Ohio votes to legalize marijuana
Ohio votes to legalize marijuana
Oh high,
Ohio!
AUTHOR: DAN ROWLAND
hat should we take away from Ohio voters approving a ballot initiative to legalize adult-use cannabis in the Buckeye State with almost 57 percent in favor? Take your pick of benefits from criminal justice reform, economic development, social equity and more. But one oft overlooked benefit of legalization is public health and safety – for both consumers and non-consumers alike.
Regulating and legalizing cannabis allows for quality control and safety standards, ensuring that consumers have access to a safer and more consistent product. It also makes it easier to implement regulations regarding age restrictions and consumption limits, reducing the risk of underage use.
As cannabis product innovation continues to advance – in medical, adult-use and illicit markets — quality control standards are more important than ever. Only regulated markets can ensure that products are tested for contaminants, potency, and purity, making them safer for consumers. In contrast, illicit-market cannabis can be full of harmful pesticides, heavy metals, pathogens and other contaminants, posing health risks to users.
Legal cannabis producers are also increasingly driven to provide safe, effective form factors and standardized dosages, making it easier for users to control their intake and avoid overconsumption. This can reduce the risk of adverse effects and emergency room visits due to accidental overuse. It also helps ensure that users have access to routes of administration that maximize the therapeutic benefits of cannabinoid-based products.
As for general public safety, regardless of one’s feelings about legalization, it no doubt undermines the illicit market, making communities safer by reducing the potential for organized criminal activity and violence.

This does not happen overnight of course, and regulated cannabis can’t often compete on price with street dealers, but the only way to ensure the systematic deconstruction of the illicit market in Ohio or anywhere else, is to provide safe and legal access to consumers.
Finally, let’s examine Ohio as a bellwether for national political issues. Long a battleground state that more recently has turned reliably republican red, Ohioans made their positions clear on abortion rights and access to adult-use cannabis, in line with national polling on both issues.
Support for marijuana legalization has reached a new record high nationally, with seven in 10 Americans – including a sizable majority of Republicans, Democrats and independents – now backing an end to prohibition.
According to a recent update to polling regularly conducted by Gallup, “Support for marijuana legalization has reached a new record high nationally, with seven in 10 Americans — including a sizable majority of Republicans, Democrats and independents – now backing an end to prohibition.” That fact, coupled with 57 percent of Ohio voters supporting the measure, will be important as state legislators take up the issue this winter.
The Ohio legislature does have authority to amend the law or even repeal it; however, a successful repeal effort is unlikely given legalization’s strong showing at the ballot box. The expectation is that the legislature will move to revise and refine the law, but it will only be able to restrict the new market as much as is legally and politically possible. The people of Ohio have spoken; let’s hope that their elected leaders are listening.