Just Say No to Responsible Ohio initiative

[Melvan]

I started this thread at another forum, but I believe this info should be out there alot. I'm going to cut and paste what has already been posted there, and then add as new info becomes available.

There is a group currently working in Ohio towards legalaization called Responsible Ohio.

They are currently out gathering signatures in the state to place legalization on the ballot in Ohio in November. This is not a group that should be given any support.

The bill will be written so that only 10 people will control all the mj in the state. Out of state investors are backing the plan and they have the money to spew their baloney all over the place, but in truth, their plan would kill any chance of patients growing their own meds, as well as kill all the satellite industry that grows around the green industry. It also provides no allowance for the cultivation of industrial hemp, a crop struggling Ohio farmers desperately need.

These 10 millionaires would be the only ones allowed to grow in the state as well as run all the dispensaries. All proceeds would go directly into these 10 people's pockets (one of which is just a fashionista, I can just imagine what a professional shoe shopper would say was medicine)

They continually bring up medical uses, but their initiative is only recreational and makes no allowances for medical use.

The only jobs created will be specific to those 10, the only meds available will be what they say they will grow, and the pricing will be whatever they want to sell it for.

If you're an Ohio voter, do not sign their petition and do not vote for their amendment. A marijuana monopoly that only benefits 10 people is not what the state needs, and for sure is not what patients need.

The proper group to back is The Ohio Rights Group amendment, which allows for home grown medicine and the cultivation of hemp.

 

[Melvan]

They're making a big stink out of there being 1100 licenses available for cannabis selling stores, but what they aren't telling you is that only those 10 millionaires will be allowed to grow, and only those 10 will be able to supply product.

So, 1100 stores or not, all that will be available is what they want to grow. And that will be the highest yielding strains, regardless of their medical properties. They're making a big deal about the testing too, but they're neglecting to tell anyone that the 10 will be the only ones allowed to have licensed labs in the state to do it.

Feel free to read through their propaganda site responsibleohio.com/

Here is a list of their investors Note all the celebrities, NBA players, NFL players, etc. responsibleohio.com/responsibleohio-announces-key-investors/

And when you're all full of their baloney, take a hike over to www.ohiorightsgroup.org/ This is a specific amendment for medical use and industrial hemp cultivation. This is the group that Ohio voters need to support.

 

[Melvan]

This was posted to the Ohio Rights Group Facebook page today.

We have now completed a thorough review of the Responsible Ohio ballot language. Here is one issue we have with their amendment:
Medical marijuana in the context of RO is a sham. The definition “marijuana” (Section L, #5), which reads, "’Marijuana’ and ‘marihuana’ mean all parts of the plant of the genus cannabis.” It goes on to read, “’Marijuana’ does not include medical marijuana.” Nonsensical, but true. If “medical marijuana” means “marijuana used to treat a debilitating medical condition” (Section L, #12), then by extension, marijuana “used to treat a medical condition” is not marijuana. There is a reason for this.
Dispensaries and low cost marijuana for indigent patients are merely optional. While RO’s Commission is charged with governing these programs (Section C), it is only obligated to fund them to the “extent the Commission so elects.” (Section C and Section E, #3) These two provisions are thus optional – go/no go. With the definition of marijuana excluding “medical marijuana” and the severability clause permitting this exclusion (Section K), medical marijuana appears to be headed for the cutting room floor, sliced away and shelved. If this is so, it has been purposefully placed in RO’s amendment as a red herring to lure investors, volunteers and votes, leaving the sick, dying and disabled to suffer decades longer in the wake.

 

[Melvan]

Cut and paste from Ohio Rights Group Facebook page

As far as HOME GROWING...the ResponsibleOhio amendment is not silent, but prohibits growing at home in Provision F, first sentence: "The growth and cultivation of marijuana and medical marijuana, and the extraction of cannabinoids from marijuana and medical marijuana, for sale and medical use within this state SHALL BE LAWFUL ONLY AT licensed MGCE facilities.....This ensures growing is still illegal. In addition, the PENALTIES FOR HOME GROWING are increased by the new definition of 'marijuana' in this amendment by including "all parts of" the plant...the current OHIO REVISED CODED exempted the "mature stalks" in the definition. Thereby this INCREASES the felonies that will occur from home growing marijuana.

 

[Joe420Camel]

No home grow = no support from me!!!!!!
If I lived in oh-high-oh that's is...:vap-bobby_on_the_be

 

[hippy59]

I will be voting this one down myself. there is another coming up in 2016 that does allow for a person to grow and use what they grow. that's the one I will be voting for.

 

[Melvan]

hippy59 if Responsible Ohio makes it to the ballot in November Ohio might not get a chance to vote on the 2016 medical amendment to the state constitution. These guys have buttloads of cash, and they're spending it.

Most importantly right now is to keep people from signing their petition to get it on the ballot. No sigs, no voting.

 

[hippy59]

well, at the least I will be going to the ballet and giving my no vote. not voting at all is just like saing yes, and I wont be signing any ballots.

 

[Melvan]

From the Ohio Rights Group Facebook page.

Like the amendments that cemented gambling into the Ohio constitution, Responsible Ohio’s (RO) ballot language names the locations and parcel numbers where ten “Marijuana Growth, Cultivation & Extraction Facilities” will be located. Rumor has it that each site is worth $2 million and that shares are being sold to investors, both to give them a stake in the sales from these sites and to fund the campaign from which they will profit. RO spokespersons claim they have $20 million in the bank. It that’s the case, the $1.7 million in reportable campaign contributions should provide insight into who these investors are, except that they don’t. Nameless, faceless numbered Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs) shield the identity of their handlers. Further, while the 24 acre Hamilton County parcel, for example, is owned by the Broadwell Factory Group, it will be operated by yet another to-be-known corporation. Corporate layers might be plausible in an open free market, but the one proposed by RO is hardly free. These sites, the facilities on them and the investors in them will be THE sole purveyors of marijuana in Ohio in a climate absent of transparency, with no stated regard for the public interest as well as anti-trust implications, all the while asking for an affirmative vote of the public to empower them. One must ask, who are these people?

 

[Melvan]

If Responsible Ohio gets its way, home growing will be illegal in the state forever, as the amendment language specifically states that growing will only be allowed in the 10 designated facilities. So, even when federal prohibition ends, it will never end in Ohio

View attachment 10491076_833111633422413_4085798925385544217_n.jpg

 

[Joe420Camel]

.

On Tuesday, ResponsibleOhio announced that it plans to revise its proposal to allow adults 21 and older to grow marijuana at home. Another change the group made to the proposal is to lower the tax rate at retail locations. Its initial proposal wanted a 15 percent tax, but the group has now lowered it to 5 percent.



“After extensive conversations with experts and concerned citizens across the state and nation, ResponsibleOhio has decided to include regulated and limited home growing as a part of our amendment,” ResponsibleOhio Spokesperson Lydia Bolander said in a press release. “Combined with a lower tax rate for consumers, these changes will make our communities safer by smothering the black market.”

Much of the early opposition to ResponsibleOhio’s plan has been by other marijuana legalization advocates, including three other groups working on ballot initiatives. The pro-pot groups criticized ResponsibleOhio’s plan for only allowing cannabis to be grown at 10 sites promised to campaign backers and for limiting the amount of marijuana someone can buy and possess to 1 ounce.

Adults over age 21 could obtain home grow licenses but would not be allowed to sell to the public, similar to beer enthusiasts brewing their own beverages, according to the press release. Bolander said the revised amendment will follow Oregon’s model, which allows adults over age 21 to obtain a license to grow up to four marijuana plants in a secure space.

:vap-bobby_on_the_be

 

[emrldthumb]

Obtain a license to grow for yourself?? That's absurd. I don't need a license to brew beer for myself.

 

[AmateurAspirations]

I just tried to post a long rant about this, kind of glad I had to log in again to post and it was lost lol.
This RO group is off their rocker. There was a discussion on NPR today about all the groups and who's who and what not. Apparently RO has some OHians in the mix. A fromer Browns/Bengals player, someone from the NBA and a fashion designer from Akron. Not that that helps any but at least some of them are in the open.
I'd rather stick with the current decrim we have now! Give me a $150 ticket and leave me alone!
All in all, Ohio as a whole needs this industry.Our school's need this.our pot hole ridden roads need it. Our farmers deserve to be able to grow hemp if they want. We deserve to have collectives, caregiver's or the right to support our own needs through this whether they be medical or monetary. I'd like to be able to help the people I do now, legally. I'm no entrepeneur. But I am compassionate. I am all about making my world more legitimate and these 10 millionaire's want to bogart the whole thing for themselve's. Monopolizing a burgeoning industry may be buisiness 101 but who else is that really going to help.
Everyone from Ohio needs to shut this down. Don't sign the petition. We aren't going to be able to "fix" it later.
Still turned into a rant. I'm deeply insulted by RO.

Also, may I add, that OR submitted their proposal to DeWine, the AG, last tuesday. So, this bull about now you can get 4 plants and pay %5 tax, is complete ****. Once you submit that proposal it can not be changed unless rejected!!!

 

[FreedomRider]

Here's the latest language these slimebags added to the bill:

"Providing that it is lawful for persons 21 years of age or older to grow, cultivate, use, possess and share with another person 21 years of age or older homegrown marijuana in an amount not to exceed four flowering marijuana plants and eight ounces of usable homegrown marijuana at a given time, so long as they have obtained a non-transferrable license pursuant to Commission promulgated rules and regulations."

Jam your "Commission promulgated rules and regulations" RIGHT UP your ***.

 

[Joe420Camel]

.

Sigh, the sad thing is, at this point, 4 plants, 1/2 lb of weed and the weight of "the neighbors could call the cops @ any time and seriously mess not only mine but my family's lives up" off my shoulders... sounds like heaven.

I KNOW that's NOT how it should be but shooting this down means another year of hiding in my basement... IF I lived in oh-high-oh that is.

:48:


Edit:

if these lawsuits VS Colorado start to get ANY traction, I may HAVE to strike now while the iron is hot and momentum is on "our" side
I hope they get laughed out of the courtroom but in front of a sympathetic judge, just about ANYTHING can get going
.

 

[Melvan]

The problem with the language is with the allowance of "4 flowering plants" this could easily be interpreted in a court as meaning "only 4 flowering plants" Which means no seedlings, veg plants, clones, etc. You can't get to flowering stage without veg stage, so a smart lawyer could easily block all home growing by a court decision, giving RO their way, while looking like the victims.

4 plants, with no evidence of sales, is already within the decrim laws as a misdemeanor with a fine. All their "get a $50 license" will do is increase the work of law enforcement having to find and bust all those tiny little grows.

They refuse to answer questions about the staffing of the 10 locations. As technically, there are no advanced growers in Ohio, as no one is allowed to grow, I simply asked if they planned to bring in out of state farmers. They refuse to answer that question as I will not say that their initiative has medical applications.

Ask them how if extractions are going to still be illegal, then how can it be considered good for patients? Extraction is necessary for many patients battling things such as cancer, who need the oils not the smoke to get the most benefit. They refuse to answer that question too.

When it comes down to it, The Ohio Rights Group already has a perfectly good mmj and hemp bill that you can sign the petition for now. It's language was approved by AG almost a year ago. It is a constitutional amendment that, when voters say yes, by state law has to take effect within 30 days of voters saying they want it. No court can stop it. It provides for the proper caregiver/patient relationship as well as free enterprise for the growth of satellite industry in the state. Ohio farmers will be able to cultivate industrial hemp, something the struggling ag community truly needs. You can download an individually numbered petition at www.ohiorightsgroup.org for you and your friends to sign.

 

[Joe420Camel]

but the worm on the end of that bent wire is soooo tasty (I bet)
just a little nibble...
YANK!
and thus another fish is on the hook

been "in the basement" for over 20 years, what's one or two more to do it RIGHT, right?

:48:

 

[Melvan]

It does come off as something to dangle in front of the ox to make it plow doesn't it Joe?

 

[Batman]

I think it's fare to grow and to use what I grow. Everyone should allow this.

 

[Joe420Camel]

Allowing the smoking and growing is not the real question/issue here.
This is a case of (rich) people trying to take advantage of the situation and "sneak" in laws and amendments that will (potentially) monopolize the market in Ohio.
This seems "All about the ba$$" and not about the freedom.
:48: