Politics
Ohio Lawmakers Pass Bill To Scale Back Marijuana Law And Restrict Hemp THC In Line With New Federal Ban Trump Enacted
Ohio lawmakers have advanced a bill that would scale back the state’s voter-approved marijuana law—with new amendments to ban the sale of hemp products that fall outside of a newly revised federal definition for the crop, unless they’re sold at marijuana dispensaries.
After the House revised the Senate-passed legislation from Sen. Stephen Huffman (R), removing certain controversial provisions, the Senate quickly rejected those changes late last month. That led to the appointment of a bicameral conference committee to resolve outstanding differences between the chambers.
That panel approved a newly negotiated form of the bill on Wednesday evening, which then passed the House early on Thursday morning. The Senate doesn’t meet again until next month, but if that chamber follows suit, the bill will move to the governor’s desk.
To advocates’ disappointment, the current version of the measure retains earlier Senate-passed language recriminalizing certain marijuana-related activity that was legalized under a ballot measure voters approved in 2023.
“I cannot support it because it fundamentally undermines the will of the voters and what they said that they wanted,” Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D) said at the conference committee meeting. “They said we need to stop punishing adults for responsible use. They voted to end decades of unnecessary arrests. They voted for a system rooted in public health and not handcuffs—not more ways to criminalize and trap people.”
“I find all of these things to be unreasonable, and do not believe that that’s what Ohioans voted for,” she said. “They want the government out of their business. They do not want the government finding more ways to trap them into the criminal justice system.”
The legislation would also replace what had been a proposed regulatory framework for intoxicating hemp with a broad prohibition on sales outside marijuana dispensaries following a recent federal move to recriminalize such products.
Huffman defended the upheaval of the state’s marijuana law, saying voters approved an initiative that amended the state’s revised code, not its Constitution, so they “knew that the General Assembly could come at any time” and “pass a bill to get rid of the entire thing.”
“But we’re not,” he said. “I think overall, for the average person that does recreational or medical marijuana, this bill will make it better… It’s going to be reasonable for most Ohioans.”
Under the bill, 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.
The new federal law imposing a ban on most consumable hemp products that President Donald Trump signed into law last week has a one-year implementation window, but it appears the Ohio legislation would take effect sooner. For cannabinoid beverages specifically, however, a temporary regulatory program for those products would stay in place in Ohio until December 31, 2026.
The conference committee also agreed to include 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.
“This bill has undergone a robust, thorough and collaborative legislative process, and I believe we have landed on a good faith compromise between interested parties while reinforcing guardrails for the protection of Ohio’s children,” House Speaker Matt Huffman (R) said, adding that he commends Finance Committee Chairman Brian Stewart (R) and other key proponents “for their committed work on this.”
Stewart said in a press release that the amended legislation “respects and preserves all the core aspects of the Issue 2 initiated statute that Ohioans passed in 2023.”
“At the same time, we’re focusing on public safety by banning, in statute, the manufacture of products that look like fruits or gummy bears that would be attractive to children. And we’re prohibiting advertising that would be targeted to children,” he said. “We’re making it very clear that selling these products to persons under 21 is illegal.”
The bill as advanced 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.
Sen. William DeMora (D) sought to amend the final deal with provisions that would have maintained anti-discrimination protections for cannabis consumers, removed recriminalization language, allowed for expanded licensing for marijuana businesses depending on demand and expanded expungements for past cannabis convictions. But the conference committee tabled each of those proposed changes, killing them.
“The voters spoke overwhelmingly that what they wanted was marijuana regulated like alcohol and tobacco, and this bill does not regulate marijuana like alcohol and tobacco,” DeMora said at the bicameral meeting.
“We don’t allow businesses to let people smoke marijuana if they want to. We don’t allow people to smoke marijuana if they’re walking down High Street. We don’t allow people to smoke marijuana if…they don’t own their own homes. They can’t smoke it in a rental house,” he said. “I offered amendments to not have people punished if they have marijuana, if they’ve been smoking marijuana, so they don’t lose their kids, they don’t lose their house, they don’t lose the potential of getting an organ transplant. All these things are ridiculous.”
He added, however, that he was “glad” conferees agreed to throw a lifeline to the hemp beverage industry by delaying the ban because “beverages are the fastest growing part of the industry, and 2,000 Ohioans are employed by making these beverages—and I think what the federal government did was under stupidity, but we have to live with it.”
“But the fact of the matter is that for marijuana, people voted. People knew what they’re voting for. And I have a problem that this legislature always thinks that they know better than the voters when the voters actually vote on things,” the lawmaker said. “It was an overwhelming majority of people who wanted marijuana legal, wanted the ability to smoke it where they wanted to smoke it, the ability to have their neighbors exchange marijuana and see whose brand was better. And this bill does none of that stuff.”
“It takes away rights of business owners to do what they want to do—takes away the right of citizens and what they voted for—so there’s no way I’m voting for this bill,” he said.
Stewart, who championed the legislation, said the federal move to upend hemp laws “complicated some of the issues relating to intoxicating hemp and THC beverages,” so legislators are “trying to preserve the legality of those beverages for as long as the federal government agrees.”
Rep. Tex Fischer (R), who has championed hemp industry interests as the legislation has moved through the process, said that there were “a lot of things I think we all would like to have done differently” with the cannabis legislation.
“We got a pretty reasonable outcome regarding the THC beverages and all the folks who are employed in that field who serve those product,” he said. “There’s much more work to do on that front, and I’m sure we’ll be back at the table trying to figure out what that looks like long term.”
While the bill’s supporters have described it as a less heavy-handed approach compared to the original Senate measure, the legislation 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.
As finalized by the conference committee, SB 56 would also allow distribution of a portion of marijuana tax revenue to localities where cannabis businesses operate.
Under the prior House-approved version that was rejected by the Senate, stores and breweries would have been permitted to sell hemp-derived THC drinks, with advertising restrictions meant to prevent appealing to youth. Products for on-site consumption would have been limited to 5 mg of THC, but adults could buy take-home drinks containing up to 10 mg. More potent drinks could also have been manufactured in Ohio, but only for sales to people outside the state.
There would also have been a new $1.20 tax per gallon on hemp beverages created by the bill.
The latest action comes about a month 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 month, however, a county judge 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.
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.
