Medical marijuana becomes legal in Ohio in September, but questions are being raised about the constitutionality of minority business set-asides in the legislation. And the backer of the bill has told the Associated Press those set-aside provisions sought by minority Democrats in the General Assembly may need to be changed. Ohio Public Radio's Jo Ingles reports.
Republican state Senator Bill Seitz says part of the new law specifies minorities fill a certain number of slots in growing and processing marijuana that would be used for medicinal use. He questions the constitutionality of that practice.
“We don’t have strict quotas on doctor licenses, lawyer licenses or engineer licenses so I guess some would question why are we having that as applied to marijuana licenses?”
Seitz says he tried to get this requirement removed as the bill went through the legislative process but couldn’t. The bill cleared the Ohio Senate by only three votes.
