GOP House Rep Dave Joyce And Ohio News Editor Align To Drive Local And National Cannabis Reform

It seems strange that Ohio voters are being urged to legalize cannabis by the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, says a renowned newspaper editor. “As we know, or at least should know, alcohol-impaired driving is responsible for thousands of traffic deaths nationally each year.”

Dave Lange, who is also a member of the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame, cited two different CDC reports, one confirming that some 140,000 traffic deaths annually are the result of excessive alcohol and another with the dire statistics that there are six alcohol poisoning deaths per day in the U.S.

“By any reasonable viewpoint, it’s marijuana that should be legal and alcohol that should be illegal,” said Lange, who holds a Master's in political science, in Cleveland.com. 

Indeed, alcohol is the third-leading preventable cause of death in the United States.

Cannabis deaths? The DEA itself reported that “No deaths from overdose of marijuana have been reported.”

Cannabis Legalization In Ohio And Beyond: GOP Rep Dave Joyce

A new poll recently undertaken by the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education, and Regulation (CPEAR) found that 68% of conservative Americans support ending federal cannabis prohibition and that 70% support individual states deciding whether cannabis should be legal in their state. 

“The polling is clear: federal cannabis prohibition is in direct contradiction to the overwhelming will of the American electorate, including a notable majority of conservative voters,” said Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus.

Joyce, a featured speaker at this April's Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Miami, called on colleagues from both sides of the aisle to work toward a regulated legal marketplace for cannabis. "Continued inaction is no longer tenable."

Along with NY Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D), Joyce jointly introduced legislation at the end of 2021 to incentivize state and local governments to expunge the criminal records of millions of Americans who have previous marijuana convictions.

The Harnessing Opportunities by Pursuing Expungement (HOPE) Act would appropriate $20 million for the purposes of assisting states and local governments with the review and expungement process. According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, over 350,000 Americans were arrested by state and local law enforcement for marijuana crimes in 2020. But the kicker is that 91% of those arrested were charged with simple possession.

“Having been both a public defender and a prosecutor, I have seen first-hand how cannabis law violations can foreclose a lifetime of opportunities ranging from employment to education to housing,” Joyce said.

Lange agreed, adding a pertinent economic reason: "The question now is whether Ohio will become the 22nd state to legalize recreational, or adult-use, marijuana, or will Ohioans continue contributing to the burgeoning market in neighboring Michigan, which legalized it in 2019?"

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