A bill was passed in the Ohio Senate last week that would see some significant changes for its recreational marijuana industry. Weed is legal in The Buckeye State, but its Republican representatives think Ohioans didn’t actually want that and are trying to put some restrictions on its use less than two years after its legalization.
Sen. Stephen A. Huffman, the man behind Senate Bill 56, claims his motives are “consumer and child safety.” The bill would ban smoking in public spaces in an effort to eliminate secondhand smoke. Some attachments include advertising restrictions, THC concentration caps, and cultivation limits.
The state’s House of Representatives will be next in line to view the bill. If they approve it, the last step will be a signature from Gov. Mike DeWine.
Huffman hopes Ohio will join states like Colorado, California, and Washington, all of which have some level of public bans on marijuana use, be it on sidewalks, in parks, or on federal land. Many other states have similar rules in place, including Massachusetts and New Jersey, which have smoking lounges and other areas designated for public consumption.
The easiest way to view how states are trying to patrol marijuana use in the public is somewhere between that of smoking tobacco and drinking alcohol. The latter is the more extreme side, where public consumption is limited to bars, stadiums, and establishments with a liquor license. Smoking tobacco, on the other hand, is common in outdoor public spaces with few restrictions on its use.
The long-term effects of secondhand marijuana smoke are still being studied, but it’s mostly understood to have similar repercussions as tobacco.
That being said, marijuana can be consumed in a variety of ways, from tinctures to edibles to THC-infused drinks. Laws may be put into place restricting public consumption, but in reality, they only affect methods involving combustibles.
A bill was passed in the Ohio Senate last week that would see some significant changes for its recreational marijuana industry. Read More
