Source: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
Portions of Ohio’s medical marijuana law may need to be revisited by the General Assembly because they may not be constitutional (Source: “Ohio Lawmakers knew Part of Pot Law is Legally Questionable, Lancaster Eagle Gazette, July 24, 2016).
At issue are benchmarks contained in the legislation that was fast-tracked by the legislature to head off a medical marijuana proposal that was on its way to Ohio’s fall ballot. They require at least 15% of Ohio’s cultivator, processor, retail dispensary, and laboratory licenses to go to the businesses of one of four economically disadvantaged minority groups — Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, or Native Americans — so long as an adequate number apply.
However, such racial preference rules have been found to be a violation of the U.S. Constitution and have generally failed to stand up in court, the Associated Press reported, citing legal scholars.
Changes may wind up in a marijuana corrective bill that emerges in the General Assembly’s lame duck session.