The Ohio House passed bipartisan legislation Wednesday that would regulate and tax “intoxicating hemp” for the first time, while modestly restricting adult recreational marijuana laws in Ohio.
Despite the new limitations on legal pot in Ohio – the bill calls for lowering the maximum potency of edibles and imposing new criminal penalties for vehicle passengers who use marijuana, or for homegrowers who cultivate too many plants – a key Republican marijuana proponent praised the legislation as a fair compromise and forward progress.
“This a huge step toward legalization in Ohio,” said Lake County GOP Rep. Jamie Callender in an interview, though he lamented that the bill creates stricter rules around smoking marijuana than cigarettes.
“Technically, we were legal, but we were at risk from the legislature. This ends the risk of the legislature overturning the will of the voters.”
While cities today get 36% of the tax revenue from marijuana, they haven’t seen any of the millions in proceeds to date as state officials have claimed that current law lacks an express appropriation. Senate Bill 56 would do just that – sending $47.5 million in fiscal year 2026 and $49 million in 2027 to communities that choose to allow host dispensaries.
Meanwhile, the bill now treats “intoxicating hemp” similarly to marijuana. The hemp product is a functionally-similar analog to marijuana that comes from the same cannabis sativa plant but has evaded regulation, age requirements and special taxation due to a murky legal status. In most cases under the bill, the hemp can only be sold in unique hemp dispensaries to 21-and-up adults.
One key exception: bars can lawfully sell “drinkable cannabinoid products” (intoxicating hemp) for on-site consumption at 5mg or less dosages.
This all addresses a central criticism, aired repeatedly by Gov. Mike DeWine over the past year that current law allowed children to legally purchase knockoff marijuana products from gas stations. DeWine earlier this month issued an executive order seeking end hemp sales in Ohio unilaterally, though a Franklin County judge put it on hold. Regardless, some lawmakers conceded the episode revived stalled legislative negotiations.
The House passed the bill on an 86-8 vote with a few no votes from both parties. Now it returns to the Ohio Senate. The Senate can either agree with the House changes, or force the matter to a conference committee for a final round of negotiations. It needs approval of Gov. Mike DeWine to become law.
If signed in to law, it would be the first significant set of changes to Ohio’s marijuana law since voters passed and enacted the system on the statewide ballot in 2023.
Here are some of the key changes included in the 227 page bill, unveiled by House Republicans on Tuesday afternoon.
Marijuana
Smoking in public: Current law treats marijuana like cigarettes when it comes to smoking in public. Rather than the broad ban, the new law says you can only smoke on privately owned property. Unlike cigarettes, the bill doesn’t allow smoking at designated sites or outdoor concerts. It prohibits smoking in violation of a residential lease agreement, which could create unusual dynamics of police officers acting as enforcement agents for lease violations from renters.
Out of state marijuana: Marijuana is much cheaper in Michigan than in Ohio. However, the bill only allows the use of marijuana legally purchased in Ohio or grown at home. It would treat out-of-state marijuana as “contraband” according to analysis from the Legislative Service Commission.
Extracts potency: Current law allows the sale of cannabis extracts with THC limits at 90% of the plant material. The legislation lowers this to 70%.
Home grow: The new legislation still allows home growers to grow up to six pants in a one-adult household, or 12 plants in a two-or-more adult household. However, it imposes a felony level trafficking penalty on those who exceed the limit – current law only imposes the penalty on those who double the limit. The bill also limits how much of a grow one can share, without remuneration, to 15 grams.
Legal protections for pot smokers: Current law protects pot smokers from adverse actions from licensing boards, public benefits, transplant waiting lists and others. The bill revokes almost all of them.
Original packaging: The bill requires marijuana to be kept in its original packaging while it’s transported
‘Drinkable Cannabinoid Products’
For the cannabis drinkers, the bill allows for bars and retailers to sell what it calls “drinkable cannabinoid products” derived from so-called intoxicating hemp.
Bars can sell comparatively weaker – 5mg or less – mixes. Retailers can sell 10mg or less mixes.
‘Hemp’
The marketing pitch in 2023 for adult-use cannabis was to “regulate marijuana like alcohol.” According to House Finance Chairman Brian Stewart, a central Ohio Republican who helped negotiate a final product, the idea behind SB56 was to also “regulate hemp like marijuana”.
As such, the bill allows for the permitting (for a pricey $75,000 for two years) of hemp dispensaries. He said these businesses will need to make hemp at least 80% of their revenue to win a permit. From there, sales, use and transportation laws follow the general legal scheme of marijuana.