States allowing the use of marijuana clouds the path to nobler pleasures

Ohioans to End Prohibition, the political action committee behind the Legalize Ohio 2016 campaign, has less than $300 in the bank, according to its latest campaign finance report. The group's proposed Cannabis Control Amendment would legalize recreational and medical marijuana use as well as allow cultivation of industrial hemp.

(Brennan Linsley, Associated Press)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A pro-marijuana group that campaigned against Issue 3 last year and promised voters a better alternative this year is close to broke. But leaders said the mostly-volunteer group will move forward with its recreational marijuana amendment.

Ohioans to End Prohibition, the political action committee behind the Legalize Ohio 2016 campaign, reported $268 in the bank in its January campaign finance filing. The report, due Friday but filed late Monday, included contributions and expenditures through Dec. 31, 2015.

The group is moving forward with a different strategy, possibly under a new political action committee name, campaign spokesman Michael Hiles said. The organization is working to establish a relationship with Marijuana Policy Project, a national organization that plans to back a new medical-only legalization measure on the November ballot.

"Legalize Ohio 2016 continues as a campaign umbrella to build a coalition across all activist constituencies across the state of Ohio and we are being very successful," Hiles said.

Ohioans to End Prohibition's Cannabis Control Amendment would legalize recreational and medical marijuana sales and use, as well as allow farmers to grow industrial hemp. Hiles said the group has collected about 80,000 signatures of Ohio voters -- 305,591 are needed to qualify for the ballot -- and volunteers will continue to collect.

Petitioners spend millions of dollars to qualify a measure for the Ohio ballot and millions more to convince voters to approve their ballot issues. By this time last year, ResponsibleOhio, the group behind 2015's Issue 3, had raised at least $1.7 million -- before it had released a final amendment draft. That money came solely from the group's investors, who spent more than $20 million to collect signatures and run its campaign.

After Issue 3 failed in November, Ohioans to End Prohibition rebranded its campaign as "Legalize Ohio 2016" and said the group was courting donors.

The 2015 campaign finance reports show contributions from 93 individuals, with amounts ranging from $5.73 to $96.80, and about $723 from t-shirt sales. The latest report shows in-kind contributions totaling $98,000 from the group's unpaid staff.

The campaign spent $2,961 last year, most of which went to communication director Leo Townsell.

The campaign's meager cash flow is the latest news to cast doubt on its ability to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot.

First, Ohio voters in November approved Issue 2, which prohibits special interest groups from creating monopolies in the Ohio constitution. Some legal experts say that would require Ohioans to End Prohibition's amendment receive two "yes" votes because the language details industry tax rates.

In January, state legislators established a new medicinal marijuana task force that did not include anyone from Ohioans to End Prohibition. Soon after, the group's president resigned, and two days later, Marijuana Policy Project announced it would propose a competing ballot initiative this year.

Former President Sri Kavuru said then the 2015 campaign was exhausting and he didn't want to be polarizing figure in the marijuana activist community as it moved forward with legalization efforts.