Ohio House Passes Bill To Remove Voter-Approved Marijuana Legalization Protections And Restrict Hemp Market

The Ohio House of Representatives has passed a bill that would make
significant changes to the state’s voter-approved marijuana legalization law
by removing several protections for consumers while also adding a series of
new restrictions on hemp products that are intended to align the two
sectors of the cannabis industry.

After moving through several House committees this week, with substantive
amendments, the full chamber approved the legislation from Sen. Stephen
Huffman (R) in a 87-8 vote on Wednesday.

While the measure previously passed the Senate in earlier form it will need
to return to that chamber for concurrence, or go to a bicameral conference
committee, before potentially heading to the governor’s desk.

Certain controversial provisions of the bill as passed by the Senate were
scaled back by the House, but advocates are concerned that it would still
make major changes to the marijuana law voters approved in 2023.

Rep. Brian Stewart (R), who has shepherded the legislation through the
House, argued ahead of the floor vote that the legislation effectively
reaches a “carefully crafted compromise” between lawmakers with differing
perspectives on cannabis issues.

“This bill has been very difficult to wrangle, but most of our substantive
bills usually are. Rather than being some kind of mushy muddle of weak
sauce tie-breakers, this bill does what we all claim that we wanted to come
to Columbus to do,” he said. “It tackles the issue head-on. It makes tough
decisions. It respects and implements the feedback from residents and
advocates across the affected industries. This bill wisely balances between
Ohioans’ individual liberties, their safety, the financial wellbeing of our
local communities and the need to protect the health and safety of Ohio’s
children.”

Rep. Jamie Callender (R), who sponsored marijuana legalization legislation
ahead of voters’ approval of the reform at the ballot, said the bill is
“not perfect” but argued that lawmakers “have to act” to address
intoxicating hemp and other pending issues.

“This is the revised code we’re writing,” he said. “I anticipate there will
be numerous other bills on these topics in the near- and long-term future,
as there should be… I’ll keep working with everyone to make it better.”

While its supporters have described it as a less heavy-handed approach
compared to the original Senate bill, the measure would make substantive
changes to the existing legalization law—with several provisions that
advocates say directly contradict the will of voters and represent
overreach on the part of lawmakers.

For example, the proposal would eliminate language in current 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.

Karen O’Keefe, director of states policies at the Marijuana Policy Project
(MPP), said in a letter to House lawmakers on Wednesday that SB 56 as
currently drafted “eliminates essential protections from the voter-enacted
law and recriminalizes innocuous conduct that voters legalized.”

“Please reject this erosion of freedoms enacted by voters,” she said.

Unlike the Senate-passed version of the bill, the House substitute will
send tax revenue from cannabis sales to local governments.

The legislation as amended by the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday also
adds new restrictions on the hemp market. With the exception of beverages,
intoxicating hemp products would only be allowed to be sold in licensed
hemp dispensaries.

Stores and breweries would be permitted to sell hemp-derived THC drinks,
with new advertising restrictions meant to prevent appealing to youth.
Products for on-site consumption would be limited to 5 mg of THC, but
adults could buy take-home drinks containing up to 10 mg. More potent
drinks could also be manufactured in Ohio, but only for sales to people
outside the state.

There would also be a new $1.20 tax per gallon on hemp beverages created by
the bill.

The measure was further amended earlier on Wednesday by the Finance
Committee to clarify that people seeking to expunge prior misdemeanor
marijuana possession offenses would not have to prove the specific amount
of cannabis that they had. The change would also allow for the expungement
of marijuana charges that were dismissed, and not just convictions.

The amendment additionally harmonizes cannabinoid beverage policy with
existing laws relating to drinks and clarifies that penalties for selling
marijuana, hemp drinks or cannabinoid products to an underage person would
be the same regardless of the type of product.

The House vote on Wednesday comes weeks after the governor issued emergency
rules prohibiting the sale of intoxicating hemp products for 90 days, with
instructions to the legislature to consider permanent regulations. Last
week, however, a county judge enjoined the state from enforcing that policy
in response to a legal challenge.

“Frankly, the legislature had not taken action,” Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said
in an interview published this week. “I’m still hopeful that the
legislature will come in and actually take action.”

House Speaker Matt Huffman (R) commented recently on the relative lack of
progress in advancing marijuana and hemp legislation since voters approved
legalization at the ballot in 2023, noting substantive divides within the
Republican caucus.

There are “folks who believe that marijuana should be legalized and
regulated,” others “who believe that the hemp products should be on equal
standing with everything that happened in the initiated statute and then
“folks, like me, who are prohibitionists, who don’t think it should be
legalized at all and it should be rare,” he said.

“I would say the prohibitionists have largely lost this discussion.”


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Meanwhile, last month, the Ohio Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) filed
new 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.

Ohio’s Senate president has also pushed back against criticism of the
Senate bill, claiming the legislation does not disrespect the will of the
electorate and would have little impact on products available in stores.

*Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.*

The post Ohio House Passes Bill To Remove Voter-Approved Marijuana
Legalization Protections And Restrict Hemp Market appeared first on Marijuana
Moment.