Last updated : December 16, 2024
Last night, Ohio voters overwhelmingly said no to drugs.
64% of Ohioans (almost 2 million people) voted against Issue 3 which would have allowed the sale and use of marijuana for recreational use in the Buckeye State.
USAMDT of Cleveland has followed the “grassroots” campaign to put the measure on the November ballot from the beginning when the ballot board approved signature collection. It wasn’t long before things got hazy and scandals could have meant the efforts went up in smoke before a vote could even take place. Signatures were approved, a ballot was created (actually two), and campaigning began on both sides of the issue.
A group called ResponsibleOhio came out with celebrity endorsements and an appeal centering on personal liberty. Ironically (well, perhaps flat-out intentionally) it was the investing of wealthy individuals seeking to get richer off the public that may have swayed even the most “swayable” section of voters. Though reports have claimed public opinion is largely in favor of legalization, an oligopoly would have been created with Issue 3. It would have awarded exclusive growing rights to ten groups of investors and placed protection for them directly into the state’s constitution. That may have ended up being a major “sticky-icky” point for voters.
Even without the “monopoly” issue, Issue 3 might have still faced a “Do Not Pass Go” vote. One of the other voting measures, Issue 2, did get voter approval. It’s a measure which specifically prohibits creating such monopolies that Issue 3 desired.
You’ve got to hand it to those wacky weed hounds, however—almost as if they expected defeat, they’re already prepared to move on to 2016. Another group, Legalize Ohio 2016 has started to leave hints it will take over the issue and ResponsibleOhio vows that this won’t be a one-hitter and the fight will continue. It’s likely they’ll continue to try and repackage the same message with a new strategy, appeal more strongly to heartstrings and lean more heavily on the medical marijuana sympathetic crowd, and hope that failing this year softens voters to a future initiative.
The steep investment into campaigning by the growing groups that were going to become exclusive public producers will certainly want to see a return. While the ashes of Issue 3 are still smokin’, the next step is figuring out what went wrong and rolling out a new plan.
Did marijuana users simply forget to show up to the polls or were they high? Since it wasn’t a presidential election year, maybe it wasn’t worth paying voters to show up. Issue 3 still wouldn’t have been “legal” if it passed and starting with something like medical usage laws wasn’t going to make enough money for investors, but why start small? Even activists in favor of legalization spent money against the proposition which may have alerted people to the skunky smell surrounding Issue 3. Maybe it was just the hypocrisy of using a marijuana superhero as a mascot while claiming there’s no danger to children. “What were they smoking?”
Oh. Everyone knows the answer to that question.
