Although voters overwhelmingly chose to legalize recreational marijuana in 2023, one of the most powerful leaders in the state plans to dramatically change what Ohioans selected. So far, the policy has been safeguarded, but it likely won’t be in 2025.
Nearly $200 million of adult-use cannabis has been sold in the four months that sales have been allowed, according to the Department of Cannabis Control.
This is all thanks to the passage of Issue 2 in 2023, which allowed adults 21 years of age and older to smoke, vape and ingest weed. Individual Ohioans are able to grow up to six plants with up to 12 per household.
But dispensaries and users are worried because Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, wants to change the policy.
“There were some fundamental flaws in the initiative that was introduced and passed by the voters — which you usually have when there’s not a vetting from all sides,” Huffman said last Wednesday. “The bill that the Senate passed last December addresses many of those things.”
In December of 2023, the Senate passed a bill to restrict marijuana. If signed into law, it would decrease the THC content and raise the cost. Among dozens of other restrictions and changes to what the voters chose, it would ban the vast majority of vapes. It would also limit home-growing marijuana from 12 plants to six.
“The amount of home growth that’s happening, of course, is far beyond the use for one to two people who may be growing it in their home… The only reason that someone would be growing that much marijuana is to resell it,” Huffman added, later saying that someone growing 12 plants would likely be participating in the “illicit market.”
House leaders, specifically marijuana enthusiast state Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord, have been adamant about listening to Ohioans, blocking Huffman’s proposal.
Sales have already been in motion since August, so he said changing the law now would be harmful and confusing.
“One of the things that this day helps is to move one step forward — to show that the world doesn’t fall apart, the sky isn’t falling,” Callender told me on the first day of sales.
House Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill, Huffman’s rival, isn’t impressed with the president’s recent comments.
“As we’ve said, this is the People’s House, and we will continue to respect the will of the voters,” Stephens said in response.
But in January, Huffman is set to become the speaker of the House, so he has a better chance at changing the law.
In the meantime, both chambers agree to revise the policy on Delta 8, a hemp product. Right now, it’s legal for anyone to buy this low-level marijuana at convenience stores.
“I think it’s very appropriate to look at age limits, similar to other products, whether it’s tobacco or alcohol,” Stephens said.
However, a bill going through the Senate would completely ban it. But it seems the bill sponsor would consider an amendment to restrict and not totally prohibit it.
“We need to get that regulated,” Huffman said.
House leaders have continuously said they will fight against “anti-democratic” policies regarding marijuana. Senate leaders have said that they aren’t ignoring the will of the people because, they claim, voters didn’t really know everything that they were voting on.
This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.
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