Rob Portman has a ghostwriter

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman says marijuana legalization is "the wrong message to send."

(Al Behrman/The Associated Press)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Sen. Rob Portman disagrees with one of his potential opponents on marijuana legalization, an issue that could come to the ballot in Ohio this year or in 2016, the year Portman's name will be on the ballot again.

"We should not throw in the towel," Portman said. "Instead, we should be saying to young people, 'There is a better way for you to have a healthy and productive life, and that's not to get into drug use and drug abuse.'"

And for those who are taking drugs already, Portman said, "we need to do a much better job when people are addicted to take them through treatment and recovery."

Attempts to legalize pot have not been an issue until now in the fledgling Senate race. But P.G. Sittenfeld, an underdog candidate for the Democratic nomination, put the matter on the table today when he told reporters during a Columbus press conference that he supports a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana.

"We have a binary choice between, 'Do we want to take this opportunity to move forward from the broken laws of the past,' and I would vote yes on this opportunity," the Cincinnati city councilman told reporters on the steps of the Ohio Statehouse.

After Sittenfeld spoke, the Northeast Ohio Media Group asked former Gov. Ted Strickland about the issue, since Strickland also wants the Democratic nomination to take on Portman in 2016. But campaign spokesman Dennis Wlllard said Strickland is still studying the proposed ballot initiative.

Willard allowed, however, that Strickland supports medical marijuana "so that families coping with epilepsy, cancer and other conditions can get the care their doctors recommend."

We asked Portman, too, during a late-morning press conference call.

Portman, who like many of his generation has admitted to smoking marijuana in his youth, said he does not support legalization. Instead, he said, efforts should focus on drug prevention and rehabilitation. He mentioned his ongoing efforts to support drug prevention and recovery through the Drug-Free Communities Act.

"What I support is a whole different approach with regard to drug use, and that is spending less money on the prosecution and incarceration side and more money on prevention and education, which I know works."

He said a community-wide coalition he started about 20 years ago, focusing on drug abuse in his hometown of Cincinnati (which he represented in the House of Representatives), "has had great success, and relative to other areas that don't have coalitions, these coalitions are doing a great job." The Drug-Free Communities Act, for which which Portman is trying to get congressional reauthorization, has helped establish about 2,000 such coalitions, Portman said.

"So that's the approach that I think we ought to be taking," he said.

Legalizing marijuana "is the wrong message to send," he said, "and instead I think we should be focused more on prevention and education. I know it works."

As for his own pot smoking, Portman told The Plain Dealer in 2005 that it occurred when he was in school.

"This was an era when almost everybody did it," the senator, now 59, said. "It's something I regret."