Ohio marijuana proposal would allow home growers

Drafters of this year's proposal to legalize marijuana in Ohio said Tuesday they've added language to allow adults over 21 to get a license to grow at home. They also cut the suggested tax on retail sales from 15 percent to 5 percent.

Until Tuesday, the proposed constitutional amendment from ResponsibleOhio said nothing about people growing at home. Lydia Bolander, the group's spokeswoman, said the organization originally intended to leave the issue to the Ohio Legislature.

"But we had a lot of input from experts and concerned citizens, not just here in Ohio but nationwide," Bolander said, "and the more we thought about it, staying silent on the home-grow issue was only going to create more confusion."

ResponsibleOhio needs to collect at least 306,000 signatures to place the proposed amendment on the November ballot. The amendment would provide for 10 privately owned grow sites – three of which would be in Greater Cincinnati. But potential supporters argued that leaving out home growers could hurt the proposal.

"Even for people who don't smoke or grow just think it's wrong to have a corporation that's the only one that can grow," said Robert Ryan, president of the Ohio chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "It's like saying no one can grow tomatoes in their backyard."

The revised language is modeled on the Oregon legalization measure that passed in November. It would allow Ohioans over 21 to obtain licenses from a new Marijuana Control Commission to grow up to four plants indoors in an area secured from the reach of minors. Home growers would not be permitted to sell.

Bolander said, "We thought home growing could be a part that we could leave for the General Assembly to decide when we are further along. But we realize that it does need to be accounted for, so we made the decision to include it because it's the right thing to offer adults. Much like alcohol, adults can responsibly grow marijuana at home in the same way that they responsibly brew beer at home."

The original amendment called for a 15 percent tax on retail sales at licensed stores. But the new language cuts that figure to 5 percent. Bolander said the lower proposed tax would smother the black market.

Ohio NORML has not expressed official opinion on the ResponsibleOhio amendment. But Ryan agreed Tuesday with Bolander that cutting the sales tax rate would land a blow on the black market.

"Washington state has a very large black market due to their very high taxes," Ryan said. "Reducing the tax will minimize the black market in Ohio."

Washington state, which legalized marijuana in 2012, has a 25 percent excise tax on marijuana.