Pubdate: Fri, 10 May 2013
Source: News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Copyright: 2013 The News-Herald
Contact:  http://www.news-herald.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/305

LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA SLIM AND NONE IN OHIO

The following is an excerpt of an editorial that appeared in The 
(Youngstown) Vindicator:

State Rep. Robert F. Hagan has been in favor of legalizing marijuana 
in the state - especially for medicinal use - for years and has 
introduced bills to do so in the past. He's doing so again - with a 
two-pronged approach this time - but he has to know that the chances 
for a Republican-dominated Legislature to jump on the legalization 
bandwagon is slim.

Even dangling the possibility of a 15 percent sin tax on the sale of 
recreational marijuana isn't likely to attract fiscal conservatives 
to Hagan's cause....

Hagan also is offering a joint resolution that would place an issue 
on the ballot to allow adults "to legally purchase, cultivate and use 
cannabis recreationally." That proposal, modeled after a recently 
passed amendment in Colorado, would create state-licensed outlets and 
tax sales at 15 percent....

We see two key arguments against wholesale legalization. One is that 
no matter what the states do, marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

The other is that, unlike alcohol and many other drugs, tests to show 
marijuana impairment are far from exact science. A company has a 
right to maintain a drug- and alcohol-free workplace. The casual use 
of marijuana shows up in blood tests for as much as a month. Though 
an employee can claim he or she was unimpaired from marijuana use in 
the somewhat distant past, a company would have no choice but to 
discipline or terminate the employee who failed a screening.

Online: http://bit.ly/15pTfg9
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom