Ohio Lawmakers Cancel Another Hearing On Bill To Alter Voter-Approved Marijuana Legalization Law Amid GOP Disagreements

*“We are going to push pause. We’re going to take the summer and come back
and potentially take another crack at it.”*

*By Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal*

Ohio lawmakers will likely go on summer break without making any changes to
the state’s marijuana law, a Republican state representative said Tuesday.

For the second week in a row, Ohio Senate Bill 56 was up for a possible
vote out of the Ohio House Judiciary Committee, but both times the vote did
not take place.

Once the bill is voted out of committee, it can be brought to the House
floor for a vote. The Senate passed the bill in February.

Last week, the bill was removed from the committee agenda and this week the
committee meeting—which only had S.B. 56 on the agenda—was canceled.

“We are going to push pause,” state Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, said
when asked about the marijuana bill. “We’re going to take the summer and
come back and potentially take another crack at it.”

Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said the Senate raised more than a
dozen issues related to S.B. 56 last week.

“I just told my caucus, ‘We’re not going to just say, OK, because we’re so
anxious to pass the marijuana bill, which I’d like to get it done, but
we’re not going to give up House priorities to do that,’” he said last week.

The lawmakers are currently working on the state’s two-year operating
budget, which Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) must sign before July 1. The
lawmakers will go on summer break after the budget is finished.

S.B. 56 would reduce the THC levels in adult-use marijuana extracts from a
maximum of 90 percent down to a maximum of 70 percent, limit the number of
active dispensaries to 400 and prohibit smoking in most public places.

It would keep Ohio’s home grow the same at a limit of six plants per person
and 12 plants per residence. State Sen. Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City,
introduced the bill in January and the bill originally would have limited
Ohio’s home grow from 12 plants down to six.

Ohioans passed a citizen-initiated law to legalize recreational marijuana
in 2023 with 57 percent of the vote, and sales started in August 2024. Ohio
lawmakers can change the law since it passed as a citizen initiative not a
constitutional amendment.

“The people of Ohio spoke very clearly on this issue,” said Ohio House
Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati. “They knew what they were
voting on, and they voted to pass adult-use cannabis recreationally here in
the state of Ohio.”
Intoxicating hemp products

The House has made significant changes to S.B. 56, most notably adding
regulations to intoxicating hemp products.

As the bill currently stands, only a licensed marijuana dispensary would be
able to sell intoxicating hemp products that have been tested and complied
with packaging, labeling and advertising requirements.

The Ohio Department of Commerce would regulate intoxicating hemp products
and drinkable cannabinoid products. Grocery stores, carryout stores, bars,
and restaurants would continue to be able to sell drinkable cannabinoid
products.

Isaacsohn agrees there should be regulations around intoxicating hemp
products, but wants it to happen through a “clean bill.”

“It is so tied up in trying to overturn the will of the voters,” he said.
“If we had a clean bill to fairly regulate intoxicating hemp, we could have
voted on it months ago, years ago… There are so many common sense things
that we agree on, and when the majority brings forward a clean bill, we
would be happy to vote for it.”

The 2018 Farm Bill says hemp can be grown legally if it contains less than
0.3 percent THC.

State Rep. D.J. Swearingen, R-Huron, was planning on introducing amendments
to the bill’s hemp provisions during Tuesday’s committee meeting, but that
didn’t happen since the meeting was canceled.

The American Republic Policy worked with Swearingen on the amendments
which would have allowed licensed hemp companies in Ohio to continue to
operate their retail stores and create a unified regulatory framework for
hemp and marijuana products, said Dakota Sawyer of American Republic Policy.

“The same regulations that would apply to marijuana under the Ohio
administration code would apply to hemp products as well,” he said. “We are
ensuring that we do not have state-sanctioned monopolies in the state of
Ohio, that federally legal hemp products can be accessed through
independent businesses, and that they would not be forced to go into
dispensaries.”

Sawyer said forcing hemp products into only dispensaries would eliminate
market competition.

“We want to ensure that there are options out for people, to ensure that
they are able to purchase what they love, what they would want…and to
ensure that we do not have state-sanctioned monopolies,” he said.

State Rep. Jennifer Gross, R-West Chester, said 3,000 hemp businesses would
close if S.B. 56 passes as it currently stands—with hemp products only
being sold in dispensaries.

“We need to reward the good actors,” she said. “We need to ID check our
hemp products when it is consumable. We also need to allow these businesses
to stay open.”

Wesley Bryant, company owner of 420 Craft Beverages in Cleveland, said he
already does many of the things that are outlined in the proposed amendment.

“Every square inch of my facility is fully covered by cameras,” he said.
“We have a full track and traceability of everything that comes into my
facility. We even go so far as to double check IDs. And my doors stay
locked throughout the day. You have to be buzzed in order to enter the
facility.”

DeWine and various lawmakers have expressed safety concerns for children
when it comes to hemp products, but Sawyer said the average age of an Ohio
hemp customer is 40 years old.

“It’s not geared towards children,” Sawyer said. “What some legislators
have done is created this mystical boogeyman that says that all these hemp
people are doing all these crazy things that are attracting minors. And
essentially we’re saying, let’s punish the bad actors that are doing that,
but let’s not punish the good guys for that.”

But Adrienne Robbin, deputy executive director of Ohio Cannabis Coalition
(OHCANN), said Ohio children are being put at risk by intoxicating hemp
products.

“It’s a sad day for all Ohioans that we’re going to continue to see these
illicit products be sold in our state over the summer,” she said. “These
products are being marketed to [children] specifically,” she said. “I think
the hemp industry is really good at pulling a few good actors out and
highlighting them, but the reality is, the majority of these products are
illicit.”

Sawyer said he would prefer to see the legislation as two separate
bills—one with marijuana regulations and a separate one with hemp
regulations.

“Marijuana and hemp are totally separate in terms of the industry and
products,” he said.

*This story was first published by Ohio Capital Journal.*

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*Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.*

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Voter-Approved Marijuana Legalization Law Amid GOP Disagreements appeared
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