven cities will get a chance to join many of their neighboring jurisdictions in enacting local marijuana decriminalization at the ballot this November.

Activists targeted more than a dozen cities for this year’s election, collecting signatures to place cannabis reform initiatives on local ballots. The Sensible Movement said in a blog post on Monday that they and NORML Appalachia of Ohio secured enough petitions to put the issue before voters in seven cities.

Both groups have organized efforts to locally decriminalize marijuana across the state for the better part of the last decade. To date, the reform has been enacted at the ballot in more than two dozen Ohio localities.

This year, voters will decide on decriminalization in Corning, Helena, Hemlock, Kent, Laurelville, Rushville and Shawnee. Local officials
certified petitions for some of those jurisdictions before summer, with others being finalized more recently.

Voters in seven other cities approved ballot measures to decriminalize marijuana possession during last November’s election, building on a slew of previous local reforms in the state.

Marijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,500 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.

Prior to that election, more than 20 jurisdictions across the state had already adopted local statues effectively decriminalizing possession— some of which have been passed by voter initiatives while others were adopted by city councils in major cities like Cincinnati, Columbus and
Cleveland.

Ohio isn’t the only state where activists have worked to give localities a say in cannabis policy at the ballot this year.

Advocates have worked to place local decriminalization ordinances on the ballot in cities across West Virginia and Texas, for example.

Wisconsin voters in at least half a dozen cities and counties will also be asked on November’s ballot whether they support legalizing,
taxing and regulating cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol. Those Wisconsin advisory questions will be non-binding, however, and are intended to take the temperature of voters and send a message to lawmakers about where their constituents stand.

Meanwhile, an effort to put adultuse legalization on the statewide ballot in Ohio fizzled out this year, but the campaign did secure a procedural legal win that will allow them to hit the ground running for a planned 2023 reform initiative.

In the legislature, a pair of Ohio Democratic lawmakers—Reps. Casey Weinstein (D) and Terrence Upchurch (D)—filed a bill to legalize marijuana that directly mirrored the proposed measure that activists were pursuing, but it didn’t advance in the legislature.

Weinstein and Upchurch filed a separate legalization bill—the first in state history—last summer that also failed to move.

Meanwhile, a pair of Republican lawmakers also introduced legalization legislation this past session.

Ohio voters rejected a 2015 legalization initiative that faced criticism from many reform advocates because of an oligopolistic model that would’ve granted exclusive control over cannabis production to the very funders who paid to put the measure on the ballot.

Activists suspended a subsequent campaign to place a legalization measure on the 2020 ballot due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A poll released earlier this year found that a slim majority of Ohio voters would support marijuana legalization at the ballot.