Mark Fogel (D)

2020 Voter Guide Questionnaire

1. Do you support or oppose changing state law to allow adults 21 and older to possess limited amounts of marijuana and establishing a system in which marijuana is regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol? Under such a system, it would remain illegal to consume marijuana in public and drive under the influence of marijuana.

Yes. First, marijuana possession must be decriminalized immediately. I support changing the law so that adults can legally possess marijuana for personal use.

2. Other states which legalized medical cannabis around the same time as Ohio have programs that are further ahead and functioning much better than Ohio’s. The patients of Ohio have expressed concerns and are generally dissatisfied with the program. Can the patients count on you to spend time on making improvements to the medical marijuana program?

We are seeing a wide array of illnesses being successfully treated by medical marijuana, and Ohio’s slow adoption of the voter’s will is disappointing. I believe we should accelerate our medical marijuana program, and further fund studies to determine how we might better treat and support patients with this highly under-studied drug.

3. If an amendment to H.B.523 were proposed that would allow patients and/or caregivers to grow a limited amount of plants in their home, would you support or oppose the amendment?

I support legalizing marijuana for personal possession in limited amounts. Home growing presents some public policy challenges as we adapt to a changing regulatory climate, but I’m suspect of the state prohibiting someone from growing a plant in their own home. That seems like government overreach into our private lives.

4. If introduced, would you oppose a resolution that would make the citizen ballot initiative process more difficult than it already is?

I do not want to see citizen ballot initiatives become more difficult for Ohioans.

Final comments:

Let’s be frank: our nation’s so-called ‘war on drugs’ has been an unmitigated disaster. While perhaps begun with good intentions, this effort has led to misery, mass incarceration (mostly of people of color), broken dreams, failed communities, and even more death and despair. Marijuana prohibition has been a large part of this failure. We must change course, and we must do that NOW.