COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — During the push to legalize recreational marijuana in Ohio, campaigners pointed a finger at a major reason to do so: Ohioans are already getting it from Michigan.

Cleveland attorney Tom Haren worked as the campaign spokesperson for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Just Like Alcohol. The group was a major force behind Issue 2, the amendment voters passed in November to legalize recreational marijuana in Ohio. His team launched a television ad the week before the election that claimed the state needed recreational marijuana to halt a siphon of sales tax.

“The advertisement takes us to Morenci, Michigan, a small town nestled just over the state line. Morenci has just over 2,000 residents — but a whopping five marijuana retail stores,” the coalition wrote in a release. “Their customer base is almost entirely Ohioans, and the money spent in these stores funds Michigan roads, schools and more.”

But when NBC4 reached out to Haren for data on just how many Ohioans were getting their high in Michigan, or an estimate on the tax money lost to the northern state, he didn’t return calls. The Ohio Department of Taxation didn’t respond to requests for the same kind of data either. A study from Ohio State University looked at tax revenue in Michigan to predict the sales tax potential of recreational marijuana sold in Ohio. But there’s nothing in the survey about sales tax lost to the neighboring state.

The Ohio Department of Commerce, which houses the recently created Ohio Division of Cannabis Control, did give a compelling reason for why crossing the border with Michigan marijuana is a bad idea.

“Federal law prohibits traveling across state lines with marijuana,” the department wrote.

Even with recreational marijuana legal in both Michigan and Ohio, there is still a prohibition on marijuana at the federal level, and state border crossings fall under federal jurisdiction, according to law firm Gounaris Abboud, LPA. Depending on how much cannabis they possessed during a traffic stop, the penalties increase from misdemeanors to felonies. An Ohioan can legally buy and consume recreational marijuana while in Michigan, but can’t bring any of it back to their home state.

Ohio criminal defense attorney Sam Shamansky pointed to Gov. Mike DeWine’s theory of a “black market” of marijuana in the state. Thanks to that, he told NBC4 there’s not enough justification for people to take the risk of going to Michigan to buy it.

“I represent marijuana traffickers with regularity, and people that want to buy high-grade marijuana, they’re not running to a dispensary,” Shamansky told NBC4. “It’s available everywhere … I think we’re always going to be losing tax dollars because you can get it cheaper from your neighbor. Why bother investing with the state?”