The Ohio Senate passed a GOP-led proposal by a 21-9 vote Wednesday to overhaul the state’s relatively young recreational marijuana program, and senators voted along party lines, unlike in December 2023.
Introduced by Sen. Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City), Senate Bill 56 stems from that 2023 bill, which cleared the chamber the day before cannabis became legal. It merges the state’s medical and adult-use programs, among other changes.
SB 56 strictly prohibits smoking marijuana in public, limiting Ohioans to partaking in private residences, and reduces home grow from 12 plants or less to six plants or less, also disallowing any sharing. It also limits how concentrated dispensaries’ THC products can be—maxing out at 35% for plant products and 70% for concentrates and extracts, although the Ohio Department of Commerce could raise or lower that 70% figure.
“I don’t believe this is going against the voters, at all. This bill, the intention of this bill, is to protect, in my perspective, children and families,” Senate General Government Chair Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson) said Wednesday. “I don’t think this will stifle the industry. I mean, certainly, it’s a booming industry, there’s a lot of interest in it.”
Senators initially intended to hike the excise tax on cannabis and change the revenue structure, but are punting that portion to the budget process. Regulations of delta-8 THC and other similar derivatives are absent from SB 56, and so are Democratic provisions proposed in 2023 on records sealing and expungement.
Sen. Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) said Wednesday he believes the bill generally flies in the face of voters, who ratified the recreational program’s details via the ballot box in 2023.
“Now, we’ve had a market that’s been well regulated, well run, is making money for the state, and all of a sudden they want to change the game and make a dozen things, right now, what is now legal to do, be illegal,” DeMora said in an interview.
No Democrats backed the bill on the Senate floor.
The Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, Chamber of Commerce and Poison Control Centers all backed the bill, while numerous dispensaries and cultivators were opponents.
Adrienne Robbins, spokesperson for industry trade association the Ohio Cannabis Coalition, said OHCANN believes the bill is better than when it was first introduced. But OHCANN still has its reservations—and would rather leave rulemaking to the Division of Cannabis Control, under the commerce department.
“We’re truly still in our infancy. What are we, six, seven months into things? We haven't even seen a full year of adult use sales yet,” Robbins said in an interview.
Among other items, SB 56:
- Streamlines the licensing process for dispensaries and other industry facilities;
- Eliminates Level III cultivator licenses, also known as social equity licenses;
- Prohibits licensure of anyone convicted of a felony;
- Puts a ceiling on how many dispensaries can be licensed statewide, set at 350;
- Clarifies that drug-free workplaces are not violating Ohio Civil Rights Law protections by firing someone for cannabis use;
- And creates packaging and advertising regulations, such as barring edibles from being like a “realistic or fictional human, animal or fruit”
The bill heads to the House, but Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said the House plans to introduce its own version “shortly.” In 2023 and 2024, the Senate overhaul bill then-Senate President Huffman backed didn’t get any traction in the House.
