COLUMBUS, OH (WLIO) - The past year in statewide politics saw lawmakers and the governor's office having to confront some controversial issues, from social issues like a vote on abortion rights, and a move to legalize recreational marijuana use in Ohio. Today, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine talked with Your Hometown Stations about 2023 and what to expect this year. Stuart Hall has more.
The governor said he's hopeful state lawmakers will quickly take up the specifics of Ohio's recreational marijuana law, as they get back to work in Columbus. He says right now, the state is months away from fulfilling the wishes of Ohio voters.
"We have a mess out there, and I think people who voted for legalizing marijuana never envisioned that what they are voting for would mean you would have a situation today where you can use marijuana in Ohio, you can grow marijuana in Ohio, but you can't buy the seeds to grow it and you can't buy it yourself, you can't buy it legally in Ohio," explained Governor Mike DeWine. "And the way the law was passed, we won't be able to sell legal marijuana in the state of Ohio until probably November or December of this year."
The governor also said while dealing with marijuana laws, he wants lawmakers to address a loophole, that allows hemp, containing THC to be sold legally in Ohio.
Turning to his recent veto and then executive order banning transgender surgeries. For minors, the governor, it's the parents, not the state who decides what's best for children.
"I think it's, you know, the government should not be making those decisions. I mean, for me to sign that bill, I would have been saying, that I think the government, the State of Ohio, the government of Ohio, knows better than the parents, and I just think that's not what we believe," stated Governor DeWine.
On yet another controversial issue, dealing with abortion, Governor DeWine said while State Issue 1 passed, the state still has laws regarding restrictions on abortion, that lawmakers may have to defend in the future.
"Throughout many many years, the state legislature and the people of Ohio who enacted what I would call guardrails in regard to abortion, for example, parental consent requiring that if you have a minor, parents must be involved in that decision. Informed consent in a sense that the mother is told how far along she is in the pregnancy. There's just kind of basic things that we put into the law, and they were put in during the time that Roe v Wade was fully in in effect. So, in some states, we've seen an attack on those so we need to be aware of that, ready for that, and my position is that we should defend those and should still have those in the law," explained DeWine.
The governor also talked with us about a number of issues that are pertinent to Lima and Allen County and region in general. We'll hear more from the governor in the coming days.
