Ohio GOP Lawmakers ‘Press Pause' On Amending Cannabis Legalization

Forbes

2 days ago

Republican lawmakers in Ohio have paused plans to amend a recreational marijuana legalization ... More initiative passed by voters in 2023 until later this year.
Republican lawmakers in the Ohio state legislature are putting on hold plans to amend the state's voter-approved cannabis law after failing to reach an agreement on the proposed changes. Ohio voters approved the legalization of recreational marijuana in 2023, with 57% of the electorate voting in favor of the policy reform.
Only days after voters approved the legalization initiative, Issue 2, Republicans including Gov. Mike DeWine and GOP leaders in the state legislature expressed interest in amending the measure. Among his goals, DeWine called for legislation to protect children from cannabis edibles and shield young people from marijuana advertising. The governor also called for curbs on smoking cannabis in public, citing his experience visiting a state with legal weed.
'I had the experience a month or so ago being in some unnamed state, you walked around the city and there was a rare time when you were not smelling marijuana,' DeWine said at the time, according to a report from the Columbus Dispatch. 'The voters have said people have a right to smoke marijuana – that's fine. But other people have the right not to smell it and not to have their kids and grandkids exposed to it.'
Ohio Senate Passes Bill To Amend Voter-Approved Cannabis Legalization
In February, the Ohio Senate passed Senate Bill 56 (S.B. 56), a measure to amend Issue 2. If passed, the legislation would reduce the maximum THC levels of recreational marijuana concentrates from 90% to 70%. The bill would also limit the number of cannabis dispensaries licensed in the state to 400, among other changes to Issue 2.
The House version of the bill has significant changes to the legislation, including provisions requiring intoxicating hemp products to be sold at licensed marijuana dispensaries. The Ohio Department of Commerce would be tasked with regulating intoxicating hemp products and beverages containing hemp-derived cannabinoids. Cannabinoid beverages would be the only hemp products authorized for sale at unlicensed retailers.
Last week, a scheduled vote on S.B. 56 in the House Judiciary Committee was pulled from the schedule only hours before it was supposed to take place, reportedly because of infighting between House and Senate Republicans. Then this week, a scheduled meeting of the committee to consider the legislation was also canceled.
Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman noted last week that senators had raised more than a dozen concerns about S.B. 56, months after the bill was passed in the Senate.
'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,'' Huffman said.
Lawmakers Now Focused On State Budget
The legislature is currently focused on the state's two-year budget bill, which the governor must sign before July 1. When asked about the marijuana legislation, Republican state Rep. Brian Stewart said lawmakers would put off further consideration of S.B. 56 until later this year.
'We are going to push pause,' Stewart said, according to a report from the Ohio Capital Journal. 'We're going to take the summer and come back and potentially take another crack at it.'
The Ohio state legislature has the authority to amend the cannabis legalization law because it was passed as a citizen's initiative rather than as a constitutional amendment. But Democratic House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn said that lawmakers should respect the will of voters.
'The people of Ohio spoke very clearly on this issue,' said Isaacsohn. 'They knew what they were voting on, and they voted to pass adult-use cannabis recreationally here in the state of Ohio.'
Sara Gullickson, CEO of Cannabis Business Advisors, said she believes the Ohio legislature will pass a cannabis bill before the end of the year.
'The budget sucked all the oxygen out of the room, and they ran out of time to finish the legislation,' Gullickson writes in an email. 'It's likely a standalone bill will be sent to the governor in the late fall of 2025.'
'There are a handful of differences between the house version and the Senate version, yet they are united on purpose to get this done to ensure the marketplace can survive and thrive in the state of Ohio,' she continues. 'It truly was a matter of bandwidth, not intent. If Ohio did not have to pass a state budget totaling $150 billion which needed to be sent to the governor on July 1, there would've been plenty of time to iron out the differences. I believe Ohio will get it done in 2025.'