President Taft's Descendants are Going to Ruin the Marijuana Industry

Woody Taft and Dudley Taft Jr. are brothers and the great-great-grandnephews of President Taft, and they are ruining the marijuana industry in Ohio by trying to create a good, old-fashioned monopoloy - a stranglehold on the business that would make old President Taft proud.

Many people who generally support legalization have a problem with the group ResponsibleOhio that's pushing this initiative.

That's because it specifies just 10 locations in the state where growing pot would be allowed. And 10 groups of investors already have dibs on those sites.

These same investors are sinking $20 million into the campaign. So in essence, they are paying to try to amend the Ohio Constitution to grant themselves pot growing rights.

The investors in the for-profit ResponsibleOhio marijuana-legalization plan have something in common: They all want to make money, and lots of it.

Sri Kavuru, president of Ohioans To End Prohibition, says he agrees that it's time to legalize marijuana — but thinks this is the wrong approach.

"I don't think auctioning off the Ohio Constitution is the only way to do that," Kavuru says.

So his group of would-be supporters is trying to pass a different amendment next year, one that would create a free market for growers.

Legalization is good, but putting all the money in just a few pockets is just wrong.

American politics has raised its ugly head in the emerging cannabis business, and it's not a pretty sight.