Since voters legalized cannabis in 2023, Ohio has seen the real and measurable benefits of legalization. Ohio reduced cannabis arrests from 7,260 in 2023 to 1,335 in 2025. The human cost that prohibition brought on in Ohio is hard to calculate. A cannabis arrest haunts a person for the rest of their life, stymieing economic, educational, and parental opportunities and rights.
We have also seen teen use drop 45% in those few years. And Ohio is not an outlier, as every state that has legalized cannabis…
These disturbing moves are also likely serving as trial balloons to test voter appetite for rolling back cannabis reform progress in other states, and MPP is working with allies to defend these crucial achievements for our movement.
In an 87-8 vote, the Ohio House of Representatives approved SB 56, which makes numerous changes to Ohio’s voter-approved cannabis legalization initiative.
On Wednesday, June 4, the Ohio House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the latest version of SB 56, which would still significantly erode Ohio’s voter-enacted legalization law.
On the heels of the Ohio Senate passing a bill to roll back cannabis freedoms, Rep. Brian Stewart (R) has proposed a House version of the outrageous bill.
The Ohio Senate General Government Committee advanced a terrible bill, SB 56, that would create a legal minefield that re-criminalizes cannabis consumers.