OHIO, USA — In a press conference Thursday afternoon at the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, State Auditor Keith Faber and State Treasurer Robert Sprague said the proposed 10% tax rate on Issue 2 should be at least double that to cover the increased costs of addiction treatment.
“The tax rate is a joke,” said Faber.
They also said they are concerned that none of the revenue will go to support law enforcement -- and this may worsen the drug problem in Ohio.
"I would say defeat [Issue 2] and let the legislature and the policymakers that they've elected go back to the drawing board and come up with something that's fair to the taxpayers,” said Sprague.
Meanwhile, medical marijuana manufacturing facilities in Ohio, like Cresco Labs, said they are gearing up to be ready for retail sales of recreational marijuana and it could mean big business for the state.
"I think the state's plan right now is to let existing operators increase their capacity to be able to launch the program more quickly,” said Jason Erkes, chief communications officer of Cresco Labs. “And there are many benefits to this. First of all, you get product to market more quickly. Second of all, it helps curb, you know, the illicit market, giving people the ability to buy things, and regulated stores, and three, it helps generate tax revenue for the state a lot more quickly that would have everything had to be built from the ground up."
Cresco Labs also has facilities in states where recreational use has been legal for several years.
“In other states, we've seen a huge boom from the day things launch. There's long lines of people and that's continued to build month after month and a lot of these new recreational markets, I haven't seen an economic you know, forecast or projection for Ohio. You know, but we can tell by the interest in Issue 2, that a lot of people want access to cannabis,” Erkes said.
But financial leaders in Ohio said at Thursday’s press conference, that it’s a false assumption that recreational marijuana would be an expansion of the economy.
"The numbers never come in what they are pledged to be,” said Faber. “The problems are always bigger than what they are supposed to be."