COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A proposed constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana in Ohio completed the first step Thursday in qualifying the measure for a statewide ballot.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine certified that the petition language for the "Marijuana Rights and Regulations" amendment was a "fair and truthful" summary of the proposed measure. The amendment would allow people age 21 and older to possess, produce, transport, use, sell and share cannabis.

It will now go to the Ohio Ballot Board, a bipartisan panel of lawmakers headed by Secretary of State Jon Husted, to determine whether the measure is one or multiple ballot issues. Once approved by the Ballot Board, supporters will need to collect at least 305,591 signatures of registered Ohio voters to put the issue on the ballot.

The measure is sponsored by a group called Ohio Families for Change. DeWine rejected the group's initial proposal because the proposed petition summary did not match the amendment language.

The group had been shooting for the November ballot but likely won't have enough time to collect the required signatures before the July 4 deadline for this year's general election. Ohio Families for Change spokesman Jonathan Varner said the group is looking at filing signatures for the 2019 November election.

"This is unfortunate, because people are being arrested daily for activity that simply shouldn't be criminal, only to support a black-market system," Varner said in an email. "We're confident that when voters have the opportunity to vote on this issue, they will overwhelmingly approve it.

Ohio voters in 2015 rejected a constitutional amendment that would have legalized cannabis but required all commercially sold marijuana to be grown at 10 sites promised to campaign investors.

The amendment certified Thursday does not limit grow sites, but allows the state legislature to regulate a recreational marijuana industry.

The amendment also:

Allows for people to grow marijuana at home in private spaces;

Does not limit how much marijuana can be grown or bought for personal use;

Restricts marijuana business licenses to people with two years residency in Ohio for the first seven years the amendment is in place;

Leaves the state's medical marijuana program alone;

Requires marijuana business license fees to be comparable to other types of business licenses;

Allows landlords to restrict home-grow and employers to maintain drug-free workplaces.

"It gives the small entrepreneur an equal footing with the cannabis conglomerates, while decriminalizing personal adult use of marijuana," Varner said. "It goes beyond existing Ohio law to protect consumers from dangerous chemicals and pesticides that can be found in cannabis, and has stringent measures to keep marijuana away from persons under 21 years of age."

Mobile readers, click here to read the proposed amendment.