The push to legalize pot in Ohio could create thousands of new union jobs.Local investors with big stakes in a pro-marijuana ballot initiative have agreed to let workers at proposed marijuana grow sites in Butler, Clermont and Hamilton counties form unions.Watch this storyThe move does not come without controversy.As WLWT News 5 investigative reporter Todd Dykes explains, anyone who mentions the word marijuana is likely to get an earful from both supporters and detractors, but the debate about the pros and cons of pot is not slowing down the man who wants weed to be legal across the Buckeye State."Sixty percent of Ohio voters want personal use of marijuana. About 87 percent want the medicinal use of marijuana," Ian James said.James runs Responsible Ohio, a group that has collected nearly 700,000 signatures to put a pro-marijuana initiative on the ballot this fall."Voters are way ahead of the politicians on this, so whenever the Statehouse talks about, you know, voters don't want this, they want something else, no. The voters want to end prohibition. They want to legalize marijuana. The Statehouse may not want to do that, but the voters do want to end prohibition and to get there, they're going to legalize marijuana," James said.James spent Monday in Cincinnati along with people who've invested millions of dollars in the idea of helping create a legal marijuana industry from the ground up.Investors include former Bengal Frostee Rucker and Woody Taft, who is a descendant of the former president.Taft is one of 10 investors who want to operate a marijuana grow facility in Butler County."I've seen marijuana use at every level, at every economic level, across party lines, across age lines," Taft said. "And what I think we have here is a situation where people just don't talk about it. If they partake of marijuana they hide it, generally because their boss or their family or someone they love might not approve. I think those days should be gone. I don't think that's right, and I think there are a lot more people out there who use marijuana for relaxation, to handle stress and anxiety as well as for medical purposes."While the stakes are high, Taft said the time is right to end marijuana prohibition in the Buckeye State."Myself and many other investors, much more than 10, are putting up a collective $20 million of our own money which is fully at risk. I'm not only doing that, but I'm putting my reputation, not only in my community, but as a businessman here in Ohio, at risk, all so that I can create with this new industry thousands and thousands of new jobs and create hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of tax revenue that will go straight to county and township levels,” Taft said. “I make no apology for that. I'm helping to create a new industry, and yes I will benefit by it, but I think a lot more people will benefit by it."Critics say legalizing marijuana would lead to more drug abuse.James disagrees and says by 2020 the state could see $554 million in tax revenue."If the voters say yes, which we believe they will, then let's legalize marijuana, let's regulate it, let's test it and let's tax it," James said.James said if voters legalize marijuana, Clermont County could see more than $8 million in tax revenue.Officials said $15 million is the projection for Butler County, and the figure is more than $30 million annually for Hamilton County.