Pubdate: Mon, 09 Mar 2015
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2015 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
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Author: Don Campbell
Note: Don Campbell, a former Washington journalist and journalism 
educator, lives in Oakwood, Ohio, and is a member of USA TODAY's 
Board of Contributors.

WHAT, OHIO A TRENDY POT STATE?

State Could Become First to Vote to Jump From Total Ban to Legalization

Is Ohio, long considered the nation's leading political bellwether 
state, going to pot? If some big-money investors, former sports stars 
and grassroots activists get their way, voters in November could make 
Ohio the first state to go directly from a total ban on marijuana to 
one allowing production and consumption of both medical and 
recreational marijuana.

Gallup polls show that support for legal marijuana in the Midwest is 
45%, lower than the 47% support in the South.

And what happens here could reverberate across the country next year, 
when as many as two dozen other states are expected to vote to 
decriminalize marijuana or to permit its legal production and consumption.

It should also put pressure on the U.S. Supreme Court to step in to 
resolve the obvious conflict between the growing number of state and 
local laws legalizing pot and federal law that still classifies 
marijuana as an illegal and dangerous drug.

The Ohio marijuana juggernaut is notable because, unlike Colorado, 
Washington, D.C., Alaska and Oregon, which have legalized weed, Ohio 
is Rust Belt dull, not known for an edgy living style or as a hotbed 
of libertarianism.

What's more, polls by Gallup show that support for legal marijuana in 
the Midwest is a paltry 45%, lower even than the 47% support found in 
the South. Both the East Coast and West Coast states support 
legalization by a majority of 57%. (Two countrywide polls in the past 
18 months have shown slim-to-solid majority support for national legalization.)

LAND UP FOR GRABS?

I had no idea Ohio was getting so trendy until recent reports that a 
group called Responsible Ohio was coordinating the purchase by some 
deep-pocketed entrepreneurs of 10 locations around the state to build 
large marijuanagrowing facilities. In a nod to the little people, the 
group has added language to its proposed ballot measure allowing 
individuals to grow up to four marijuana plants for personal use.

It could become the hottest cultural issue since the push for gay 
marriage began, and is likely to generate a range of debates: Will 
legalization reduce prison populations, and at what cost? Will taxes 
on marijuana leave state coffers flush or prove to be as oversold as 
recent projections of gambling revenues? Doesn't it just make sense, 
really, to control and profit from transactions that will otherwise 
be engaged in illegally by those who have a yearning for pot?

All legitimate questions, but none of them addresses the elephant in 
the room: How can state and local jurisdictions continue to make 
something legal that is patently illegal under federal law?

Here's how crazy things have become: In cities from Portland, Maine, 
to Detroit and Flint, Mich., voters have approved possession of small 
amounts of marijuana. In some cases, local police say they will still 
enforce state laws prohibiting possession, in others police say they 
will look the other way.

LOCAL VS. FEDERAL LAW

In December, Congress approved and President Obama signed a spending 
bill that defunds federal prosecution of medical marijuana sales, yet 
a U.S. attorney in Oakland continues a campaign to shut down 
California's largest medical marijuana dispensary.

Obama has not only instructed the Justice Department to not interfere 
with state laws legalizing marijuana, he also has even encouraged 
more states to "experiment" with such laws. So what happens if a 
Republican is elected president in 2016 and he or she orders a new 
attorney general to stamp out marijuana wherever it is found?

When possession of small amounts of marijuana became legal in 
Washington, D.C., last month, some Republican congressman called for 
the arrest of the mayor if she didn't block the new law.

It's time for some clarity, and there's an opportunity at hand for 
the Supreme Court to provide it. Colorado's new pot law is being 
challenged in a federal lawsuit brought by neighboring states 
Nebraska and Oklahoma. The two states argue that the law is causing 
them "great harm" and that it is in direct conflict with federal law. 
All nine former Drug Enforcement Administration heads are supporting 
the challenge in an amicus brief.

That's the big picture. Back here in Ohio, if the ballot measure 
passes, I see a problem for the horticulturally challenged: How can 
we expect to raise our own marijuana if we can't even get marigolds to grow?
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom