It seemed unlikely to me when the idea got started, but tomorrow Ohions might very well legalize marijuana by passing Issue 3. Issue 3 has some very different characteristics than other efforts, one of which is that it legalizes and establishes regulatory agency for both medical and recreational cannabis all at once.
But the feature that gives most voters pause is that it names ten investors that will be given total and sole control over the production of cannabis in Ohio. Most call this a “monopoly”, but it’s really an oligarchy; another term might be “cartel”. The investors can retain this control as long as they wish.
On the same ballot is Issue 2, which specifically disallows monopolies set up by the Issue process. If both 2 and 3 pass there’s a precedence rule, but it’s more likely court fights will continue for years. Even if 3 passes and 2 doesn’t, there will be a lengthy court battle.
It’s difficult to predict the outcome of the election, polls have been dead heats lately.
Wise or not, the 4 legalized states have crafted rules that make a market of a lot of small operations, encouraging the local farmers and families rather than big corporations. Washington, Colorado, and Oregon will have about 600 growers each very soon now.
Personally, I think Ohio can do better than this. I hope it fails, then the activists can go to work for another try in 2016 with more reasonable, and more tested, approaches.