Peter Lewis, one of the biggest backers of medical marijuana in the United States, is seeking proposals to conduct a ballot initiative campaign to legalize marijuana for medical use in Ohio.
According to the request for proposals, fifteen states have made marijuana legal for qualified patients, most through the passage of similar voter initiatives.
Lewis is presently pushing it through in his home state of Ohio.
“Of the states that continue to prohibit medical use of marijuana, Ohio stands out as having particularly high levels of voter support,” stated the RFP, “This provides an opportunity to enact a new law that will directly help patients and to do so in a manner that will serve as a model for other states.”
The goal of the proposals is not just to pass a voter initiative legalizing medical marijuana in Ohio but for designing a campaign that could create a model for future campaigns in other states.
“You shouldn’t take it as a given that there will be a ballot initiative this campaign,” said Graham Boyd, Lewis’ lawyer and adviser, “But we want to see proposals.”
Lewis has already given millions to Marijuana Policy Project, the reform group, including $900,000 in 2010 besides giving 200,000 in support of California’s Proposition 19, the bill that sought unsuccessfully last November to legalize marijuana in California.
