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Legalized recreational marijuana creates cloud of uncertainty
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
• Law change: On Thursday, it became legal in Ohio for adults 21 and over to possess a limited amount of marijuana, the result of voters approving Issue 2 in November. But man, is there a lot of confusion and uncertainty about the new law.
• High level view: Here’s a story breaking down the key points of the new law, including who can and can’t partake, limits on where it can be used, and more.
- One key point: It’s legal to have it, but not legal to buy it (yet).
- Another key point: Employers and landlords can prohibit its use, and federal law says gun owners can’t possess ganja.
• Challenge for employers: Reporter Tom Gnau talked to area employers and trade groups about how they are grappling with the new law. Many want drug-free workplaces to promote safety (and keep insurance rates down), but in a tight labor market that might make it harder to find employees.
• No smoking patio: Don’t expect bars to allow you to use it on their patio, even if they allow smoking tobacco products. The state says bars and restaurants could risk action against their liquor license if they allow toking on property.
• Haze of uncertainty: Even as the law went into effect, local police departments said they were formulating policies on enforcement. And lawyers say things like traffic stops will be a challenge, since there is no breathalyzer for weed.
- Another issue: K-9 officers are trained to alert their handlers if they smell marijuana, which is probable cause to search the vehicle. Now that possession is legal, the dogs are no longer properly trained.
• Dispensing with dispensaries: Many local cities are passing long- and short-term moratoriums on new marijuana-related businesses opening in their jurisdictions. Most recently, this includes Springboro, preceded by Kettering, Centerville Beavercreek, Troy and other cities.
• Improvement, or buzz kill?: State lawmakers meanwhile are aggressively working on adding limits to the law, such as reducing how many plants you can grow, reducing THC content, raising the tax rate and adding restrictions on where it can be used.
Beavercreek Walmart shooter: How someone can be pink slipped and buy a gun
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
• Summary: Our reporters investigated how the man who shot four people at a Beavercreek Walmart last month obtained a gun days before the shooting, despite being “pink slipped’ for mental health emergencies twice last year.
• The shooting: On Nov. 20, Benjamin Charles Jones walked into a Beavercreek Walmart and shot four people before turning the gun on himself.
• The victims: Thankfully, all four victims survived. But with serious injuries.
“Let me tell you something: it’s your family that this could happen to, and if you’re not protecting yourself, and protecting your loved ones … you’re not promised tomorrow,” said Terry Swain, the husband of Tiara Taylor-Swain, who was shot while shopping for Thanksgiving ingredients.
• Possible motive: Federal and local investigators are looking into whether the shooting was at least partially racially motivated. A search warrant found Nazi flags and other material at Jones’ home.
• The gun: He used a Hi-Point .45 caliber carbine rifle that he purchased at a local gun store two days before the shooting.
- Federal investigators say they are looking into whether Jones lied on a federal form when he purchased the gun.
• Mental health history: Twice last year, Jones was taken twice to the hospital by Fairborn police for suicidal ideation.
- Federal law prohibits someone from buying a gun if they had ever been adjudicated as a mental defective or been committed to a mental institution.
• Our investigation: Reporters Samantha Wildow and London Bishop did an in-depth investigation into how the court system determines someone should be committed or adjudicated mentally unfit, and how that information is supposed to be communicated to the federal background check system.
• Buying a gun: London also visited a local gun shop, where the owner walked her through the steps firearms sellers go through to determine if someone is legally allowed to buy a gun.