(The Center Square) – After hitting a semantic speed bump on the title and language used in a previous draft, a petition to block Senate reform to Ohio’s recreational marijuana laws is back on track for the ballot.
Now, the group behind the petition to roll back parts of Senate Bill 56, signed in January 2025, must collect about a quarter of a million signatures in order to bring the issue to voters in November.
Attorney General David Yost determined that the title and summary of the new petition are “fair and truthful statements of the proposed measure.”
A statement from Yost added, “My certification. . . should not be construed as an affirmation of the enforceability and constitutionality of the referendum petition.”
The new law, Republicans say, reflects what they believe were the intentions of Ohio’s voters when they cast their ballots to legalize adult-use recreational marijuana in 2023.
Scheduled to go into effect next month, the law bans intoxicating hemp products from most retailers, reduces THC limits, prohibits smoking in public settings, restricts out-of-state marijuana access, and changes the tax structure around marijuana products.
Industry representatives and Democratic opposition say it goes against the will of the people and that the new law will hamstring an industry poised to generate billions for the state. Currently, the 10% tax issued on marijuana sales is returned to cities and towns with dispensaries at 36% rate of the tax revenue. The first checks issued in January totaled $33 million.
Despite the financial gains created by the industry, a tug-of-war remains over who benefits most from cannabis sales and what gaps in regulation might lead to bad actors.
For instance, among the many targets of a ban on “intoxicating hemp products” are candies and drinks made to look and taste very similar to brand name food products marketed to children.
Asked about the issue, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said, “I think the proponents should be happy with their victory at the polls, instead of now going back and whining about something the legislature has done.” DeWine said.
Ohioans for Cannabis Choice say that the law “goes way too far in allowing individuals to be prosecuted for what they do in their own homes. For Ohioans concerned about individual freedoms, this is one of the most egregious examples of government overreach we’ve seen in decades.”
The group also predicts that the state will lose 6,000 businesses. Still others say that the hemp industry largely benefits larger manufacturers capitalizing on grey areas in the wave of cannabis legalization nationwide.
To that end, Yost recently suednine operators for colluding to keep prices in the state artificially high. The companies were accused of crowding out smaller Ohio-based businesses.
“The lure of success in Ohio’s growing cannabis market has attracted large, multistate cannabis operators to eagerly clamber for Ohio consumer dollars,” according to the lawsuit. “But these multistate operators aren’t clambering to participate in the competition; they’re actively suppressing it.”
