COLUMBUS, Ohio -- One of the major investors backing a ballot issue to legalize marijuana assured future entrepreneurs there would be thousands of business opportunities available to them despite the plan's controversial limits on commercial growing.

T-shirts with marijuana slogans, cannabis-infused beverages, packaging for marijuana products are among the endless possibilities Ohioans can come up with, according to Alan Mooney, a Columbus-area investor in ResponsibleOhio's legalization campaign.

I am appalled ResponsibleOhio would use such a mascot to promote marijuana (“Meet Buddie: Marijuana mascot” Aug. 28).

We all know marijuana is a gateway drug. You are encouraging this illegal substance by using this mascot.

We don’t need our young ones high and going around like zombies and ruining their lives

You know it is geared to our young children. You mention that in the article by sending Buddie to college campuses. This is disgusting, not creative and exciting as stated.

As Ohioans prepare for a Nov. 3 vote on legalizing marijuana, budding entrepreneurs are looking at whether they could earn a living from it.

For some, cannabis could become a cannabiz.

This is what Troy Wade is contemplating if marijuana is legalized in Ohio.

“I have an interest in the business. I want to be an entrepreneur, start my own shop or whatever,” said Wade, 28, an East Side resident who runs table games at the Hollywood Casino on the West Side.

Wade was among the people attending a cannabis conference on Saturday at the DoubleTree Hotel in Worthington. It continues today.

CLEVELAND- ResponsibleOhio, the group pushing for marijuana legalization in Ohio through Issue 3, introduced its mascot earlier this week.

“Buddie” made stops at the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University as part of the campaign’s bus tour.

“Buddie is going to college campuses only to promote ‘Buddie’s 21 and Up Club,’ our social media campaign to engage millennial voters in a new, creative and exciting way,” ResponsibleOhio spokeswoman Faith Oltman said in a statement on Thursday.

I try to keep an open mind about things. I think that anyone who has ever met me will vouch for that claim, and will say that I’m an even-keeled, reasonable person who is open to new ideas (I don’t always participate, but at least I’m willing to listen). But something happened today that I just can’t understand. I have tried to approach the idea from every angle, and I still can’t arrive at how this came about. The ResponsibleOhio campaign has been using a mascot to promote its campaign. I think activist Sam Tracy described it best when he tweeted ’This is pretty much Duffman, for marijuana.’ Per Cleveland.Com:

Pro-marijuana group ResponsibleOhio introduced its new mascot to supporters this week, but its chosen face of marijuana legalization hasn't been a hit with everyone.

Part Superman, part cannabis plant, "Buddie" has a green marijuana bud for a head, sports six-pack abs and wears a cape. On his chest: The letter B over a cannabis leaf and the state of Ohio.

ResponsibleOhio posted photos of the mascot to Facebook. Followers drew instant comparisons between Buddie and Joe Camel, the cigarette mascot that was retired to settle a lawsuit alleging R.J. Reynolds used the cartoon character to market to children.

CINCINNATI -- He was once responsible for arresting pot users and dealers, now a former Cincinnati police captain is advocating for legal marijuana.

The pro-pot group ResponsibleOhio is launching a new ad campaign featuring retired Capt. Howard Rahtz.

In the ad, Rahtz talks about seeing the drug problem firsthand and that in his opinion, Ohio’s war on drugs doesn’t work.

“Simply put, they don’t work,” Rahtz said.

He goes on to call out the cost of the prohibition to Ohio alone and that “it’s time for marijuana reform so law enforcement can focus on cracking down on real criminals.”

The toddler lay in the hospital bed, her leg twitching and eyes drooping. Her body was reacting to a seizure attacking her brain, but little Lucy Brorson still lifted her hand when her mother asked for a fist bump.

The 18-month-old loves to gently knock knuckles as a form of greeting. Lucy also waves hello, says “bye–bye” and a handful of other words.

This November, Ohio will vote on whether to become the biggest state to fully legalize marijuana. But the measure is very different from what's come out of other legal pot states — and not in a good way, according to drug policy experts and legalization advocates.

Ohio is already an unexpected candidate for full legalization compared with the four legal pot states. It isn't especially progressive like Colorado, Oregon, and Washington state, or libertarian like Alaska. It doesn't even have medical marijuana yet, although it was one of the states to decriminalize pot back in the 1970s.

COLUMBUS – In this corner, we have pro-pot group ResponsibleOhio with about $20 million to spend on advertising, a new bus headed to 88 counties and polls that say most Ohioans are fine with legalizing at least medicinal pot.

In the other corner, we have Ohioans Against Marijuana Monopolies, a group of pediatricians, manufacturers, farmers and police officers who say legalizing marijuana would put children at risk and create an oligopoly that’s bad for Ohio business.

Let Battle of the Blunt 2015 begin.