Prosecutors urge Ohioans to reject Issue 2 for reasons that supporters say are 'out of touch'

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..."The Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association said Issue 2 will hurt kids and communities. And they say enforcement limits baked into it will make it harder to enforce driving laws.

Ashland County Prosecutor Christopher Tunnell also added that because legal pot will be sold at costs high enough to compensate for overhead and taxes, drug dealers won’t be deterred from selling illegal marijuana.

“The key reason, in my opinion, that this isn’t going to stop who we’ll call Joe the Weed Man, from selling out of his house is that he’s going to be less expensive than these people. These people have overhead. These people have to make a profit. And then they’ve promised big money in taxes so that everybody makes sure they go and vote for this money-making scheme,” Tunnel said.

According to a report from Rutgers University’s Center for Alcohol and Substance Use Studies, California’s police confiscations of illegal marijuana have continued since it legalized recreational marijuana in 2016 and arrests for illegal marijuana have actually increased.

If Issue 2 passes in Ohio, there would be a 10% tax on marijuana sold in addition to local sales taxes. A recent Ohio State University study estimated Issue 2 could generate as much as $218 million in marijuana taxes in its first year. That money, according to the statute, would go to a social equity and jobs fund, addiction services, regulating the industry and to communities that have dispensaries.

That’s another part of the plan Tunnell doesn’t like. He said big cities with "left leaning" politics will have dispensaries and will get money while red counties, like his, that don’t have dispensaries won’t benefit from tax dollars.

Gallia County Prosecutor Jason Holdren said counties already have problems with people addicted to drugs and he said this will make those situations worse. And he said children services agencies, which are already stretched for resources, will be dealing with more stress."...

“To stay with 'Joe the Weed Man', if he is selling out of his house and he’s got kids, children services are getting involved and they are making referrals for the parents,” Holdren said.

Wood County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Dobson said there could be an increase in traffic crashes. And he said the limits that are written into this proposed law when it comes to enforcement will make it hard to go after drivers who are high on marijuana.

“We would be limited in the kinds of evidence that we would be able to use merely by a statute that says, ‘This is the way you can investigate a case. You can’t bring all of the evidence you can muster in a case. You can only bring the evidence we say is okay.’” Dobson said."...