Ohio voters have approved a ballot proposal legalizing recreational marijuana. Republican legislative leaders are expected to weigh revisiting aspects of the proposal passed Tuesday.
This is basically how it goes with “begrudging legalization”. The legislature figures out exactly how much they can get away with pushing back while still keeping their seats. There was a little of this in Massachusetts, with the Governor and Mayor both speaking out against legalization when the Question made the ballot.
They dragged their feet for a while on licensing, and gave retails licenses to friends first. If I recall correctly, an overturn vote made it to the next ballot. They rolled it out slower. They jacked up the pot tax an extra 8% (10.75% tax on top of our sales tax AND an optional 3% local tax). They added the silly “5mg per dose of edibles” limit. All stuff they could get away with, but that makes the bill more palatable to pot-haters.
This is basically how it goes with “begrudging legalization”. The legislature figures out exactly how much they can get away with pushing back while still keeping their seats. There was a little of this in Massachusetts, with the Governor and Mayor both speaking out against legalization when the Question made the ballot.
They dragged their feet for a while on licensing, and gave retails licenses to friends first. If I recall correctly, an overturn vote made it to the next ballot. They rolled it out slower. They jacked up the pot tax an extra 8% (10.75% tax on top of our sales tax AND an optional 3% local tax). They added the silly “5mg per dose of edibles” limit. All stuff they could get away with, but that makes the bill more palatable to pot-haters.