COLUMBUS – The Ohio House passed a bill Wednesday that will make changes to the state’s marijuana laws and add regulations to intoxicating hemp products.
Ohio Senate Bill 56, which is in its 18th version, passed with a vote of 87-8. The bill heads back to the Senate for concurrence.
Five Republicans — state Reps. Tim Barhorst, Levi Dean, Jennifer Gross, D.J. Swearingen, and Michelle Teska — voted against the bill. Three Democrats also voted against the bill — state Reps. Christine Cockley, Ismail Mohamed, and Desiree Tims.
The Senate passed the bill in February, but the House has made significant changes, most notably by adding intoxicating hemp regulations. State Sen. Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City, introduced the bill in January.
“I’ve heard throughout this process now for a very long time from folks in the hemp industry, ‘regulate us like marijuana, regulate us like marijuana.’ And that was the theme of this bill,” said state Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville.
The 2018 Farm Bill says hemp can be grown legally if it contains less than 0.3% THC.
“I think we all had agreement that that was not the intent of the hemp legislation at the federal level or here in Ohio, but we did need to do something to protect kids from these products,” said State Rep. Tex Fischer, R-Boardman. “This legislation closes those loopholes to ensure that only 21-plus individuals are able to access these products and purchase them.”
Only a licensed hemp dispensary would be able to sell intoxicating hemp products to adults 21 and older. The dispensaries would be required to meet standards for testing, advertising and packaging. A 10% tax would be added to intoxicating hemp sales.
“This bill creates a legal pathway for the sale of regulated, licensed, tested, safely grown, intoxicating hemp products and a limited number of hemp dispensaries,” Stewart said.
The bill would limit the number of active hemp dispensaries to 400. The bill would allow certain hemp dispensaries to be grandfathered in if they sold intoxicating hemp products on or before Aug. 30 and hemp products sales surpassed 80% of their total sales for 2024 or the 12 months before the bill takes effect.
However, if more than 400 dispensaries are licensed due to the grandfather provision, the Division of Marijuana Control would not be able to issue any more licensees until the number of grandfathered dispensaries dropped below 400.
Read more at Ohio Capitol Journal
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