As the day of days nears for Ohio medicinal and recreational users of marijuana, questions and rumors about how exactly Issue 3 could affect their lifestyle are circling like clouds after a bong session.

Of course Issue 3 has to pass first, yet the fact Ohio marijuana users finally have a chance to vote for legalization is historical (at least for them).

And victory is possible as a Quinnipiac poll released October 8th shows 90 percent of Ohio voters support legalization for medicinal use and 53 percent support recreational use. But if it does pass, its fate is still in doubt as Issue 2, a constitutional amendment put forth by the Ohio legislature, could invalidate economic monopolies and was initiated in direct response to Issue 3.

A Kent State University poll released October 15th shows Issue 2 supported by 54 percent with 26 percent undecided, however.

Nevertheless, tried-and-true Ohio marijuana activists who for three decades have fought for legalization are concerned what the future will truly be if the Issue 3 passes and Issue 2 does not.

The Ohio chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) believes the issue’s ballot language is ambiguous and limited. Language that is ripe for interpretation, they say. By an ultra-conservative governor, for instance.

If Issue 3 becomes law a seven-member Marijuana Control Commission will be appointed by Gov. John Kasich. According to the issue’s ballot language the commission will regulate both industrial and homegrown marijuana production.

Gov. Kasich of course is seeking the Republican presidential nomination. He’s called marijuana a “scourge in this country” and opposed to any form of legalization.

“If it passes there is so much grey area in the amendment there is going to chaos, there are going to be arrests, and people are still going to be in trouble for a plant that is legal,” says Brandy Scheaffer, president of Ohio NORML. “The majority of rules and regulations will be left up to Kasich’s commission, and this is a major concern with our membership.”

Scheaffer says the 400-plus Ohio NORML membership was asked to weigh in on Issue 3, and their greatest concern is one shared by most of the state’s users – the amendment essentially proposes a marijuana monopoly. A close second was something more personal: Will at-home growers be signing away their Fourth Amendment right protecting them from warrantless searches when they become state certified to grow indoors? 

Home growers older than 21 can have four flowering marijuana plants and possess or share up to eight ounces of marijuana if they hold a valid state license obtained for $50, according to Issue 3 ballot language.

Scheaffer says the Kasich appointed commission could rule the state license will come with the condition of waiving your Fourth Amendment rights, or as the state commission might define it, be subjected to “inspections”.

The commission could also decide on what marijuana strains will be used for medicinal purposes, and what they choose may not be suitable for some patients, she says. Kasich could also shut down the proposed PTSD research facility recently proposed for Licking County, she says.

ResponsibleOhio is the “astroturf” effort that put Issue 3 on the Nov. 3rd ballot. This pseudo-grassroots movement is owned by The Strategy Network of Columbus, which helped bring casinos to the state in 2009.

ResponsibleOhio told the Free Press Ohio NORML’s suspicions about the Fourth Amendment are absurd.

“The home grow license is no different than the driver’s license we get to drive or the concealed carry we get to carry firearms,” says ResponsibleOhio spokesperson Faith Oltman. “It would be ludicrous to suggest we are signing away our Fourth Amendment rights by obtaining driver licenses or concealed carry permits. The same is true for the home grow license under Issue 3.”

ResponsibleOhio can promise privacy, but in today’s world where the NSA seemingly has a peephole into everyone’s life, is it any surprise that Ohio NORML feels the future of Ohio legalization via the Issue 3 is indeed hazy?

Historically there are many instances where both businesses and individual professionals, after acquiring a necessary state license, had in some cases unknowingly and unwilling relinquished their Fourth Amendment rights.

“Licensed business still have Fourth Amendment rights, (but) we are litigating several cases now where acquiring a license subjects you to an inspection that we argue to be unconstitutional,” says Maurice Thompson, executive director of The 1851 Center for Constitutional Law in Columbus, which seeks to advance liberty and limit government, and is named after Ohio’s constitutional convention of 1851.

A wild card that could marginalize any future Ohio legalization is Gov. Kasich. But other marijuana activists have heard this before – that marijuana becomes more illegal after it is legalized.

Russ Bellville, radio prominent radio personality for 420RADIO.org and writer from Marijuana Politics, is adamant the paranoia is not warranted (so to speak).

“I heard these same arguments,” he recently wrote on Marijuana Politics. “If you’re caught with non-store weed you’ll get busted! Never happened. The state will now have marijuana enforcement officers to go after people growing at home to protect their store revenue! Never happened.  In fact, every scare about how awful (marijuana legalization) would be turned out to be utter bullshit.”