Culmination Project – Growing

the State of Ohio

PLS 1232

4/26/2021

Prof Jeffrey Jones

Kelli Walker
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Culmination Project – Growing the State of Ohio

The population in the state of Ohio has been continuously growing since the 1950s.

While there has been a steady increase in the size of Ohio’s population, there are many elements

that are driving residents out of Ohio and keeping others from coming into the state of Ohio. One

of the many issues that is keeping people away from the state of Ohio is the issue of legalizing

marijuana. While only fifteen states and Washington D.C. currently have legalized the use of

recreational marijuana, there are many laws that have been in the works as an attempt to legalize

marijuana in the state of Ohio that have not yet passed. While states have legalized the use of

marijuana, there are still different laws per state that limit the amount a person can legally have

on them, as well as how much they can have in their home. There are also some states that have

legalized the right to grow marijuana in the home as well, and other states that do not allow their

citizens that option. While there are many different debates surrounding the topic of legalizing

marijuana, making it legal would benefit many Ohioans and would also help Ohio’s population

to grow and flourish because many citizens from neighboring states may see this as a benefit and

be interested in moving into Ohio for this reason.

There are currently fifteen states that have legalized the recreational use of marijuana.

However, according to Oberk.com, there are more states considering the legalization of

marijuana usage in 2021. In addition, forty-eight of the fifty states have passed legislations

allowing some sort of medical usage for marijuana, including Ohio. Many states that have

allowed for medical usage have a list of diseases or conditions that would warrant a citizen to be

prescribed marijuana for medical purposes. Many of the states have similar lists with diseases

including cancer, HIV or AIDS, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), pain that is chronic and

severe or intractable, terminal illnesses, and many others depending on the state. In the state of
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Ohio, there are twenty-one medical conditions that would qualify and individual to be prescribed

for medicinal marijuana including:

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)

Alzheimer’s disease

Cachexia, Wasting syndrome

Cancer

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy

Crohn’s disease

Epilepsy or another seizure disorder

Fibromyalgia

Glaucoma

Hepatitis C

Inflammatory bowel disease

Multiple sclerosis

Pain that is either chronic and severe or intractable

Parkinson’s disease

HIV/AIDS

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Sickle cell anemia

Spinal cord disease or injury

Tourette’s syndrome

Traumatic brain injury

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Ulcerative colitis

However, the law in Ohio prohibits medicinal marijuana to be ingested by smoking, and

therefore is only permitted to be used medicinally in oils, patches, edibles, vapors, plant matter,

or tincture forms.

There are some states that have only legalized the use of cannabidiol or CBD, which is a

chemical compound from the Cannabis sativa plant, it is commonly used to address anxiety,

chronic pain, and insomnia. CBD is a non-psychoactive drug, but still carries many of the same

calming and relaxational feelings as a psychoactive drug such as tetrahydrocannabinol or THC,

without causing the same psychoactive effects as THC. In the state of Kansas, CBD products

have been legalized but only those with zero percent THC levels. However, most CBD oils

contain at least trace remains of THC, so there is no way to be certain that there are no amounts

of THC in the oils that have been legalized by the state.

Ohio has already begun to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana that a person can

carry. In 1975, possession of up to one hundred grams was decriminalized, and is considered a

minor misdemeanor with a maximum fine of $150. If a person is found with more than one

hundred grams but less that two hundred the fine is $250, and it is considered a misdemeanor

with the possibility of up to thirty days in jail. There are also several major municipalities in the

state of Ohio that have instituted reforms to further decriminalize the use of marijuana including

Toledo, Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland. According to WCPO, in 2019 Cincinnati

legalized the possession of up to one hundred grams of marijuana. Any individual within the city

of Cincinnati can have up to a hundred grams on their person with no age limit and will not be

fined or charged a crime. While the law does allow for a person to carry the substance, any

individual caught smoking the substance can still be criminally charged in the city of Cincinnati.
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Marijuana itself is still considered an illegal substance in Cincinnati, so while it is legal to carry,

it may still be confiscated the discretion of the officer.

Since 2014, Alaska has allowed for recreational marijuana to be legal and has allowed for

dispensaries as well. Adults that are 21 or older may possess up to an ounce of weed. According

to the states website, the ballot passed to legalize the usage of marijuana allows the state to levy

a tax to regulate the production, sale, and use of marijuana, “The marijuana tax is imposed when

marijuana is sold or transferred from a marijuana cultivation facility to a retail marijuana store or

marijuana product manufacturing facility. The initial tax was $50 per ounce of marijuana”

(Alaska Department of Revenue - Tax Division, 2014). However, beginning in January of 2019,

the ballot was modified and the sales and transfers of marijuana became subject to new tax rates,

“Mature bud/flower are taxed at $50 per ounce; immature or abnormal bud is taxed at $25 per

ounce; trim is taxed at $15 per ounce; and clones are taxed at a flat rate of $1 per clone” (Alaska

Department of Revenue - Tax Division, 2014). In 2019, the state of Alaska reported more than

two million dollars in tax revenue from marijuana alone. This further proves that allowing

marijuana for recreational use in the state of Ohio would also give the state the ability to impose

taxes on the buying and selling of marijuana which would benefit the state.

According to Investopedia, in 2019 Colorado collected more than $302 million in taxes

and fees on medical and recreational marijuana. The site also states that according to a report

from the Colorado State University-Pueblo’s Institute or Cannabis Research, “…the legal

cannabis industry has contributed more than $80.8 million to the local economy in 2017,

primarily through taxes and other fees” (Krishna, 2021). Furthermore, New Frontier, a cannabis

analytics company, suggests that “… federally legal pot could generate an additional $105.6

billion in aggregate federal tax revenue by 2025. (Krishna, 2021). The taxes and fees that can be
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imposed onto legal marijuana would be beneficial to both states and the federal government and

would allow for more economic stimulation. Other states such as California and Massachusetts

also reported a large increase in taxes that were collected after marijuana was legalizes in the

state. In California, cannabis sales alone generated $411.3 million in excise tax, $98.9 million in

cultivation tax, and $335.1 million in sales tax. Massachusetts on the other hand reported that

within the first year of opening marijuana retailers, $393.7 million was generated in gross sales.

The legalization of marijuana has also shown in increase in job availability and income

availability to the individuals that reside in the state. For example, a study on Nevada by the

RCG Economics and Marijuana Policy Group showed that the legalization of marijuana in the

state would allow for upwards of 41,000 jobs till 2024 and generate more than $1.7 billion in

labor income. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, or ICF, in

California estimated that at least 81,000 additional direct, indirect, and induced jobs would

become available in the state of California as a direct result of legalizing marijuana sales. The

group also projected an increase in total labor income by at least $3.5 billion (Krishna, 2021).

Nationwide, federal legalization of marijuana could allow for one million additional jobs in the

country by 2025 as workers would be needed to farm, process, distribute, and sell the products.

There would also be many available secondary job options in industries related to legal

marijuana while not being directly involved in the production and distribution of the product

including financing services or construction companies to create dispensaries or spaces for the

product to be grown.

Another economical benefit for the state of Ohio if marijuana was legalized would be the

ability of saving money to go towards other departments and necessities for the state. Currently,

the federal marijuana enforcement costs several billion dollars per year to maintain. However, as
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more states begin to legalize the use of marijuana, the enforcement costs have begun to lower

significantly. Furthermore, if marijuana were to be legalized it could be removed from the list of

controlled substances, which would result in fewer court cases and trials in regards to the

substance, as well as fewer incarcerations, allowing for more money to be saved as a result. If

marijuana became legal in the state it could also cause the rates for the substance to decrease as a

result of the substance no longer being a high commodity item which would in turn benefit the

residents of the states as they are not being charged as highly.

While legalizing marijuana will benefit that state of Ohio, it will also benefit many of its

residents as well as potential Ohio residents. Data has proved that the legalization of marijuana

has a positive effect on the population of a state. The state of Colorado was one of the firsts to

legalize the recreational use of marijuana on November 6th, 2012. According to publisher Chris

Moore, in 2019, it was recorded that the population of Colorado increased by eight percent after

the legalization of marijuana took into effect, “ Researchers calculated that 156,046 more people

moved to Colorado between 2009 and 2015 than what would have been predicted if the state had

not legalized cannabis” (Moore, 2019). More people chose to move into the state of Colorado

after marijuana was legalized. The state predicted the over 156,000 less people would move into

the state compared to the amount that did move into between those six years. In Ohio, the

population from 2017 to 2018 only increased by 0.264%. Legalizing the use of marijuana has

been proven to increase the population of a state as well. The study showing that the legalization

of marijuana increased the population of Colorado also proved that the current population that

was living in Colorado did not decrease due to the change as well. Meaning that residents of

Colorado were not driven out of the state after learning that the usage became legalized.
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Marijuana has been used for thousands of years and is considered to be the most

commonly used illegal drug in the world. According to Tamar Todd’s Journal of Criminal Law,

The Benefits of Marijuana Legalization and Regulation, over half of all American adults have

used marijuana during their lives, meaning that over half of all American adults have committed

a federal drug crime (Todd, 2018). Marijuana is also considered to be “less risky” than many

other legal substances such as alcohol, tobacco, and pain killers. According to the National

Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, over the past years, 85-90% of all drug related arrests involved

simple drug possession offenses, 40% of which were related to the possession of marijuana.

There are an estimated 40,000 individuals incarcerated for marijuana offenses. In the state of

Ohio in the year 2010, 19,178 individuals were arrested for marijuana possession. Many prisons

are being overpopulated, and with the legalization of marijuana, those incarcerated without any

prior or other charges against them other than possession of marijuana may be released to offer

more space for more serious offenders to be put into the jail.

States may choose to regulate the distribution of cannabis as they see fit, and many states

that have currently legalized marijuana have different rules stating how much a person can carry

on them at a time, how much they can own in their home, and how much they can grow in their

home as well. The state of Michigan became the first Midwest state to fully legalize marijuana

for recreational use in 2018. Recreational dispensaries were opened in the state at the end of the

following year, and more than $10 million worth of marijuana were sold at the dispensaries

within the first six weeks of them opening. Some communities in the state have also opted out of

the law and are still not allowing for the recreational use of marijuana. If Ohio were to legalize

marijuana for recreational use, it would be predicted that they would follow many of the same

rules as their sister state, Michigan. The state of Michigan allows locals to have two and a half
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ounces outside of the home and up to ten ounces inside of the home. Locals are also limited to

having twelve cannabis plants per household.

There are many laws in place already to restrict the use of marijuana while driving and

restricting individuals while driving under the influence. Many individuals are caught driving

under the influence of marijuana because they will use the drug while they are driving or find a

secluded area to use it outside, and then get into their cars and drive. Since marijuana has not

been legalized, individuals do not use it at home because they fear being caught. Legalizing

marijuana will lower the rate of individuals that are driving under the influence of it because they

will feel safe indulging in a safer setting like their home, rather than traveling. It will also allow

for more restrictive laws to be put into place to punish those that are caught driving under the

influence of the drug because after it is legalized, they have no reasoning to be traveling while

under the influence. Many dispensaries, especially in California, offer a delivery service to keep

individuals from driving to the dispensary and using the product on the way back home.

Individuals can call into the dispensary and order the product, and have it delivered to their front

door.

The main benefits of legalizing marijuana remain that it can help those with medical

conditions to improve their outlook on life for many patients. According to the Herbal Clinic,

Rebecca Sewell is a patient that suffers from chronic illnesses including Complex Regional Pain

Syndrome or CRPS. Sewell was forced to use a walker for many years of her life and was also in

the hospital with morphine drip. She began to experiment with recreational marijuana and found

that much of her pain subsided while she was using the drug. After some time, she was

prescribed cannabis for medical purposes and was able to have the morphine drip removed and

able to walk without using her walker, something she was not able to do while only being on the
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morphine drip. While the use of medical cannabis has already been legalized, if the use of

recreational cannabis had been legalized, Rebecca may have been able to avoid many of the

medical bills that she encountered while she was on the morphine drip and stuck in the hospital,

because she was able to find relief using the recreational drug, and would not have needed any

further medical assistance.

The economic benefits of legalizing the drug are also more reason that the state of Ohio

should allow for the legalization of the drug. Cannabis related crimes are more often than not an

excuse to target black and brown communities in a state (Zha, 2020). Although there is evidence

to show that the black and brown communities are more likely to be using marijuana

recreationally compared to other races, “…black people are 3.6 times more likely to be arrested

for marijuana possession compared to white people” (Zha, 2020). This racial profiling has

caused for many individuals from the black and brown communities to grow unfond of their

local law enforcement in the area. If the law enforcement chooses to put the misdemeanor on the

individuals record, it would be more difficult for them to find work and the targeted communities

become less safe, which would increase the crime rate in that community as well. However, if

the drug were legalized many of the individuals that are being arrested or racially profiled for

having the drug would be left alone and would not fear their local law enforcement.

There are many environmental and economic reasons that the state of Ohio should choose

to legalize marijuana usage. There are also proven statistics that show that legalizing the drug

will increase population for the state as well. The state of Ohio could improve their tax revenues

by a large multitude and allow for their population to flourish if they were to make marijuana a

legal drug. The state would also be able to implement more unforgiving laws regarding the usage

of marijuana while driving or the consequence of driving while under the influence of the drug.
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Many individuals would feel more welcome in their communities and would not fear being

caught using the drug because although the drug in Ohio is still considered illegal except for

medical usage, about 1.24 million Ohio adults stated that they used marijuana in the past year.

Many of those surveyed that stated they used recreational marijuana were over the age of twenty-

six, and it is believed that they are using it for aches and pains, rather than just using it as a drug

for recreational purposes. All in all, legalizing marijuana in the state of Ohio would allow for its

population to increase and for many individuals to feel safer and more comfortable in their

communities.
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References

Alaska Department of Revenue - Tax Division. (2014). Marijuana Tax. Alaska Department of
Revenue - Tax Division. http://tax.alaska.gov/programs/programs/index.aspx?
60000#:~:text=Pursuant%20to%20the%20ballot%20measure,the%20marijuana%20sold
%20in%20Alaska.&text=Mature%20bud%2Fflower%20are%20taxed,rate%20of
%20%241%20per%20clone.

Bustamante, J. (2020, November 14). Marijuana Addiction Statistics [2021]: Usage & Abuse
Rates. NCDAS. https://drugabusestatistics.org/marijuana-addiction/.

Jordan, F. (2019, June 13). Everything you need to know about Cincinnati's new marijuana
ordinance. WCPO. https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-
county/cincinnati/everything-you-need-to-know-about-cincinnatis-new-marijuana-
ordinance.

Krishna, M. (2021, April 9). The Economic Benefits of Legalizing Weed. Investopedia.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/insights/110916/economic-benefits-legalizing-
weed.asp.

Marijuana Laws by State in 2021: A Legal Weed Map and Short Guide to Regulation. Marijuana
Laws by State in 2021 [UPDATED]. (2020).
https://www.oberk.com/marijuanalawsbystate#:~:text=The%20states%20that%20have
%20legalized,%2C%20Vermont%2C%20and%20Washington.

Moore, C. (2019, September 13). Legal Weed Convinced Over 150,000 People to Move to
Colorado, Study Reports. MERRY JANE. https://merryjane.com/news/legal-weed-
convinced-over-150000-people-to-move-to-colorado-study-reports.

Todd, T. (2019, November 26). The Benefits of Marijuana Legalization and Regulation.
Berkeley Law. https://lawcat.berkeley.edu/record/1128436?ln=en.

Zha, C. (2020, December 21). High Economy: Impacts of Marijuana Legalization on the US
Economy. The Economics Review. https://theeconreview.com/2020/12/18/high-economy-
impacts-of-marijuana-legalization-on-the-us-economy/.

420DC. (2021, January 22). Is Weed Legal In Ohio?: Ohio Marijuana Laws 2021. Is Weed
Legal In Ohio? | Ohio Marijuana Laws 2021. https://420dc.com/is-weed-legal-in-ohio/.

7 Inspiring Medicinal Marijuana Stories from Real-Life Patients - Medical Marijuana Doctor in
Tampa: The Herbal Clinic, MD. Medical Marijuana Doctor in Tampa | The Herbal Clinic,
MD. (2019, April 27). https://www.theherbalclinicmd.com/medical-marijuana/7-inspiring-
medicinal-marijuana-stories-from-real-life-patients.