Ohio now expected to vote on Cannabis Legalisation in November
Ohio is now expected to vote on cannabis legalisation in November this year after campaigners successfully gathered more than 6000 additional signatures.
Last month, Business of Cannabis reported that the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CRMLA) had submitted roughly 223,000 signatures to the Ohio secretary of state’s office.
Despite the overwhelming numbers, a subsequent verification review found that only 123,367 signatures were found to have qualified, leaving the campaign 697 valid signatures short of the number required to put legalisation on the ballot.
The CRMLA was given just 10 days to fill the gap, seeing them submit 10 times the number of signatures needed.
While campaign organisers say they’re confident they have more than enough signatures to meet the threshold, they will now have to wait for the county and state officials to confirm enough of the 6545 new signatures are valid.
“This submission validates what we’ve said all along: regulating marijuana is popular in Ohio,” Tom Haren, spokesperson for CTRMLA said.
“We’re looking forward to giving Ohio voters a chance to make their voices heard at the ballot this fall.”
Should the adult-use legalisation vote make it onto the ballot this year, it will coincide with the controversial abortion rights bill which is expected to significantly boost voter turnout.
According to MJBizDaily, past results suggest the chances of legalisation being passed are highest when voter turnout is high, which could see Ohio become the third US state to pass such reform in 2023.
