Voters across the state tonight voted YES for both issues 1 and 2, codifying an amendment that gives women in Ohio a constitutional right to abortion and legalizing recreational marijuana.
The passing of both of these ballot measures is an enormous victory for women in the post-Dobbs era, the Supreme Court case that overturned the precedent set by Roe v. Wade, as now more than 15 states protect the right to abortion.
Despite the passing of both the ballot measure to legalize the use and possession of recreational marijuana and the constitutional amendment providing women with the right to abortion, the fight is not over, especially regarding Issue 2.
Looking forward, the Ohio legislature, which is majority Republican, has the possibility of performing a “gut-and-go” during the 30 days that they have to make adjustments and edits to the language of the ballot measure. By doing this, legislators would strip all of the language of the measure and insert language for any “emergency” legislation that they want, effectively negating the legalization of recreational marijuana that was passed with a 6% margin. This is incredibly unlikely due to the outspoken opposition from State Senate President Matt Huffman. However, with newly gerrymandered districts in the state that gave more power to Republicans in the state legislature, it is entirely possible.
Assuming that this “gut-and-go” does not happen, what’s next?
As I said above, there is a 30-day period in which legislators are able to make edits to the language of the measure before it is passed into law. What’s most likely to happen is that legislators will adjust where the money from the 10% tax will go, as this new tax will bring in incredible amounts of money to the state. Once this 30-day period expires, there will be more rules at the county and city level that regulate a multitude of factors, such as whether or not the county or city will allow a dispensary to exist and if it does exist, how close it can be to a school zone.
That being said, this 30-day period is not the end all be all. Once it expires, there will not be dispensaries readily available for business; rather, it could take up to two years to become fully available for citizens to access. This is because the state must set up the Division of Cannabis Control within the Ohio Department of Commerce as well as the creation and issuing of licenses to prospective dispensaries within the state.
Due to the nature of Issue 2 being a ballot measure rather than a constitutional amendment, the future of the enactment of changes in the state will take much longer and will be an incredibly complicated process.
Issue 1, being an amendment to the Ohio State Constitution, is a completely different story, as legislators do not have the same 30-day period to make edits to the body of the legislation; however, there are still many hoops to jump through.
With this, every county that has a partial abortion ban will face trial at the Ohio State Supreme Court, which has a 4-3 conservative majority, to decide whether or not this amendment negates their ban.
These decisions make me very hopeful for the 2024 presidential election, with Republicans evidently losing support from their base, thus finding themselves unable to win elections.
This is a huge win not only for women across the state of Ohio but across the country. With Ohio passing this amendment in counties that voted predominantly for Donald Trump in the 2020 election and many Democratic victories across the country, we are seeing that the tide is shifting in the direction of reproductive freedom for women and against the corruption and authoritarianism of the modern Republican party.
Jackson Small is an opinion writer. Contact him at [email protected].
