Ohio Senate votes to confine intoxicating hemp to dispensaries, make sales 21+

Yahoo

01-05-2025

Apr. 30—A bill banning intoxicating hemp products from being sold in gas stations, convenience stores or anywhere else outside of a licensed dispensary passed the Ohio Senate 33-0 this week.
The bill, Senate Bill 86, now heads to the Ohio House for further consideration. It's the latest in a growing line of otherwise stalled attempts to regulate intoxicating hemp in Ohio.
The bill targets "intoxicating hemp products," defined as any product with more than two milligrams of delta-9 THC (the psychoactive cannabinoid in marijuana) or more than 0.5 milligrams of any other "non-delta-9 THC" (like delta-8 or THCA, which can also make users feel high) per package.
Under current law, those products — derived from hemp and protected under the federal Farm Bill — can be sold just about anywhere in the state and to anyone at the seller's discretion.
Such products are often sold in gas stations, convenience stores or CBD stores, and have frequently been targeted by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and other opponents for their potential appeal to children through colorful packaging and subliminal branding.
Under S.B. 86, those products could only be sold by licensed cannabis dispensaries, with a 10% tax that matches the tax Ohio currently has on recreational marijuana.
"This bill simply closes loopholes that allows these dangerous products to be sold to our children," said state Sen. Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City, who jointly sponsors the bill.
Robert McClure, a veteran and owner of a boutique "SunMed — Your CBD Store" in Centerville, told this news outlet that it's frustrating for his business — which doesn't sell to customers under 21 and focuses on wellness — to be lumped in with more problematic retailers.
McClure told the Senate General Government Committee last month that S.B. 86 would make it illegal for him to carry most of his best-selling products and would put him "and many others who are doing it right out of business."
In an interview with this outlet, McClure specifically noted that he would no longer be able to sell his "bread and butter:" tinctures of full spectrum CBD oil sold in monthslong supply. His two-month, 3,000 milligram oil tinctures, for example, contain 75 milligrams of THC — far above the bounds of what S.B. 86 allows to be sold outside dispensaries.
McClure said CBD, which is non-intoxicating, trumps the THC contents in those tinctures by as much as 50-to-1.
When this outlet talked with Senate leaders on both sides of the aisle, they downplayed McClure's concern about S.B. 86 putting him out of business.
"I still think if they were operating before they'll be able to operate after," said Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon.
"What I will say is that there are legitimate products that they can be selling to make money that will not put our children in jeopardy, and that's where I'll leave that," said Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood.
McClure doubled down on the threat S.B. 86 poses to his business and maintained that shops like his, offering products like his, are an essential part of Ohio's wellness ecosystem and offer a space to educate people on CBD products.
"(If) you put these in the hands of the dispensaries, they're not selling this stuff. There's no way they're going to sell this stuff," McClure told this outlet. "That's not their bread and butter. Their bread and butter is selling marijuana, that's what they do."
Note: This is a developing story and may be updated as more information becomes available.
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.