COLUMBUS, Ohio — Now that Ohio voters legalized marijuana, the hard work of implementing it kicks into high gear. State leaders said regulations will need to be put in place that, in the words of Governor Mike DeWine, make sense for everyone.
"One thing the polling showed very clearly is younger voters overwhelmingly were in favor of this," University of Cincinnati Political Science Professor David Niven said. "They don't see why this is even an issue."
Niven said a culture shift played a role in legalizing marijuana in Ohio. Now state leaders have to deal with the ramifications of that shift. While the details of any new policies and regulations are not settled or clear, the areas of focus are.
"There's probably some really interesting ways of thinking about it with respect to public safety," University of Dayton Political Science Senior Lecturer Daniel Birdsong said. "Certainly that can be addressed with how they're going to police the use."
Public safety is top of mind. Gov. DeWine said he asked the legislature to focus on three goals: make sure children are protected from advertising, limit accidental exposure through edibles and protect people on the roads against those who might drive high.
Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted echoed that in a statement released Thursday.
"We have a responsibility to establish some policy guardrails to prevent this new experiment from getting out of hand," Husted said. "And it's essential to recognize that even though recreational marijuana is legal, many jobs will still require workers to pass a drug test."
Ohio Chamber of Commerce President Steve Stivers said they want to make sure policies are appropriate for businesses.
"Issue 2 for sure has impact to employers, people involved in workforce," Stivers said. "There are a few concerns we've got, any way we can work together to get a few changes. We're not talking about repealing, we're not talking about major changes, but making sure we look out for unintended consequences for employers in the workforce."
Tom Haren with the group behind Issue 2, the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, said regulations in surrounding states protect children from accidental exposure and advertising.
"You have regulations in place governing advertising of marijuana products so you can ensure that they're not advertised in a way that's attractive to minors," Haren said.
Douglas Berman, a law professor and Executive Director of the Ohio State University Drug Enforcement and Policy Center, says the key to creating good policy is collaboration.
"We got a direct indication from the people of the state of Ohio that this is something we want to move from prohibition into a regulated, legalized marketplace," Berman said. "Now there's a lot of details to work on, but those details shouldn't be sorted out just by the people who are in favor of it. The folks who were opposed should be able not only to express their worries but play an integral role in working the regulations forward."
Berman said other states that legalized marijuana have shown that, as regulations are rolled out, more and more people support it because they recognize some of their fears weren't met as long as the state has done a good job addressing key concerns.