Issue 2 backers launch ad campaign for legal marijuana using Ohio-Michigan rivalry

The campaign to pass Issue 2, the law on the November ballot to legalize marijuana sales and use for Ohioans over 21, has been relatively quiet when compared to the failed legalization attempt in 2015. There haven't been any mascots, no big rallies and no advertising blitz.

But supporters of Issue 2 are breaking that silence with a new ad.

Just weeks before the Ohio State-Michigan game, backers of Issue 2 plan to air an ad that capitalizes on beating Michigan economically by bringing tax dollars Ohioans spend there on marijuana back home.

The ad says, "Ohioans are flocking to Michigan to buy marijuana," and features Morenci, Michigan, a small town of 2,000 residents on the Ohio border. It boasts five marijuana shops that the ad says are frequented by Ohioans.

"People in Ohio right now are using marijuana," said Tom Haren, the spokesman for the Committee to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol, the coalition supporting Issue 2. "They are just either buying it from drug dealers or buying it from a Michigan dispensary."