Ohio Congresswoman Warns Colleagues: Messing With Marijuana Legalization Could Mean Losing Your Seat

Ohio Representative Juanita Brent (D-Cleveland), a vocal advocate for social equity in cannabis policy, issued a stern warning to her GOP colleagues on their efforts to change or dismantle voters’ decision to legalize marijuana, cautioning they could jeopardize their re-election chances.

"If we go against the people in the state of Ohio, I don't expect any of us to get reelected because we are not going for what the people want,” Brent said at a panel discussion organized by Ohio State University Drug Enforcement and Policy Center.

Ohio’s primary elections are slated for next month, and there are ongoing legislative efforts to amend the voter-approved cannabis legalization measure.

"I know sometimes people feel like they know best when it comes to people, but the people who know best is the people who got me here elected and the people who voted" for legalization, Brent said, according to Marijuana Moment's Kyle Jaeger.

In November 2023, 57% of Ohio voters approved the legalization measure. Republican Governor Mike DeWine and the GOP leadership under Senate leader Matt Huffman almost immediately began to push for changes to the law, which included the use of tax revenue.

The GOP and DeWine want cannabis tax dollars to go toward beefing up Ohio's law enforcement whereas the voter-approved initiative, known as Issue 2, foresaw providing financial support for license applications to individuals disproportionately affected by past marijuana-related law enforcement.

"What we can do is we allocate this money and make sure that people have access to it, instead of giving all this money to police training," Brent said at the conference that included representatives of the Last Prisoner Project (LPP), Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association and the Adams Project, an Ohio-based organization that advocates for second chances and public safety.

"It blows my mind — particularly how much money they want to put towards police training within the state — but particularly for hospital agencies, which came out of the Senate. It to me is ridiculous," Brent said. "People have told us time and time again when Issue 2 was passed what they want. All we're doing right now is going against the people's will."

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