The Ohio House committee adopted major revisions to a Senate-sponsored bill, which would have made sweeping changes to the adult-use cannabis legalization laws in Ohio.
House Judiciary Committee took action on Wednesday as lawmakers in the state weighed a number of proposals to revise the system approved by voters. The committee’s action is intended to work toward one piece of consensus-based legislation.
Rep. Brian Stewart said, at the hearing: “We’re in committee, and we know there are other possible amendments, but this will get us closer to a unified vehicle.”
SB 56 will continue to be discussed by the House Judiciary Committee. Members are continuing to discuss criminal penalties, allocation of tax revenues, permissible products, and other topics addressed in this legislation.
Stewart, a member of the Senate and House, told his colleagues that the changes approved on Wednesday will roll back many of the strict restrictions in SB 56, as it was passed in February by the Senate.
“We’re basically converting House Bill 160 into Senate Bill 56,” said he. “We have also, in large part, taken Senate Bill (86) and put it into Senate Bill (56) as well.”
The drug reform advocates have criticized SB 56 as well as its House counterpart HB160, as restrictive laws that will undermine the wishes of voters in 2020 who passed the State’s legalization legislation.
SB 86, on the other hand, would establish regulations for intoxicating hemp-based products.
Stewart stated that the committee’s changes made on Wednesday were intended to take into account feedback and comments from public participants.
The committee has heard a number of testimonies and we believe it is an important step. [and] He said that he attended a number of meetings with interested parties.
Stewart explains that Stewart has made changes to the law which would make it illegal for adult users of marijuana and hemp products intoxicated by Stewart to share the product on private land.
If you have the ability to utilize on property, explained the legislator, “you can also share it with other people.”
Some outdoor concert venues will be exempted as well from open consumption laws if they provide separate areas for smoking and vaping.
A provision was also deleted that would have created an automatic minimum penalty for anyone found consuming marijuana on the passenger side of a motor vehicle.
THC-infused drinks containing as little as five milligrams THC can be sold in all stores in the state, not just dispensaries. THC-infused beverages would face a $3.50 tax per gallon.
The bill also includes a 10 percent tax for intoxicating hemp.
Although the amendment to the bill would not allow for the sale of marijuana with high THC levels, the Division of Marijuana Control can by law increase this limit.
Licensed dispensaries would also be able to sell and transfer marijuana to other license holders.
Other changes will increase tax revenues going to the municipalities hosting cannabis businesses. It would go up to 25 percent for state cannabis revenue over a seven-year period.
Stewart stressed that this was a larger amount than any previous legislation.
“The Senate’s version of this bill was zero percent.” “The governor’s version was zero percent,” he added, noting that HB160 itself originally set a 20% allocation over five years. “We’ve increased this to 25% for seven years.”
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law conducted a survey in March of 38 municipal leaders. They found they were “unanimously against” earlier proposals which would have stripped planned funding.
Another change in the amendment is the increase of the allowed number to 400 marijuana retailers across the state and the revision to the required distance from stores. It has been increased to one mile.
Stewart said that he was hopeful the Senate will either agree with the proposed changes, or “that lawmakers can have a brief conference committee to work out the remaining details.”
Rep. Jamie Callender of the House Committee on Cannabis Reform, who previously had criticized SB 56 for being too restrictive in its approach to cannabis reform, welcomed this amendment. However he said that more improvements were needed.
Callender replied, “I will not object to that.” I’m asking that we accept it today, with the understanding that some amendments will be drafted and taken into consideration. [at] The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 16.
The hearing was held on a short notice, so he had not much time to go over Stewart’s changes.
Callender explained that they had 400 pages to read in an hour-and-eight minutes. Callender said, “It appears that a great deal of the issues raised in this report have been dealt with. But it’s still a problem.”
In public testimony given before the Committee earlier this month members heard the comments of advocacy groups and businesses as well as local governments.
In Ohio, adult marijuana consumers will be allowed to buy twice as much cannabis per day than they can currently. State officials determined that this market could sustainably provide both medical cannabis users and adult consumers.
According to a last-week notice from the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control(DCC), its top priority was “to ensure medical marijuana patients maintain their cards and have enough supply.”
The report stated that “since non-medical marijuana sales started in August 2024 the market has shown its ability to support medical marijuana users and non-medical customers.”
DCC announced, therefore, that as of June 4, adult consumers will have the option to purchase up to 2,5 ounces per day of flower cannabis, an increase of more than 50% compared with their current daily transaction limits of just one ounce. The amount of marijuana that consumers can buy will be the same as what is allowed under state law, which is 2.5 ounces.
The budget proposal from the governor. Mike DeWine, a Republican governor in the state of Ohio, is another potential candidate to make changes to marijuana laws. As proposed, it would remove local tax allocations of medical marijuana revenue and double the state cannabis tax rate to 20 percent—though legislative leaders have said they will be removing the tax increases.
Meanwhile, DeWine in March announced his desire to reallocate marijuana tax revenue to support police training, local jails and behavioral health services. DeWine said that funding police training would be a priority even if it wasn’t part of what the voters approved 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.
Separately, in the legislative this month Sens. Steve Huffman (R) and Shane Wilkin (R) introduced legislation that would impose a 15 percent tax on intoxicating hemp products and limit their sales to adult-use dispensaries—not convenience stores, smoke shops or gas stations
DeWine has repeatedly asked lawmakers to regulate or ban intoxicating hemp products such as delta-8 THC.
London Mayor Backs Marijuana Decriminalization After A Commission He Created Recommends Reform
Mike Latimer provided the photo.