I know how this will end up for Responsible Ohio when it passes, and it probably will pass from the big money pushing it. Responsible Ohio will end up losing their ass with the investments in getting all the warehouses and commercial business property and buildings set up. In the very beginning they might make some money but how long will that last ? Not very long. The big money backers of Responsible Ohio are foolish to try and make an even more aggressive model such as WA's I-502 bill which will be taxed heavily and then try and charge prices that herb users just will not pay. WA recreational dispensaries have hundreds of pounds of herb they just cannot move that's sitting in their stock rooms because the majority of WA herb users are buying it from the black market where it's cheaper or they are growing their own.
WA state does have a MMJ bill though, and that's how people can legally be protected in WA by being able to grow their own. However, just because Ohio will have no legal way around being able to home grow does not mean that Ohio residents will abide by that. There WILL BE a black market boom that emerges on the scene in Ohio if this Responsible Ohio bill passes. There will be MANY that take to cleaning out their garages and basements and setting up decent sized grow operations and these people WILL greatly undercut the backers of Responsible Ohio.
Companies like PlantlightingHydroponics on the internet that's based in Twinsburg , Ohio will see sales skyrocket from orders coming in day after day. Responsible Ohio will likely lose money bad, which I think will be funny, but I'll feel bad for all the Ohio residents that will get busted for home grows. You are going to see those that will grow their own small personal supply grows and then there will be those that will set up home grows for black market sales. What then will these backers of Responsible Ohio do then ? No doubt they will be angry that the black market home growers and outlaw personal use growers are undercutting their sales, they will then pressure Ohio law enforcement to go on marijuana home growing raids becoming their enforcers. This is why a state-sanctioned monopoly is doomed for failure.
My prediction is that this bill will create such an increase of marijuana grow raids that public backlash all over Ohio will be so strong that possibly after about 1 year of sky rocketed marijuana grow arrests and Ohio residents screaming "so where's all this non-existent tax revenue that Responsible Ohio has not made and on top of that Ohio law enforcement filling up the jails with marijuana growers, the state is actually going in the hole and you call this legalization ?".
After all this happens, then you will see Ohio legislators putting forth home grow amendments into law to put a stop to the massive wave of arrests. I'm telling you, this Responsible Ohio bill is going to create thousands of felons that will be charged for felony marijuana cultivation, whether it's an Ohio resident that get's caught with 4 or 5 plants in their apartment, or some Ohio residential house that has a basement packed with 80 plants that wreak out an odor alerting their neighbors that they have a grower growing next door to them.
No regular herb user is going to pay what these monopolistic people will be selling for. No way. Not in this economy. In WA state, as of just a few months ago, 1 gram was selling for around 32 bucks ! Herb users aren't going to pay that. I doubt that Responsible Ohio will even be able to get a jump on the first opening sales before the black market growers will be beating them to it. Responsible Ohio will lose their ass and in a state of vindictiveness will be pressure Ohio law enforcement to crack down on their "illegal" competitors. This isn't happening in WA state because MMJ has been their so long, WA law enforcement there have a more relaxed attitude towards marijuana use. It will be an entirely different scene in Ohio. It will be something new and Ohio law enforcement will look at any chance they have to punish marijuana users, so they will become dupes and enforcers for Responsible Ohio. Will the increase in "illegal" Ohio home grows scare home growers into stopping growing ? Hell no.
Because when 100 home grows get busted, 1000 new home grows will replace them. Responsible Ohio is the worst "half-way" legalization bill I've ever seen. It may as well be called a state-sanctioned monopoly that will COST Ohio tax dollars. The funniest thing about it to me will be hearing Responsible Ohio backers whine about Ohio residents not abiding by the bill and fueling the black market.
My recommendation is for Ohioans to begin planting marijuana outdoors in visible locations this summer. I mean do Johnny Appleseed grows as a political statement. Don't plant with any hope of coming back to harvest, plant it where it can be seen. Save all those bag seed. Plant them in flower beds at shopping malls, strip malls, plant them on the sides of highways, plant them outside of the grounds of police stations, on the edges of colleges , next to powerlines, ect. Over grow the state. Plant in great numbers. Forget about using a shovel. Poke a hole with a pen, drop a seed, move a foot away, repeat, do it fast, then go down the road a ways, find another spot and repeat, plant 20 seeds in one spot that way fast, leave the location and drive down the road a half-mile and repeat. Sprouting rates will be limited from this method but this isn't about gaining a harvest but as sending a political message. Tie up law enforcement's time. Make it a thorn in their side in having to eradicate it. Let nature and high ratios of mathematical probability do most of the work for you.
Money isn't the only way to force legislators hands from getting a campaign and bill passed. Think of it as a war of attrition , to see who can outlast who, hence the name "guerrilla" growing, but out-in-the-open. Recreational legalization must come with full rights. Responsible Ohio will likely get the bill they want passed, but they will not get the results of which they think they will get. The black market will boom in Ohio just as soon as this half-way bill is passed and Responsible Ohio's greed and monopolistic motives will backfire on them severely. Anyway it goes, Ohioans will eventually get home growing rights but it will probably come at the expense of thousands of home growing felons. The backers of Responsible Ohio will NEVER recoup their money. They are delusional if they think the black market won't explode in Ohio and cause them to have warehouses full of herb that won't sell.
Watch the monopolistic greedy bastards of Responsible Ohio FAIL. Their greed for financial gain and ignoring statistical trends has blinded them greatly to reality of which they will soon realize when they get their bill passed.
