Ohio’s attorney general has approved a recently resubmitted referendum petition to block parts of a restrictive marijuana and hemp law from going into effect after rejecting an initial version he said was “misleading.”
“Having carefully examined this submission, I conclude that the title and summary are fair and truthful statements of the proposed measure,” Attorney General Dave Yost (R) wrote in a letter to the petitioners on Wednesday.
“My certification of the title and summary…should not be construed as an affirmation of the enforceability and constitutionality of the referendum petition,” he said. “My role, as executed here, is limited to determining whether the wording of the title and summary properly advises potential petition signers of a measure’s material components.”
The referendum, led by Ohioans for Cannabis Choice, seeks to repeal key components of a bill the governor recently signed to scale back the state’s voter-approved marijuana law and ban the sale of consumable hemp products outside of licensed cannabis dispensaries.
Yost last month had said an initial submission from the group contained “omissions and misstatements that, as a whole, would mislead a potential signer as to the scope and effect of S.B. 56.” They then submitted the revised version.
Now that the group’s latest version of the proposal has been approved by the attorney general, it can begin efforts to collect a total of about 250,000 signatures to make the ballot.
Gov. Mike DeWine’s (R) office and a senator who led the charge to pass SB 56 have criticized the cannabis referendum campaign.
In general, the proposed referendum would repeal the first three core sections of a controversial bill that DeWine signed into law in December that he says is intended to crack down on the unregulated intoxicating hemp market. But the legislation would do more than restrict the sale of cannabinoid products to dispensaries.
Read more at Marijuana Moment
