Ohio House passes bill that includes recriminalization

In an 87-8 vote, the Ohio House of Representatives approved SB 56, which creates a new regulatory system for intoxicating hemp products and makes numerous changes to Ohio’s voter-approved cannabis legalization initiative. Outrageously, it eliminates voter-enacted non-discrimination protections, including to prevent families from being ripped apart, and it prohibits numerous activities allowed by voters. 

Right now, adults who possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis are not breaking Ohio law. End of story. SB 56 carves out exceptions, exposing cannabis consumers to interrogations, the criminal justice system, and criminal records. The penalty for most new offenses is a minor misdemeanor — a criminal offense that carries a $150 fine and up to 30 hours of community service.

SB 56, as approved by the House:

• Repeals protections that prevent adult-use cannabis consumers from being denied custody of their children, benefits they are otherwise entitled to, and medical care, including organ transplants, or be stripped of their professional or occupational licenses.
• Caps the total amount of cannabis a person can possess at 2.5 ounces, regardless of how much a person harvested from their homegrown plants.
• Appears to re-criminalize cannabis obtained from anywhere other than Ohio-licensed retailers and homegrown cannabis.
• Creates a broad open container law, requiring cannabis that was ever opened to be stored in a motor vehicle’s trunk, or, if there isn’t one, “behind the last upright seat of the motor vehicle or in an area not normally occupied by the driver or passengers and not easily accessible by the driver.” 
• Requires edibles to be stored “in the original packaging at all times when the products are not actively in use.”
• Prohibits cannabis smoking, combustion, and vaping in any place other than some homes and agricultural lands. (Hotel rooms and bar patios could not allow smoking or vaping, for example.) 
• Allows landlords to ban vaping in rented homes, in a lease agreement. Imposes a minor misdemeanor for smoking, vaping, or combusting cannabis in a “residential premises occupied pursuant to a rental agreement that prohibits the smoking, combustion, or vaporization of marijuana or intoxicating hemp products.”
• Only allows cannabis to be shared on certain privately-owned real property that is used primarily for residential or agricultural purposes (not a hotel room, concert, or anywhere else).

The 228-page bill also:

• caps the total number of cannabis dispensaries at 400.
• eliminates level III, small grower licenses.
• ensures the state finally distributes 36% of tax revenue to host municipalities that Issue 2 allocated, and retains that allocation going forward. 
• eliminates the other allocations from Issue 2, including funding intended for impacted communities and expungement. It instead directs 64% of revenue to the General Fund.
• speeds up and improves the expungement process for possession of up to 200 grams of cannabis and up to 15 grams of hashish (though it also will result in new life-altering records due to its recriminalization).
• requires intoxicating hemp products other than beverages to be sold at adults-only hemp stores that pay significant licensing fees.
• allows bars to sell THC beverages.

The bill now heads back to the Senate, which passed a far worse version of the bill in February. The Senate could concur or send it to a conference committee. 

Thank you to everyone who wrote and called your lawmakers, trekked to Columbus, and otherwise spoke out! Were it not for advocacy, the bill would be far worse. Earlier proposals would have banned homegrown cannabis, sharing, and smoking in one’s own backyard.