CLEVELAND — Law enforcement agencies and employers alike are still figuring out how they'll enforce Ohio's new recreational marijuana law that went into effect Thursday.
Case Western Reserve University Law Professor Michael Benza notes workplaces still have the full right to ban employees from working high or having marijuana on them. For employers that drug test, he says they'll have to update their policies to state how much marijuana is allowed to be in any worker's system.
'"How much marijuana can you lawfully use then come to work? What's our policy for that?'" Benza explained. "If I am Amazon, I might be very worried about my drivers lawfully using marijuana and then coming to work, so I may have to develop a policy that regulates what my employees do in order to protect me and my company."
3News also asked several law enforcement agencies how they'll be enforcing the new law on Thursday. Here's what they told us:
- Akron Police Department spokesman Captain David Laughlin says they're "waiting for the state to make a determination of what the final version of the law is and then we'll be in consultation with our city prosecutor for guidance."
- Euclid Police Department pokesman Captain Mitch Houser said, "We are still working with our Law Department to formulate our approach."
- The Newburgh Heights Police Department says its officers no longer be searching vehicles on the sole suspicion of marijuana possession.
As a reminder of the current law, Ohioans 21 and older are allowed to possess up to 2 1/2 ounces of cannabis and 15 grams of edibles. Ohioans can grow up to six plants per person and 12 plants per household.
Newburgh Police Chief John Majoy says if they do see someone with more than the legal amount on them, they'll confiscate the marijuana, get it weighed, and file charges if it's above the limit. If it turns out less than the legal amount, they'll return it to the person.
Additionally, Newburgh Heights Sergeant Rachel Halaska stressed that driving under the influence of marijuana remains illegal. If police think you're high, they will conduct field sobriety tests on your coordination. If you fail, they'll arrest you.
Halaska adds the department can also take you back to the police station and run a urine test, reading us Ohio law Section 4511.19 that states a driver can't operate a vehicle if their urine has a marijuana concentration of at least 10 nanograms per milliliter.
"The biggest thing for us is that we want people to know that smoking marijuana and driving a vehicle is very dangerous," Halaska expressed. "We do worry that there's going to be people that are going to try marijuana for the first time, not know how their body reacts to it, and they're going to end up causing an accident or getting arrested by us. We just want people to indulge in it safely and not get behind the wheel of a vehicle. I mean, that's our main concern with this, is just making sure that we're not having people out there thinking that it's OK to do that now that it's legal."
WKYC also asked the Ohio State Highway Patrol for details on how they'll be enforcing the law, but they respectfully declined to comment at this time.
Meanwhile, North Olmsted on Thursday passed an ordinance banning all future marijuana sales (though not possession) in the city. This is allowed under Issue 2's home rule provisions.