COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio voters rejected a ballot proposal Tuesday that would have legalized both recreational and medical marijuana in a single stroke – a vote-getting strategy that was being watched as a potential test case for the nation.
Failure of the proposed state constitutional amendment followed an expensive campaign, a legal fight over its ballot wording, an investigation into petition signatures – and, predominantly, a counter campaign against a network of 10 exclusive growing sites it would have created. It was the only marijuana legalization question on the 2015 statewide ballots.
About 65 percent of voters opposed the measure, compared to 35 percent in favor.
Issue 3 would have allowed adults 21 and older to use, purchase or grow certain amounts of marijuana and allowed others to use it as medicine. The growing facilities were to be controlled by private investors, leading opponents to label it a “marijuana monopoly.”
That featured heavily in opposition campaigns and a separate ballot question to prevent monopolies from being inserted into Ohio’s constitution for the economic benefits of a few.