Four of Ohio's top elected officeholders took questions together today at an annual event with reporters. They were asked about whether they support legislation for medical marijuana.
Attorney General Mike DeWine said he’s offered lawmakers a list of what other states are doing on medical marijuana, and Auditor Dave Yost says he doesn’t think a lot of studies are needed to come up with some legislation soon.
Then they were asked if they’d ever used marijuana, and if they had, when was the last time. DeWine answered “No.” Yost said, “Yes, probably 1978 – that’s a guess.”
Treasurer Josh Mandel said he hadn’t, but had he’d heard speculation about the answer to this question in the future: “It’ll be folks who didn’t smoke pot in college lying about the fact that they did.
And then Secretary of State Jon Husted admitted: “Yes, 1989.”
Husted said if lawmakers don’t pass something soon, he fears another ballot issue on pot will come forward that will be less to their liking.
Later in the day, the personal-use question was put to Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor and Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor -- who both acknowledged occasional use when they were young. The four Statehouse leaders split on the question: Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni and House Minority Leader Fred Strahorn said they had-- when they were much younger; House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger and Senate President Keith Faber said no.
