Jet Express' Kevin Burch Leads Coalition Opposing Marijuana Legalization in Ohio

Ohioans will be voting in November on whether to legalize marijuana in their state, and several coalitions are rallying to oppose the amendment, including representatives from trucking. 

One of those is the Dayton Regional Employers Against Marijuana (DREAM) Coalition. The chairman is Kevin Burch, president of Jet Express Inc.

"Safety is at the forefront of all of our minds," Burch told the Dayton Business Journal. "The perception and image important to so many of us in our businesses today will be jeopardized, when we already have a shortage of skilled workers."

Burch noted in an interview with Dayton TV station WHIO that because trucking companies are federally regulated, "We have to be drug-free, we randomly drug-test all our drivers."

Burch also is second vice chairman of American Trucking Associations. Other members of the DREAM Coalition include the Dayton Region Manufacturers Association, Dayton Area Logistics Association, Home Builders Association of Dayton, Dayton/Miami Valley Safety Council and Dayton Children's Hospital.

The Dayton Chamber of Commerce said 82% of local employers surveyed oppose legalization of recreational marijuana and 68% oppose the constitutional amendment.

It says it has been hearing from trucking companies about how to keep its employees safe if they can legally smoke pot. Holly Allen of the chamber told Fox45 in Dayton, "If this were to pass, just because this would be legal in the state of Ohio doesn't mean that employers would change their rules, their drug policies. They're concerned about turnover [and] testing when they're hiring."

Truck driver Roger Hannibal also told Fox45 he opposes legalization. "This is not an adventure, this is a job. There's people riding amongst us, and their safety is just as important as my own," Hannibal said.

ResponsibleOhio, which collected enough signatures to get the issue placed on the Nov. 3 ballot, intends to spend upward of $20 million trying to get the initiative passed.

ResponsibleOhio says legalization will provide the state with jobs and tax dollars, cut crime, end what it calls "senseless" incarceration and offer medicine to those who need it. It says the language of the proposed amendment would allow employers to test employees for marijuana and to ban the use of it at their workplace.

Marijuana already is legal for recreational use in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia.