Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is coming out strongly against the proposed citizen-initiated marijuana legalization statute that voters will decide in November.
鈥淚t would be a mistake. And it would be a mistake for a number of reasons,鈥� DeWine said Monday.
When you legalize marijuana, the governor said, you are sending the message to young kids that it is ok. And that, he said, changes the culture of a community.
DeWine also argues that more kids who are underage will be getting their hands on marijuana, which, he says, is not your marijuana of the 1960s, 70s or 80s. This product has been developed and its , he said.
鈥淭his is not your grandfather鈥檚 marijuana or your grandmother鈥檚 marijuana. This is different,鈥� DeWine said.
鈥淗e鈥檚 right about that because your grandmother鈥檚 marijuana wasn鈥檛 tested in pharmaceutical-based testing labs,鈥� said Tom Haren, spokesman for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, the group that鈥檚 backing the proposed statute to legalize marijuana.
DeWine, Haren said, is making old talking points that have no basis in today's facts.
鈥淪tudy after study after study shows conclusively that the regulation of adult use marijuana sales has no impact on youth usage in the 23 other states that have gone before it. It is a tired old debunked talking point,鈥� Haren said.
Voters have rejected these arguments in other states, Haren said, and he expects Ohio voters won鈥檛 buy them either.
