Marijuana being grown in a greenhouse. Photo by CRYSTALWEED cannabis on Unsplash.
Today, Dec. 7, is known as "Pearl Harbor Day" in the U.S. But it's also become the day in which marijuana use and possession became legal in Ohio, where I live, and where Robert Anton Wilson once lived.
As I noted in an earlier blog post, Ohio voters approved legalizing marijuana for all adults in the November election. In that earlier post, I also wrote that the state question amended state law, not the constitution. "So it's possible that the Republican-dominated state legislature could change provisions of the new legalization law or even repeal it. The spokesman for the 'vote yes' campaign on the marijuana issue told me he expects lawmakers to respect the results; I guess we'll see. "
In fact, the Ohio Senate proposed a bill, to take effect before today, that would ban growing marijuana at home and make other major changes in the law to largely negate what voters had approved. There was a lot of pushback, and most of the worst proposals were removed. The latest proposal (which hasn't passed yet) would even do some things I agree with, such as expunging some possession convictions and speeding up legal sales. The measure does cut the number of plants that can be grown at home. It also raises taxes, which seems like a bad idea, as it would boost the black market and aid competing pot stores in Michigan, where prices have dropped sharply. The Ohio Capital Journal has a roundup on the latest bill provisions.
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