COLUMBUS, Ohio – Senate Republicans want to scale back Ohio’s voter-backed recreational marijuana program–cutting home grow limits, raising taxes, lowering potency and shifting revenue away from social equity programs.
“It’s not to do away with the ballot initiative,” said state Sen. Steve Huffman, a Tipp City Republican. “It’s to work around the edges to make it better.”
Democrats, however, read Senate Bill 56 as “a mixed bag.”
“There is definitely bipartisan support for protections in marketing to keep kids safe and sensible limitations on where you can use cannabis,” said state Sen. Casey Weinstein, a Solon Democrat.
What he and other Democrats can’t support is slashing home grow limits and regulating where people smoke on their own property.
“Are we basically saying to the voters, ‘Screw you, you don’t know what you’re talking about?’” Columbus Democratic state Sen. Bill DeMora said in a Wednesday committee hearing.
Ohio has had medical marijuana for years, but state Issue 2 legalized recreational marijuana in November 2023. It passed with 57% of the vote and in traditionally conservative counties like Butler, Medina and Ashtabula.
Passing it as a state law gave lawmakers wide latitude to change it, but the broad support it got led GOP leaders in the House to reject similar restrictions from the state Senate in December 2023.
Things are different now.
The new House Speaker, cousin to the Senate bill sponsor, is more receptive to tightening Ohio’s marijuana law, meaning Republican majorities could fast track SB 56—whether Democrats like it or not.
“We want to be sure this bill doesn’t put businesses across the state at risk… , ” Ohio Cannabis Coalition Director David Bowling said in a statement. “Introducing major changes at this stage could destabilize the market, creating uncertainty for businesses, workers, and consumers.”
Here’s what is and isn’t in SB 65:
Intoxicating hemp
Gov. Mike DeWine and lawmakers from across the aisle say they want stricter rules for selling intoxicating hemp products like Delta 8.
These products, which can resemble candy, are sold at gas stations across Ohio, and DeWine says they’re sometimes sold to children.
““The current loophole that allows these dangerous products to be sold to children needs to be closed as soon as possible,” DeWine said more than a year ago.
Lawmakers debated whether to limit sales to regulated dispensaries but never passed a bill.
House Speaker Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, told reporters he could see those rules being a part of a marijuana reform bill but his cousin thinks they should be separate.
“I feel they are two complex issues marijuana and hemp,” Steve Huffman said. “I don’t want to get both of them slowed down because of the other one.”
Less home grow
Ohioans age 21 and older can grow six marijuana plants on their property and households can grow a total of 12 plants under the voter-backed state law.
SB 56 would drop the total number of plants on a property to six.
Huffman has long said 12 plants can produce more cannabis than he thinks any couple or household could consume in a year.
“To me, you are just contributing to the black market… ,” Huffman said. “The people did vote for home grow, but this is an example of where we are trying to move it into more reasonable use.”
For Weinstein, the change says lawmakers don’t trust their constituents.
“We have a role to clarify certain safeguards to make this market better,” he said.
For example, he supports banning home grow on properties that also run a daycare or if a landlord prohibits it. What he won’t get behind “is rolling back something voters said they wanted.”
No more sharing
SB 56 says, “no person shall give, sell, or transfer homegrown marijuana to any other person, with or without remuneration.”
Weinstein and others interpret that restriction to mean Ohioans can’t share a joint with friends.
“The whole point of the legislation is to make it more in line with how we regulate alcohol,” Weinstein said, and homebrewers can legally share their beers with friends and family.
Smoking in public
The bill would also outlaw outdoor smoking and vaping.
Sen. Huffman said it prevents someone from lighting up next to you at a Buckeyes football game, but opponents think his bill goes far beyond public consumption.
“The only place you can smoke is inside your house. Not on your private property in your backyard,” Weinstein said. “The limitations on personal liberties and privacy are so far beyond what voters wanted.”
Lower potency
Ohioans gave regulators the power to limit the concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC (the primary psychoactive component in marijuana) when they passed Issue 2.
The limit for extracts — oils for vaping or tinctures — was 90%. This bill would lower it to 70%.
Huffman’s bill doesn’t change the rules for plant concentrations, which voters approved at 35%.
New taxes
Ohioans voted for a 10% tax on cannabis and created five funds for that money, including one for substance abuse and addiction.
Huffman’s bill would raise state taxes to 15% and give state lawmakers power over spending the money by putting it in Ohio’s general revenue fund.
“I think this general assembly should decide how to spend the approximately $300 million (in taxes),” Huffman said, adding that he doesn’t want to “handcuff future general assemblies.”
As of Saturday, Ohioans had purchased about $292 million in recreational marijuana since dispensaries began selling it in early August. Taxed at 10%, that means the state has earned about $29.2 million from the cannabis tax, though experts have predicted a much more robust market.
Social equity
One dedicated fund created in Issue 2 was for a “cannabis social equity and jobs program.”
The law set money for Ohioans looking to grow or sell cannabis in areas “disproportionality targeted” by marijuana enforcement as well as those who couldn’t afford licensing fees or technical assistance setting up their business.
SB 56 would eliminate the fund.
“Voters had their say on where that money should go and now the legislature is overriding them,” Weinstein said.
Huffman’s bill would also eliminate special licenses for people the state verified as being socially or economically disadvantaged.
Public safety
One of Sen. Huffman’s main goals with SB 56 is to address public safety concerns he has with the current law.
His bill would clarify that no one in a moving vehicle can use marijuana, employer protections for drug free workplaces and local law enforcement can investigate violations.
People driving with marijuana in their car would also have to put in the trunk or the backseat if no trunk exists.
Getting a license
SB 56 limits the number of growers and dispensaries in Ohio at 350 and sets up a system for ranking applications by the quality of their business, financial and security plans. Current law doesn’t cap the licenses but leaves it at the discretion of state regulators.
All the proposals would then go into a lottery where those with the highest marks would get extra entries.
Ohio’s Board of Pharmacy awards medical marijuana licenses through a lottery program.
Rejected applicants have sued over the years, and litigation in some cases is still ongoing.
Advertising
One part of the bill with bipartisan agreement would tighten the rules for how marijuana gets packaged and shaped into edibles so they don’t appeal to children.
This includes not manufacturing gummies that look like people, cartoon characters or fruit.
“It is incumbent among us to make sure it is done responsibility,” said state Sen. Kristina Roegner, a Hudson Republican. “There are some very common sense elements here that I think will protect the youth in Ohio.”
Clearing your record
Absent from SB 56’s rollout was a section expunging the records of Ohioans convicted of marijuana possession charges that are now legal.
“From our caucus standpoint that was one the things that got us to support (the last bill),” DeMora said.
Huffman responded saying he’s open to the idea, but GOP Senate President Rob McColly and others “have been against total blanket expungements.”
Anna Staver covers state government and politics for Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer.
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