Ohio voters reject amendment to legalize marijuana

Voters in Ohio rejected an amendment on Tuesday that would have legalized marijuana for medical and recreational use.

With 72 percent of the statewide vote counted, the amendment was being trounced 65 percent to 35 percent, losing in all 88 counties. Curt Steiner, campaign director for Ohioans Against Marijuana Monopolies, said: "Issue 3 was nothing more and nothing less than a business plan to seize control of the recreational marijuana market in Ohio." He said Ohio voters were not fooled by "slick ads, fancy but deceptive mailings, [and] phony claims about tax revenues."

Issue 3 would have made marijuana legal for recreational smoking and in edible form for Ohio residents over 21, and medicinally for anyone with a qualifying condition. Under Issue 3, for at least four years, 10 investor groups would have controlled the state's commercial marijuana grow market, The Columbus Dispatch reports. About two dozen wealthy investors, including former boy band member and reality TV star Nick Lachey, two descendants of President William Howard Taft, and former NBA player Oscar Robertson, contributed roughly $25 million to the Issue 3 campaign. If the amendment had passed, Ohio would have been the first state to legalize recreational and medical marijuana at the same time.

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