Ohio Senate Expected To Vote On Bill Recriminalizing Some Marijuana Activity That Voters Legalized

*“You can be charged with a crime for having legal weed in a different
package than what you bought. You can be charged with a crime for buying
legal weed in Michigan.”*

*By Jake Zuckerman, Signal Cleveland*

*This story was originally published by Signal Cleveland. Sign up for their
free newsletters at SignalCleveland.org/subscribe.*

A new law that’s likely to pass at the Statehouse next week would establish
a series of minor criminal penalties for people who improperly transport or
possess marijuana in Ohio, while rolling back legal protections for users
in venues like child custody or professional licensing disputes.

For that reason, NORML, the oldest marijuana advocacy organization in the
U.S., is leading a quixotic effort to ask the Ohio Senate to reject Senate
Bill 56 before a final vote next week.

With the Senate’s approval, the bill would go to Gov. Mike DeWine (R) for a
signature or veto.

The marijuana changes come within a larger package that also imposes a
comprehensive, new regulatory system on intoxicating hemp, a product that’s
functionally similar to legal marijuana but sold without the age
restrictions, taxes or quality controls. DeWine, a Republican who opposed
relaxing Ohio’s marijuana laws, has made a public cause of the intoxicating
hemp issue for more than a year now.

But perhaps out of a political compromise, marijuana users have found
themselves caught in the crosshairs within the hemp crackdown, according to
Morgan Fox, NORML’s political director.

“A lot of these things are completely nonsensical,” he said in an
interview. “This is recriminalizing a lot of behavior that is relatively
innocuous and has been legal for some time.”

House and Senate lawmakers negotiated a final version of the legislation in
a conference committee, which means the bill can no longer be changed. The
House passed it last month, with a late-night 52-34 vote, where a handful
of Republicans joined Democrats in opposition.

Committee members described the final version as a compromise between a
list of scrambled voting blocs: Democrats who don’t want new criminal
penalties for run-of-the-mill users, libertarian-minded Republicans
protective of the right to grow one’s own marijuana, religious
conservatives who disapprove expanding the legal use of intoxicants, local
governments who want their tax money, a governor seeking a crackdown on the
gas station hemp retailers, and both the hemp and marijuana industries
seeking market advantage. (All told, 153 lobbyists registered to work on
the bill as of August, state records show.)

In 2023, Ohio voters passed Issue 2 by a 57 percent to 43 percent vote,
allowing for adults to lawfully use, buy, sell and possess cannabis. Those
rights remain broadly intact under the bill.

However, SB 56 imposes legal penalties for things like possessing marijuana
in anything but its original container or buying legal marijuana in
Michigan where it tends to be much cheaper.

What follows is a closer look at some of those rules.

*Out-of-state marijuana*

SB 56 reclassifies what counts within the “scope of legalization” of
marijuana. And by its rules, any marijuana that’s not either grown in one’s
home or purchased at an in-state dispensary is illegal. Prices are far
lower in the more mature cannabis market of Michigan, and SB 56 would make
it illegal to bring that same substance back into Ohio.

Violators could be convicted of a minor misdemeanor, which entails a
maximum fine of $150 but no jail time.

Fox, who lobbies on a national basis for NORML, said he’s not aware of any
adult-use state that makes simple possession of cannabis that originated in
a different state illegal.

*Driving with marijuana in the car*

Under the bill, drivers can transport legal marijuana by car. However, it
must be stored in the trunk or, for cars without trunks, behind the last
upright seat of the car. Marijuana and any paraphernalia also must be
stored in its “original, unopened packaging.”

Similarly, edibles must be stored in their original packaging to comply
with the bill.

Violations are a minor misdemeanor.

“You can be charged with a crime for having legal weed in a different
package than what you bought,” said Bride Rose Sweeney, one of the House
Democrats’ top negotiators on the bill, during a floor speech. “You can be
charged with a crime for buying legal weed in Michigan.”

*Lost legal protections*

Besides legalizing marijuana, the 2023 law approved by voters created legal
protections for adults who use marijuana in a spread of civil and
administrative contexts.

For instance, state licensing boards can’t punish licensees solely for use
of marijuana. A judge can’t strip a parent of parenting time or
responsibilities solely based on marijuana use and barring clear and
convincing evidence of the child’s lack of safety.

Similar protections exist regarding access to medical care like an organ
donation, rejections to a person as a tenant, or disqualifying them from
public benefits.

The bill removes almost all these protections, though users could still
access public benefits (with the exception of unemployment compensation).

The post Ohio Senate Expected To Vote On Bill Recriminalizing Some
Marijuana Activity That Voters Legalized appeared first on Marijuana Moment.