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On Ballot, Ohio Grapples With Specter Of Marijuana Monopoly


zachw

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Big article in the NY Times.
 

As a member of the International Cannabinoid Research Society, a collector of antique marijuana apothecary jars, the founder of an industrial hemp business and “a pot smoker consistently for 47 years,” Don Wirtshafter, an Ohio lawyer, has fought for decades to make marijuana legal, calling it “my life’s work.”
 
But when Ohio voters go to the polls Tuesday to consider a constitutional amendment to allow marijuana for both medical and personal use, Mr. Wirtshafter will vote against it.
 
Issue 3, as the proposed amendment is known, is bankrolled by wealthy investors spending nearly $25 million to put it on the ballot and sell it to voters. If it passes, they will have exclusive rights to growing commercial marijuana in Ohio. The proposal has a strange bedfellows coalition of opponents: law enforcement officers worried about crime, doctors worried about children’s health, state lawmakers and others who warn that it would enshrine a monopoly in the Ohio Constitution.


Full article here.

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whats interesting about ohios' run for legal weed and medical is that i havent heard a single article or complaint that marijuana is evil or should be illegal. only from the ohio gov kaich who is currently running for republican candidate.

 

what has happened is that the prohibitionists have realized that their argument that "marijuana should be illegal" does not have the same traction that a "monopoly" argument does.

 

even though its an oligopoly, not a monopoly. and thats only an oligopoly on WHERE its grown. the RO campaign has tried to make it clear that they will rent out to different people on those plots of land. i dont think anyone cares though.

 

the prohibitionists arent dead in ohio, they just are hiding and spewing lies like "monopoly" "wait until 2016 for another proposal!" or "vote yes on 2 to get weed without a monopoly".

 

unfortunately , the chances for any other proposal to succeed in ohio are very slim. it took RO at least $800,000 just to collect enough signatures. plus all the money they are pouring into tv ads.

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whats interesting about ohios' run for legal weed and medical is that i havent heard a single article or complaint that marijuana is evil or should be illegal. only from the ohio gov kaich who is currently running for republican candidate.

 

what has happened is that the prohibitionists have realized that their argument that "marijuana should be illegal" does not have the same traction that a "monopoly" argument does.

 

even though its an oligopoly, not a monopoly. and thats only an oligopoly on WHERE its grown. the RO campaign has tried to make it clear that they will rent out to different people on those plots of land. i dont think anyone cares though.

 

the prohibitionists arent dead in ohio, they just are hiding and spewing lies like "monopoly" "wait until 2016 for another proposal!" or "vote yes on 2 to get weed without a monopoly".

 

unfortunately , the chances for any other proposal to succeed in ohio are very slim. it took RO at least $800,000 just to collect enough signatures. plus all the money they are pouring into tv ads.

I believe you are missing the biggest point of all T and we keep hammering it to you but you resist the truth. Prohibitionists have decided that quasi legalization is their tool to create a better prohibition then they have now. So don't expect anything but a token protest just to keep folks like you thinking you are still fighting The Man

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I believe you are missing the biggest point of all T and we keep hammering it to you but you resist the truth. Prohibitionists have decided that quasi legalization is their tool to create a better prohibition then they have now. So don't expect anything but a token protest just to keep folks like you thinking you are still fighting The Man.

i understand the argument.

 

just the arrest statistics do not prove your point, and in fact disprove it.

i'll support full marijuana law removal, whenever that happens. until then, on with quasi-legalization for me.

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thats what i do not like about the article.

 

it does not answer a single question.

 

why is marijuana illegal?

why is quasi-legalization monopoly bad?

 

resto and zap, maybe you could write an article explaining fully these ideas of yours.

i think it would help people to join your cause.

i'll help you punch it up. be sure to include links and statistics backing up your assertions ,estimates, guesses where possible. having reference links is always useful in communicating that you know what you are talking about.

 

even though we disagree i still want to help you. with enough convincing arguments you may sway more people and even myself.

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cant even write an article articulating your position.

 

ok, lets say we go gangbusters and get a decrim all marijuana laws removed off the books proposal. lets say it passes.

 

whats to stop the anti-marijuana legislature from simply putting the marijuana laws back on the books with a simple 50% majority 3 days after the election?

 

you cant put in a amendment that "the legislature cannot change this law". it goes against the constituion. youd have to change the constitution.

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cant even write an article articulating your position.

 

ok, lets say we go gangbusters and get a decrim all marijuana laws removed off the books proposal. lets say it passes.

 

whats to stop the anti-marijuana legislature from simply putting the marijuana laws back on the books with a simple 50% majority 3 days after the election?

 

you cant put in a amendment that "the legislature cannot change this law". it goes against the constituion. youd have to change the constitution.

Wrote 50 articles worth of appeals just to convince you T. 

 

You don't get real legalization from a ballot proposal. 

 

You get real legalization because you have proven that you have been wronged for decades and We The People recognize that. Then everything falls into place if you don't have so many rules piled on top of rules that steal from users and bribe the wrong people and make them even more powerful.

You go right to the top and force a president and your governor to just do the right thing instantly. 

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great, have you called either the white house 202-456-1111 or the governor 517-373-3400 (or Lt Governor's Office 517-373-6800 , is snyder in china again?) to ask them to do this?

Bernie is half of the equation. Snyder? He's a total arse about cannabis because he was kicked to the curb after narcing on his roomate in college. He is mentally damaged goods. We will need him gone before we can make any sense here in Michigan. Sad but true .... you can't change reality. 

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Reality bites. Ignoring it bites worse. Like with quasi legalization, it bites worse than the prohibition we have now, ONLY because of the power players we have now. It looks ok on paper until you add in the important details. If any prosecutor still can give you jail time for an amount of cannabis you can easily have then that is horseshit, ask Willy Nelson. he gets selectively discriminated against by angry prosecutors quite regularly, and he hates being in that position. No statistic will show it but it is real.

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willie nelson gets charged in quasi-legal states yes/no ?

Usually just messed with heavily. Ruin your day, week, month, and then no real charges. Just harassment mostly. Like he said in his article, they find out what you love and destroy it. That's why he has been low profile because he doesn't want them messing with Farm Aid.

 

You are trying to say that the statistics don't back me up, I know. But you need to realize your statistics are mostly bogus and just a small amount of truth slipping out. The tip of an iceburg. 

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It doesn't take an article.

 

More taxes + partial legalization = more resources to fully prosecute those left out of the "legalization" protections, and more money to create test cases to whittle away at the tiny protections that are there.

 

All while licensed producers use a portion of their profits to coerce the government to continue to change the law to increase their profits.

 

Arrest rates aren't even close to the whole story.

Don't you think the proposed "tax" on MMJ wouldn't stand if/when challenged? How can there be no sales tax on medical preparations, i.e. "Medicine", and then a sales tax on medical marijuana? I'm no lawyer, but I would have to believe this would be thrown out asap.

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