Ohio Supreme Court rejects Norwood pot initiative

Norwood voters won't decide whether to decriminalize marijuana this fall.

The Ohio Supreme Court refused on Thursday to hear an appeal that could have put the initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot. The move comes a month after the Hamilton County Board of Elections rejected the initiative on grounds Norwood doesn't have the authority to do some of the things the new law would require the city to do.

Supporters of the ballot issue, dubbed Sensible Norwood, had argued the board's decision was based on a "morality crusade," rather than a valid interpretation of the law.

All seven Supreme Court justices, however, agreed there was no reason to hear the appeal. The decision ends any chance of the initiative making it on the ballot this fall.

If it had been adopted, the law would have essentially made it impossible to punish anyone who uses marijuana or sells small amounts of it in Norwood. It would have created a new, low-level felony for possession of larger amounts of marijuana, but even that would come with conditions that it not be enforced.

The county prosecutor's office warned that the initiative could not, under state law, cover administrative matters that tell police or prosecutors how to do their jobs.