Ohio Activists Submit Signatures For Referendum To Block Lawmakers’ Move To Roll Back Marijuana Legalization And Restrict Hemp

Ohio activists announced on Monday that they’ve met an initial signature
requirement to launch a campaign aimed at repealing key components of a bill
the governor recently signed to scale back the state’s voter-approved
marijuana law and ban the sale of consumable hemp products outside of
licensed cannabis dispensaries.

Ohioans for Cannabis Choice said they’ve submitted a batch of 1,000
signatures to get the referendum process started. If the signatures are
certified by the secretary of state, the campaign will then need to submit
a total of about 250,000 signatures to make the ballot.

The proposed referendum would repeal the first three core sections of SB
56, a controversial bill that Gov. Mike DeWine (R) signed into law earlier
this month that he says is intended to crack down on the unregulated
intoxicating hemp market. But the legislation would do more than restrict
the sale of cannabinoid products to dispensaries.

The law also recriminalizes certain marijuana activity that was legalized
under the ballot initiative voters approved in 2023, and it’d additionally
remove anti-discrimination protections for cannabis consumers that were
enacted under that law.

The governor additionally used his line-item veto powers to cancel a
section of the bill that would have delayed the implementation of the ban
on hemp beverages.

“We’re saying no to SB 56 because it recriminalizes the cannabis industry,”
Wesley Bryant, a petitioner with the referendum campaign who owns the
cannabis company 420 Craft Beverages, said. “SB 56 is a slap in the face to
voters who overwhelmingly voted to legalize cannabis in 2023.”

Advocates and stakeholders strongly protested the now-enacted legislation,
arguing that it undermines the will of voters who approved cannabis
legalization and would effectively eradicate the state’s hemp industry, as
there are low expectations that adults will opt for hemp-based products
over marijuana when they visit a dispensary.

The pushback inspired the newly filed referendum—but the path to
successfully blocking the law is narrow.

If activists reach the signature threshold by the deadline three months
from now, which coincides with the same day the restrictive law is to take
effect, SB 56 would not be implemented until voters got a chance to decide
on the issue at the ballot.

“In filing our petitions today, we are taking a stand for Ohioans against
politicians in Columbus and saying no to the government overreach of SB
56,” Bryant said.

A summary of the referendum states that “Sections 1, 2, and 3 of Am. Sub.
S. B. No. 56 enact new provisions and amend and repeal existing provisions
of the Ohio Revised Code that relate to the regulation, criminalization,
and taxation of cannabis products, such as the sale, use, possession,
cultivation, license, classification, transport, and manufacture of
marijuana and certain hemp products.”

“If a majority of the voters vote to not approve Sections 1, 2, and 3 of
the Act, then the enacted changes will not take effect and the prior
version of the affected laws will remain in effect,” it says.

Joey Ellwood, a hemp farmer who signed the referendum petition, said
“Ohioans oppose recriminalizing cannabis.”

“And this is just the start,” he said. “Politicians in Columbus won’t stop
until marijuana and hemp are completely illegal in Ohio again.”

Andrew Greene, another petitioner who also works at a cannabis distribution
center, said “these out-of-touch politicians are hellbent on
recriminalizing marijuana and hemp products.”

Advocates have flagged a series of concerns with the law, pointing out, for
example, that it would eliminate language in statute providing
anti-discrimination protections for people who lawfully use cannabis. That
includes protections meant to prevent adverse actions in the context of
child custody rights, the ability to qualify for organ transplants and
professional licensing.

It would also recriminalize possessing marijuana from any source that isn’t
a state-licensed dispensary in Ohio or from a legal homegrow. As such,
people could be charged with a crime for carrying cannabis they bought at a
legal retailer in neighboring Michigan.

Additionally, it would ban smoking cannabis at outdoor public locations
such as bar patios—and it would allow landlords to prohibit vaping
marijuana at rented homes. Violating that latter policy, even if it
involves vaping in a person’s own backyard at a rental home, would
constitute a misdemeanor offense.

The legislation would also replace what had been a proposed regulatory
framework for intoxicating hemp that the House had approved with a broad
prohibition on sales outside marijuana dispensaries following a recent
federal move to recriminalize such products.

Under the law, hemp items with more than 0.4 mg of total THC per container,
or those containing synthetic cannabinoids, could no longer be sold outside
of a licensed marijuana dispensary setting. That would align with a
recently enacted federal hemp law included in an appropriations package
signed by President Donald Trump.

The federal law imposing a ban on most consumable hemp products has a
one-year implementation window, however, and it appears the Ohio
legislation would take effect sooner. As passed by the legislature, a
temporary regulatory program for hemp beverages would have stayed in place
in Ohio until December 31, 2026, but that provision was vetoed by the
governor.

The law also includes language stipulating that, if the federal government
moves to legalize hemp with higher THC content, it’s the intent of the Ohio
legislature to review that policy change and consider potential state-level
reforms to regulate such products.

The bill signing came months after DeWine issued emergency rules
prohibiting the sale of intoxicating hemp products for 90 days, with
instructions to the legislature to consider permanent regulations. A county
judge has enjoined the state from enforcing that policy in response to a
legal challenge.


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Meanwhile, in September, the Ohio Department of Cannabis Control (DCC)
filed proposed rules to build upon the state’s marijuana legalization law, laying
out plans to update regulations on labeling and packaging requirements.

The proposal came weeks after Ohio medical and adult-use marijuana sales
officially crossed $3 billion, data from the state Department of Commerce
(DOC) shows.

The state sold about $703 million in recreational cannabis in the law’s
first year of implementation, according to DCC data.

In March, a survey of 38 municipalities by the Ohio State University’s
(OSU) Moritz College of Law found that local leaders were “unequivocally
opposed” to earlier proposals that would have stripped the planned funding.

Meanwhile in Ohio, adults as of June are able to buy more than double the
amount of marijuana than they were under previous limits, with state
officials determining that the market can sustainably supply both medical
cannabis patients and adult consumers.

The governor in March separately announced his desire to reallocate
marijuana tax revenue to support police training, local jails and
behavioral health services. He said funding police training was a top
priority, even if that wasn’t included in what voters passed in 2023.

*Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen.*

The post Ohio Activists Submit Signatures For Referendum To Block
Lawmakers’ Move To Roll Back Marijuana Legalization And Restrict Hemp
appeared first on Marijuana Moment.