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Ohio Attorney General Certifies Petition For Medical Marijuana Ballot Issue

Ideastream Public Media | By Jo Ingles

Published March 26, 2016 at 11:22 AM EDT

Ohio’s attorney general has certified a petition for a national group that wants to put a medical marijuana plan on the statewide ballot this fall.

Mike DeWine has certified a petition from the group known as Ohioans For Medical Marijuana.

The AG says the group submitted both the necessary 1,000 valid signatures from registered Ohio voters and a “fair and truthful” summary of the proposed amendment. Now it goes to the Ballot Board which will determine if the amendment will be a single issue or more than one.

The group must then collect valid signatures from more than 305,000 registered voters in half of Ohio’s 88 counties by the end of June. The amendment is similar to measures in 23 other states and would allow patients to grow their own medical pot or buy it from retail outlets, and has the backing of some marijuana activist groups.