A petition submitted by backers of an all-out legalization of marijuana to put the issue before Ohio voters has been rejected.
The Ohio Attorney General’s office has rejected the language submitted by a group calling itself Ohio Families for Change. Its “Marijuana Rights and Regulations Amendment” would leave the state’s medical marijuana program intact, and would allow the drug to be regulated much like alcohol. The A.G. says the amendment wording doesn’t match the language on the petitions that would need to be signed to get the amendment to the ballot. Now it’s up to the group to submit new language if it wants to try again. But it would be a challenge for this group to get the more than 300,000 valid signatures needed by July to put this on the ballot this fall.