Husted, business leaders warn of pot problems

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted and four area business leaders issued dire warnings Thursday about the economic devastation they say would be brought down on the state if voters decide to legalize marijuana in next week’s election.

The passage of Issue 3, the speakers said, would be bad for business, make hiring more difficult for employers, put Ohio at a competitive disadvantage to its neighbors in attracting new business, and make the state’s roads and workplaces less safe.

Issue 3 is a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana for medical and recreational use by adults, allow limited home growing of pot and name 10 parcels as the only sites where marijuana can be grown for commercial purposes.

It is backed by ResponsibleOhio, a group of investors that control the 10 parcels and have spent more than $15 million on the campaign and petition drive.

Ian James, executive director of Responsible Ohio, said legalization under Issue 3 would create jobs, generate $554 million a year in revenue by the fourth year, and send 85 percent of the tax revenue to local and county governments.

Husted, however, said passage of Issue 3 would be “catastrophic” for Ohio’s economy.

“These claims that proponents of Issue 3 are making that somehow it would be good for the Ohio economy if we legalized marijuana are just flat-out absurd,” Husted said at a news conference held in a repair bay at the trucking company Jet Express, Inc., on Webster Street.

Ohio employers, he said, are already having trouble in some industries hiring qualified workers, especially “entry level and young people.”

“And the No. 1 reason they can’t hire people is because they can’t pass a drug test,” Husted said. “It is a growing problem in America today — and that’s without legal marijuana.”

But James said it’s Husted who is distorting reality.

“Jon Husted peddles reefer madness and fear using our tax dollars,” James wrote in an email. “Marijuana is readily available on the dangerous black market right now.

“Legalizing marijuana for medical and adult, personal use will make it safer, create a multi-billion dollar industry with 30,000 jobs, bring in hundreds of millions in tax revenue to our communities and still allow employers to enforce non-use policies on their job sites.”

Chris Kershner, vice president of public policy and economic development at the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, said hiring already is a challenge in the Dayton region.

“We have a problem right now in the Dayton area with employers not being able to find the employees that they need who can pass a drug screening,” Kershner said. “We have job shortages. The logistics industry is booming here, but they’re struggling to find individuals who can pass drug screenings for employment today.”

The prospect of legalizing marijuana in Ohio, Kershner said, is drawing increased opposition from local business owners.

The chamber polled its members last week on Issue 3, he said, and found 85 percent of business owners who responded are against the proposed constitutional amendment. That’s up from 68 percent in a similar poll last summer.

“That number continues to grow as people become more and more educated about the negative impacts that Issue 3 will have on their business and their jobs and their economic growth,” he said.

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