Pubdate: Sun, 04 Oct 2015
Source: Repository, The (Canton, OH)
Copyright: 2015 The Repository
Contact: http://media.cantonrep.com/forms/letter_editor.php
Website: http://www.cantonrep.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/954
Author: Andrew Doehrel, President & CEO, Ohio Chamber of Commerce

ISSUE 3 - MARIJUANA: WHY WE'RE SAYING NO

Put Simply, This Arrangement Amounts to a Full-Scale Drug Cartel.

Since 1893, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce has waved the banner of free 
enterprise by actively championing policies that promote economic 
competitiveness and growth. The 8,000 businesses we represent range 
from large international companies to small family-owned businesses. 
Together we share a collective desire to see all Ohioans prosper, not 
just a few. Unfortunately, the deep-pocketed investors supporting 
state Issue 3 are not working toward the same goal. For the sake of 
Ohio's economic health and the safety of our workplaces, the 
chamber's board of virectors has voted to oppose Issue 3.

Issue 3 is a lengthy and complex constitutional amendment to dictate 
terms for the sale of recreational and medicinal marijuana in Ohio. 
If passed, it would confer exclusive rights for cultivating marijuana 
upon a small group of self-selected investors owning 10 
pre-designated growing sites, including one in Alliance. By 
specifying the owners and addresses of these 10 land parcels, Issue 3 
would cement a monopoly into the Ohio Constitution.

Put simply, this arrangement amounts to a full-scale drug cartel. A 
system like this that enriches a few at the expense of many is a 
direct threat to the free, competitive markets that drive the 
economic growth of our state. This proposal is not a tide that will 
raise all boats, as the saying goes; it will raise a few yachts, 
leaving the rest of Ohio in their wake.

This tide also threatens to flood Ohio with marijuana. Issue 3 
authorizes 1,100 marijuana retail stores across the state - more than 
Starbucks, McDonald's, and nearly three times the number of state 
liquor stores.

These retail stores, along with high personal possession limits, will 
also increase our children's exposure to marijuana. In addition to 
the retail stores, every adult could legally possess up to 9 ounces 
of marijuana - enough for 500 joints - and an unlimited amount of 
edible marijuana cookies, brownies, and other edible goods that 
appeal to children. That's why doctors, nurses, hospitals, and other 
health advocates are opposed to Issue 3.

Issue 3 also creates a climate of uncertainty in the workplace. 
Business owners know the perils of uncertainty. With a new, 
unpredictable regulatory system on the horizon, the unknown burden of 
compliance weighs heavily on business owners, who become less likely 
to invest, expand, and create jobs.

IMPLICATIONS UNCLEAR

The amendment's backers claim to protect employers from having to 
accommodate the use of marijuana products in the workplace, but 
employees would still be legally authorized to self-medicate in the 
workplace with medical marijuana. In this situation, employers would 
be faced with an unenviable choice: Either they prohibit the employee 
from using medical marijuana on the job and therefore violate the 
Ohio Constitution, or they comply with the Constitution but allow the 
employee to be impaired on the job. Who among us would ever want to 
be placed in that kind of situation?

We can all imagine the legal headaches that have already ensued in 
the few states that have legalized medical and recreational 
marijuana. In a recent case, the Colorado Supreme Court held that 
employers are justified in terminating employees who use medical 
marijuana even though its use is fully legal in Colorado. Without 
knowing how Ohio courts will rule, however, the implications for 
workplace safety, workers compensation, and liability in our state are unclear.

If Issue 3 passed, could businesses still fire employees for testing 
positive in a drug test after using marijuana off-duty? Is an 
employee who has been terminated for marijuana use in the workplace 
still entitled to unemployment benefits? Given the fact that the 
effects of marijuana can linger up to 24 hours after use, how does an 
employer maintain adequate safety standards?

We may not have the answers to these questions until an Ohio court 
case comes along, which hamstrings businesses seeking to operate with 
clarity and confidence in the present.

AN AWKWARD POSITION

The employers I talk to every day want to focus on serving their 
customers and growing their bottom line, not navigating the legal 
intricacies of marijuana legalization. Many already struggle to find 
reliable employees that can pass drug tests and meet a high standard 
of productivity. Even if the use of medical marijuana becomes legal 
under state law, its prohibition under federal law means that 
employees are self-administering a substance that is not prescribed 
by medical professionals or regulated by state law, which hardly 
inspires confidence for employers.

The passage of Issue 3 would put employers in an awkward position, 
caught between state and federal law.

We don't know how the proposed amendment's accommodation for medical 
marijuana in the workplace can be reconciled with the Americans with 
Disabilities Act, which does not protect users of federally illegal 
drugs. We don't know how it will interact with OSHA's General Duty 
Clause, the Drug Free Workplace Act requirements for federal 
contractors, or Department of Transportation regulations for motor carriers.

What we do know is that confronting a growing list of unknowns is bad 
for business.

To truly flourish, Ohio businesses need to operate in a free and 
competitive environment governed by predictable laws and regulations. 
The passage of Issue 3 threatens to poison this environment and slow 
the growth that gives opportunity to all Ohioans.

When I talk to folks in the Colorado business community, they tell me 
that they wish they had taken a stronger stand against the policies 
that negatively impact their business climate, and they urge us not 
to make the same mistake. The policies proposed in Issue 3 are worse 
than anything other states have passed. We who have a stake in the 
continued freedom of Ohio enterprise can't afford to sit this one 
out. On Nov. 3, I encourage you to join me in standing firm against 
the passage of Issue 3 in Ohio.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom