Pubdate: Mon, 16 Feb 2015
Source: Columbus Dispatch (OH)
Copyright: 2015 The Columbus Dispatch
Contact:  http://www.dispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/93

POT PLOT GETS WORSE

Plan to Create a Marijuana Cartel Would Overrule Local Zoning Controls

The cartel of investors seeking a constitutional monopoly to legalize 
and sell marijuana in Ohio really must be using too much of their own product.

Not only would the backers of the proposed November ballot issue have 
voters grant exclusive business rights to a limited group of 10 
investors and their partners, but they seek constitutional powers to 
trump local zoning controls.

Zoning in even the most routine circumstance is a ready battlefield, 
with county commissioners and city councils holding legal hearings to 
protect quality of life and neighbors' investments. Traffic and noise 
studies are done. Land use, drainage and aesthetics are considered.

But when the applicant is a business, the debate gets far more 
complicated and intense. Imagine what would happen when the proposed 
zoning applicant wants to run a business producing a heretofore 
illicit drug. Neighbors are bound to get their noses out of joint.

Little wonder that ResponsibleOhio, the misnamed group sponsoring the 
proposal, wants a legally guaranteed end run on this review. Its plan 
would legalize marijuana for recreational use for those over 21 and 
for medical use.

Among the previously undisclosed stipulations tucked into the 
petition language is a provision to override all "zoning, land-use 
law or subdivision or agricultural regulation" for pot farms or 
processing sites. An exception would be made for a residential district.

That still leaves a whole lot of onerous possibilities.

For instance, one proposed site is within a three-minute drive of a 
Pataskala high school. Local parents are understandably concerned.

A total of 345 acres in 10 counties would be set aside for growing 
and processing marijuana if Responsible-Ohio is successful in getting 
a ballot issue passed.

The group first has to get on the ballot, which means gathering 
305,591 signatures of registered voters. The well-heeled group of 
investors reported raising $1.78 million for the campaign. Members 
include fashion designer Nanette Lepore, basketball legend Oscar 
Robertson and NFL player Frostee Rucker.

But getting this issue on the ballot and duping Ohioans into passing 
it are separate matters. Buckeye State residents aren't dumb. In 
2006, another purveyor of misery, Big Tobacco, tried to pull one over 
on Ohio, by placing a constitutional amendment on the ballot in an 
effort to fool Ohioans into nullifying smoking bans by 21 cities, 
including Columbus. It masqueraded behind a benign name, too: "Smoke 
Less Ohio."

Ohioans rejected that issue and passed a different one establishing a 
state law banning smoking in public places statewide, and without 
monkeying with the state constitution.

ResponsibleOhio is more likely patterning its effort after the 2009 
amendment that brought casino gambling to Ohio, which was peddled to 
voters on the basis of the tax revenues it would produce.

Under the pot-legalization plan, a mere 15 percent tax on sales would 
be divvied up among local governments and to pay for such things as 
addiction and treatment programs.

Sadly, the amount raised for addiction programs could not possibly be 
enough to undo the damage that legalizing marijuana could do. Ohio's 
top office holders, who slammed the proposed ballot issue, are right: 
This is a stupid idea.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom