Dear Ohio Stoners and Users of Cannabis

The measure had a sort of pact with the devil quality about it. Hopefully this will spur interest in legalizing the right way - minus the greedy oligarchs - next year in Ohio. Cannabis will be on the ballot in several states in 2016 and there should be considerable momentum.

Edit: 6:40 pm pacific time Columbus Dispatch calls it for No.

Looks like it's over. Channel 10 put a checkmark beside "No."

The 2016 one will get passed. Its more of the cottage industry plan. Plus there will be more voter turnout because of the other major elections going on.

That is if it even gets to the ballot.

It won't if Mike DeWine has his way...trust me.

Hopefully a NO works out for the best, in the long run.

Making a YES a constitutional amendment (correct?) would have made it really difficult to change later on.

With Issue 3 losing so convincingly I seriously doubt any cannabis issue in Ohio gets significant outside funding. Why bother putting money into an issue that will get so much resistance from the state politicians and, even if you do jump through all their hoops, is likely to fail with the voters anyway?

Other states will be more appealing for donors...I expect Cali and Nevada to rule 2016. Ohio will be a prohibitionist state until the Feds legalize it and maybe even after.

Issue 2 - Prohibit any petitioner from using the Ohio Constitution to grant a monopoly, oligopoly, or cartel for their exclusive financial benefit or to establish a preferential tax status. - appears to have passed.

Yes, I believe issue 2 will pass. That sets the stage for legalization to get put on the 2016 ballot. I feel this is for the best in Ohio. Who wants monopolistic corporate monsters to be involved in the marijuana program. A lot of legalization supporters voted against issue 3 because it's bad legislation!!

xer0 said:

With Issue 3 losing so convincingly I seriously doubt any cannabis issue in Ohio gets significant outside funding. Why bother putting money into an issue that will get so much resistance from the state politicians and, even if you do jump through all their hoops, is likely to fail with the voters anyway?

Other states will be more appealing for donors...I expect Cali and Nevada to rule 2016. Ohio will be a prohibitionist state until the Feds legalize it and maybe even after.

Click to expand...

I think it just as possible that what voters rejected was the craven opportunism and crony capitalism of investors trying to corner a billion dollar market with an investment of a few million; they were not rejecting legalization of cannabis.

Has anybody made a call on issue 2 yet (pass/ not pass)?

If it passes, that sounds like a condemnation of the crooked issue 3, and hopefully a signal that Ohio wants a reasonable cannabis law.

I'm finding out first hand that once a State passes a "bad" cannabis law, it is tough to get things changed.

Issue 2 means nothing. It will probably never impact anything. The only reason there was an Issue 2 is because legislators needed a distraction (or a bogeyman) to keep voters from legalizing cannabis. It worked.

EDIT: In fact, this guy on the news just said Issue 2 wouldn't have changed anything and won't change anything. What Issue 2 said is apparently already the law; it's already in the state constitution. All it did was scare voters into voting against what they want. Exactly what it was supposed to do.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/sections/news/government-politics/elections/index.html

I know if I lived in Ohio I would have voted yes on 2 and no on 3. And would have been hating myself right about now. Legalization will come, likely in 2016.

Voted no on 2 and no on 3. Stand behind my decision. Time to start working towards the a bill we can support in 2016.

At least we didn't become the laughing stock of the legalization effort. I hope that the conversation continues and people take this as a poor bill being voted down and not as anti-legalization effort.

@LazyIdol The governor is already touting the loss as people not wanting herb. People can read it the way they want when nothing changes.

I think it was a mistake not to vote in something better than prohibition. Have you seen how much money the legalization people on deck for next year have? They have peanuts. There is no way a small group can afford to get the signatures. A bird in the hand...

Issue 2 will make it harder for any voter initiative to pass. The tax rates can't be protected from the ohio politicians after the change. A small group can also break up an issue if they deem it a monopoly.

I say vote yes and change it later. It just looks like a no vote for legal cannabis.

A majority of voters indicated with Issue 2 that they don't want a monopoly. That makes the failure of Issue 3 self-explanatory: it created a monopoly. To borrow a phrase from Kong-sun Long, a black horse is not a horse.

Well I guess I won't be able to visit my grandma ever. I'm unable to travel without cannabis anymore because of my health and she is in Ohio. At 94 any stalling makes a difference. Damn.

Voted no for this bullshit law. It's like a $150 fine for possession of a decent amount currently. I want much better legislation.

I do understand it was being done in a crummy "big brother" way, but I feel it would have been fixed with time. Maybe it will be, but I wish we had more. Sorry if I was just being selfish.

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It would never of been fixed or changed to make it better (meaning not-better for the current investors). it would have stayed the same. With all the money this group would have been making, they would spend an enormous amount of money to kill any change that wasn't good for them.

I'm wondering if anyone here actually read the ENTIRE text of the Issue 3 bill?

I truly do hope last night's decision ends up being the right approach for Ohio, the United States, and me personally, but I don't think it will work out that way. All it really did was keep me from having easy access to the medicine I desperately need and keep the prices I pay artificially higher than I can afford. It ensured that I will be horribly and unnecessarily stressed out until I am dead. Stress that will kill me much faster than being infinitely less stressed out.

Last night's results also made a statement: The people of Ohio do not want cannabis to be legalized.

Even though that's not true, that's the message Ohio voters sent to legislators and people who have the money to launch a brand new industry. Consequently, there is now no reason for anyone with money to invest that money in Ohio legalization efforts. Would you?

So who the fuck do you think is going to start this industry in a year, after the 2016 initiative fails to make the ballot?

Thanks to all the heartless Ohioans who voted No on Issue 3 yesterday, I'm probably never going to buy medicine legally. Furthermore, every time I need to buy medicine, I will not know if I will be able to acquire any. And even if I am able to acquire medicine, I will have only one option, which probably won't be the right option.

I'm not going to call anyone names, but I want you to know that if you voted No, you victimized me and countless other thousands of people who desperately needed you to do what you knew was the right thing to do.

If you voted No, then obviously you do not need cannabis to be legalized. You voted against something that really doesn't apply to your life. Maybe you don't need your drug of choice to be legal, but countless thousands of Ohioans need their medicine of choice to be legal and accessible.

Again, I hope I'm wrong, and I hope this post ends up making me look stupid.

If its controlled by 10 growers, you actually think the price isn't going to be higher than what your paying now? The dispensaries would not have been allowed to sell it for less than what they paid for it, that was written in the language.

I think your letting your emotions dictate something that isn't there when calling people out like this. And your wrong. People in Ohio want it legalized. But every supporter of legalization I've talk to did not support this bill. that should tell you how bad it was written.

I'm sorry for your situation and wished I lived closer so I could help you with supply. Maybe someone here is closer and can help.

One of the problems was this initiative was not something that could be repaired with a few tweaks. The fundamental structure would have had to change. But by that time regulations, a government bureaucracy, brick and mortar installations, yadda yadda would have been in place. It would have cost a lot of money to change it and a group bringing in hundreds of millions a year would have fought fiercely to resist change. Ohio dodged a bullet. Meanwhile the only ones who are going to be put in jail are the same, current, non-cartel growers who would have still been put in jail under Issue 3; possession only results in a small fine.

@Bluestang Supply and demand. If there is no/low demand, then they have to lower the price (if they want to stay in business). And considering their operating costs would be much lower than the costs of someone doing the same thing in a black market, I feel pretty confident that's exactly what would happen. Furthermore, that's exactly what history says will happen. Also, I'm pretty sure there was something written into this law that would have allowed medical customers to buy at cost.

This has nothing to do with emotions. This has to do with pain. That's why I didn't sound emotional. However, I should be emotional. My state just told me I don't matter.

Also, I didn't say people in Ohio don't want it legalized. I said they do want it legalized. But that doesn't matter now, because Ohioans consciously went to the polls and said OVERWHELMINGLY that they want it not to be legalized.

They didn't say they don't want it to be legalized today. They said they want it not to be legalized. Big difference.

Business is entirely about making money. People with money do not invest in markets that don't exist; markets that the people have said very clearly they do not want to exist.

You know the market exists, just as I know the market exists. However, the voters said that market does not exist, and anyone with money would be making a very bad investment by trying to create such a market.

Even though I would be a legitimate medical consumer, I wanted this to happen for the sake of everyone, not just myself or other legitimate medical consumers. But it's very clear that those people don't want the same thing for me. At least not enough to do what they knew was the right thing. Consequently, I hope they legalize it for medicinal purposes only. Which wouldn't surprise me, considering I saw poll results indicating that 90% of Ohio voters think it should be legalized for medical purposes.