Petition for Constitutional Amendment Related to Drug Crime Penalties Certified

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Attorney General’s Office today certified a petition for a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution regarding penalties associated with drug crimes.

Recently the Ohio Attorney General’s Office received a written petition to amend the Ohio Constitution, entitled “The Neighborhood Safety, Drug Treatment, and Rehabilitation Amendment” from legal counsel for the petitioning committee called Ohio Safe and Healthy Communities Campaign. The petitions were both certified today as containing both the necessary 1,000 valid signatures from registered Ohio voters and a “fair and truthful” summary of the proposed amendment.

“Without passing upon the advisability of the approval or rejection of the measure to be referred, but pursuant to the duties imposed upon the Attorney General’s Office […] I hereby certify that the summary is a fair and truthful statement of the proposed law,” Attorney General DeWine stated in the certification letter for each petition.

Once the summary language and initial signatures are certified, the Ohio Ballot Board must determine if the amendments each contain a single issue or multiple issues. The petitioners must then collect signatures for each issue from registered voters in each of 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties, equal to 5 percent of the total vote cast in the county for the office of governor at the last gubernatorial election. Total signatures collected statewide must also equal 10 percent of the total vote cast for the office of governor at the last gubernatorial election.

The full text of the letters and the amendment petitions submitted can be found at www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/Petitions.