To Prevent a Marijuana Grower Monopoly Vote No On Ohio Marijuana Legalization Initiative

It is time that marijuana be legalized.   The drug is addictive and has dire health effects for some users.

As with alcohol, if used  while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment pot could prove to be deadly to the user and innocent bystanders.   No employer, with perhaps  the exception of some creative artists, really want an employee to come to work stoned.  

Probably what this nation does not need is another recreational drug on the market----but if the government allows cigarettes and alcohol, pot might as well legalized also and legally provide some much needed tax revenue.

Prohibition failed miserably with alcohol and pot is for many an alternative to alcohol. 

There are those who probably can successfully argue pot has some important medicinal uses and not all that smoke pot will become addicted---as not all who drink will become an alcoholic.    

The arguments between those who feel  that the drug is addictive or not will continue and probably no one will change their mind on that discussion until they, family members,  acquaintances, and co-workers demonstrate that the seemingly harmless day to day smoking of cannabis is ruining their lives.

However, it is time to decriminalize the drug and remove its control from the cartels and gangs which have created a blood bath in our own country and overseas to provide a drug that could be easily grown in our own gardens or on our window sells for  personal use.

Keeping pot illegal is one costly aspect on the war on drugs that will never be won and the war on pot should really never have been fought. 

So now Ohioans have an opportunity to weigh into the argument on the decriminalization of pot by voting on specifically the Ohio Marijuana Legislation which 

would legalize the medical and personal use of marijuana for persons who are 21 years of age or older. The use of medical marijuana would require a doctor's note. A recreational user of marijuana would be permitted to possess one ounce of the drug or less. Someone choosing to grow marijuana at home for personal use would be permitted to grow four flowering plants at a given time with a cultivation license.

And for many those this amendment sounds reasonable, however,  the devil in the details is that  the amendment 

would provide for 10 Marijuana Growth, Cultivation and Extraction (MGCE) facilities. Cultivation of medical and retail marijuana and production of marijuana-infused products would only be permitted to take place at the 10 MGCE facilities. The Ohio Legislature was especially critical of this section of the initiative, referring an anti-monopoly amendment to the ballot in response. The legislature's amendment, if approved by voters, would block the marijuana initiative from going into effect.

Based on the fact the amendment is being pushed and financed by wealthy individuals who will own the MGCE facilities and essentially have a monopoly on growing pot, I would highly recommend that the voters of Ohio---particularly the pot smokers---vote "no" on this amendment.   

As an Ohioan in favor of pot legalization, I am adamantly opposed to potentially wealthy growers protecting their interests with a constitutional amendment.  

These already potential growers are already wealthy and will become increasingly wealthy by being a protected monopoly.   Regulate how the cash crop is grown and collect the taxes but allow other growers the ability to also grow the weed and make some money.

So vote no.  

This amendment is one clever way to allow an already wealthy 1 percenter become wealthier.

Vote against the amendment until a new amendment is  proposed which will allow other Ohioans an opportunity to also become growers.