Ohio, the only new US adult-use cannabis market to launch in 2024, is now a step closer to being curbed by the states Republican lawmakers.
Just months after Ohio’s adult-use market launched in earnest in August 2024, Senate Bill 56 has been passed by the state Senate to the House for further debate.
Despite Ohian’s expressing voting overwhelmingly in favour of cannabis legalization in November 2023, the GOP-dominated senate has been trying to roll back the measures ever since.
SB 56, spearheaded by Sen. Steve Huffman seeks to reducing the allowable THC content in extracts from 90% to 70%, cap homegrown plants at six instead of twelve, and set a statewide dispensary limit of 350 licenses.
Ohioans would also be prevented from consuming cannabis in public, and removes protections for workers being fired for consuming cannabis.
The bill would also stop a key funding mechanism intended to help historically marginalized communities enter the cannabis industry. Under the voter-approved law, a portion of cannabis tax revenue was designated for a social equity fund to support dispensary licensing for underrepresented groups.
This funding would be frozen until lawmakers decide on a new destination for the cash, potentially removing support for small, minority-owned cannabis businesses altogether.
Huffman has been trying to roll back the reform since 2023, seeing a similar bill clear the Chamber the day before cannabis was legalized.
He argues that voters were not fully aware of what they were voting for when they approved cannabis, and that the regression is necessary for public safety.
Democratic Sen. Bill DeMora called the bill a direct attack on the voters’ decision, while other industry advocates have called it ‘a stolen opportunity’ which would decimate the young market.
SB 56 now heads to the Ohio House, where Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) has indicated that representatives will draft their own version of cannabis reforms.
