The Ohio Rights Group's push to get medical marijuana on the ballot this year in Ohio has pretty much sputtered out and come to a halt. 385,000 signatures were needed to get it on the ballot and only 100,000 have been collected. It is worth noting though that Ohio Rights Group (ORG) operated on a shoe-string budget to put it lightly. So while it stinks that medical won't make the ballot this year, the 100,000 signatures obtained is a testament to how diligently ORG and its supporters worked to get signatures. I was out myself numerous weekends hitting up events downtown in my city, I spent a boatload of money to attend a large music festival to collect signatures and I was one of the lazier ones. In my opinion, ORG has nothing to be ashamed of at all. On the heels of this, a new group of medical proponents is forming and from the sound of things (even though this is in the very, very, very early stages), this group is going to have some serious loot backing it. This is pretty much par for the course when it comes to policy initiatives in Ohio. A small, grass roots group tries and fails despite a valiant effort, then a big money group comes in and gets results but they generally aren't what was being aimed for initially. This sounds no different. The new group is proposing 10 (yep, fucking 10) dispensaries throughout Ohio. ORG's vision was to make the medical industry more like it should be, small family businesses that benefit people in communities and the communities themselves. This new group is aiming for the polar opposite. A big money backed push is what the majority of us who have been involved in this here in Ohio for years have pretty much been dreading. Even though we knew it would probably come eventually once corporate types devised a strategy to turn the whole thing into a venture that makes windfall profits for a few while bowing to political types who don't really want medical marijuana here but would be more receptive to it if it came with strict regulations. I predict that that is exactly where this new group will be headed. I'll put money right now on these guys using every corpopolitical trick in book (like emphasizing hot button talking points such as childhood epilepsy - which they are already doing) to gain support. The sad thing is, people here fall for this shit, hook, line and sinker, time and again. This new group will probably gain substantial support from the public. The same public who largely sneered at and ignored ORG's efforts. If the big money push is successful, Ohio will have medical marijuana but it will be like "South Michigan" and Michigan is the shits.
Org has failed to make any kind of real effort and is waiting on big money themselves to come in and buy the signatures. ORg is just a joke with poor leaders.
The politicians don't want stricter regulations....they just want their cut, prob along the lines of 50-70% will get them interested.