COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Recreational marijuana sales, hemp farms and a way to erase past drug convictions could be coming soon to Ohio.

That's if all goes according to Ian James' plans.

The man behind Ohio's 2015 failed marijuana legalization measure has big plans for cannabis policy in Ohio. James is a controversial figure in Ohio politics and among marijuana activists. But the ResponsibleOhio initiative he backed was the only one out of a dozen legalization proposals made over the years to appear on a statewide ballot.

James, speaking with reporters Tuesday, said he plans this year to push legislation to legalize hemp production in Ohio, back a new "free market" recreational marijuana constitutional amendment and reintroduce the "Fresh Start Act" to allow Ohioans to expunge convictions for crimes that are no longer criminal offenses.

Hemp

The 2014 farm bill gave states the choice to allow industrial hemp. All of Ohio's neighboring states allow hemp production for commercial sale or research, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

James' company, Green Light Acquisitions, has equity in several ventures that involve cannabidol, or CBD, derived from hemp plants. His ResponsibleOhio co-founder Jimmy Gould is also his partner in Green Light Acquisitions, and the pair are fundraising for a $250 million portfolio. James said the hemp their projects use is currently grown in Colorado.

James said he has the support of Ohio farmers and Republican and Democratic legislators to allow hemp cultivation here.

He declined to name those legislators, and the Ohio Farm Bureau said it's not on board, yet.

"To say the Ohio Farm Bureau supports it is inaccurate but we are in the process of studying the issue," farm bureau spokesman Joe Cornely said.

The organization has no official policy on hemp, Cornely said, but it is beginning to explore it.

"That may or may not result in us taking some action on it at the annual meeting in December," Cornely said.

Recreational measure

James said he plans to release constitutional amendment language this summer and start the process of qualifying the measure for the ballot. He said the amendment would allow people over age 21 to buy marijuana and grow it at home for personal use. Marijuana businesses would need local approval to operate, similar to how Ohioans vote on local liquor licenses.

The measure would leave Ohio's new medical marijuana program intact, James said.

James said business interests and other supporters have committed $3 million to collect the necessary 300,000-plus signatures of registered Ohio voters to put it on the ballot in 2019 or 2020.

James also said a recreational legalization measure from another group certified last month has a fatal flaw. The amendment doesn't limit how much marijuana can be grown or possessed for "personal use" but doesn't define personal use. And illegal sales are considered only a misdemeanor offense under the amendment.

James said the amendment invites cartels and drug dealers to establish themselves in Ohio and won't reduce black market sales.

But a spokesman for Ohio Families for Change, the group backing the amendment, said that's not the case. The amendment allows local governments to limit how much their residents can grow. And the Ohio General Assembly can establish felony offenses for growing in excess of the local limits, spokesman Jonathan Varner said.

"Ian James has done a lot to move forward cannabis legalization in this state, but I believe his profit motivations have caused him to cast aspersions about the Marijuana Rights and Regulations campaign and what the proposed amendment would actually do," Varner said in an emailed statement.

Fresh Start Act

ResponsibleOhio submitted its "Fresh Start Act" as a proposed state law in 2015 but withdrew it after Issue 3 lost.

The proposed law would allow people convicted of marijuana charges that are no longer crimes to file a petition in court to reduce or eliminate their sentences or expunge, or destroy, their criminal records.

The law would apply to marijuana use under Ohio's medical marijuana law, passed in 2016, as well as future legislation and constitutional amendments.

James doesn't expect difficulty collecting the roughly 100,000 signatures needed to put that measure before the legislature. If the legislature doesn't act on the proposed law or rejects it, supporters then need to collect another round of signatures -- 3 percent of the total gubernatorial votes cast this November -- to put it before voters.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments from the Ohio Families for Change campaign.