Tag: ohio

Ohio CBD Retailers Push Back Against Effort To Limit Hemp Products To Marijuana Dispensaries

Ohio CBD store owners are concerned about a bill that would regulate intoxicating hemp and drinkable cannabinoid products something that could potentially put them out of business.

Fourteen people submitted opponent testimony and four people submitted supporter testimony for Ohio Senate Bill 86 during Tuesday’s Senate General Government Committee meeting. No supporters showed up at the meeting to testify in person.

“Should these restrictions pass, they would eliminate 90 percent of the non-intoxicating full-spectrum hemp products we currently offer,” said Jaimee Courtney, owner of Bellefontaine’s Sunmed Your CBD Store. “This would drive consumers to unregulated online markets, creating potential safety risks and diverting significant tax revenue out of Ohio.”

The bill would require intoxicating hemp products to be sold only at adult-use marijuana dispensaries instead of allowing them to be sold at CBD stores, convenience stores, smoke shops or gas stations.

The bill would also impose a 15 percent tax on intoxicating hemp products, ban sales to anyone under 21 and only allow intoxicating hemp products to be sold at dispensaries if the products have been tested and comply with standards for packaging, labeling and advertising.

Ohio state Sens. Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City) and Shane Wilkin (R-Hillsboro) introduced SB 86. Eleven people submitted testimony in support of the bill last week—including people in the marijuana business, poison control workers and religious organizations.

“The people walking into our stores are not looking to get high, they are looking for relief,” said Robert McClure, owner of Centerville and Deerfield Township’s Sunmed Your CBD Store. “Most of our customers will not go to a dispensary for a multitude of reasons.”

He said his store requires customers to be at least 21 years old to buy their products, which are all third-party tested.

“We have concerns that the language in SB 86 would ban most of all other types of hemp products from retail sales and driving them to an unsafe, illicit environment with no age restrictions,” said Kristin Mullins, president of the Ohio Grocers Association.

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Ohio Bill Seeks To Regulate Intoxicating Hemp And Limit Sales To Marijuana Dispensaries

A pair of Ohio Republican state senators want intoxicating hemp products to be sold only at adult-use dispensaries—not convenience stores, smoke shops or gas stations.

Ohio state Sens. Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City) and Shane Wilkin (R-Hillsboro) introduced Senate Bill 86, which would also impose a 15 percent tax on intoxicating hemp products sold at dispensaries and ban the sale of intoxicating hemp products to anyone under 21.

“Currently, intoxicating hemp products are untested, unregulated psychoactive products that can be just as intoxicating, if not more intoxicating, than marijuana,” Wilkin said in his sponsor testimony to the Senate General Government Committee on Tuesday.

The 2018 U.S. Farm Bill says hemp can be grown legally if it contains less than 0.3 percent THC.

Ohio is one of about 20 states that does not have any regulations around intoxicating hemp products, according to an Ohio State University Drug Enforcement and Policy Center study from November 2024. Fifteen states ban these products. Seven states, including Michigan, regulate it like cannabis, while seven other states regulate it like consumer goods, according to the study.

“Given the lack of regulations, the intoxicating hemp industry has been able to confuse Ohio consumers and law enforcement by marketing themselves as ‘dispensaries’ with ‘recreational marijuana,’” Huffman said in his testimony.

Under the bill, intoxicating hemp products would only be sold at dispensaries if the products have been tested and comply with standards for packaging, labeling and advertising. The bill would only apply to products that can be ingested or inhaled.

“To suppress the illicit market, this bill prohibits hemp products that are not sold in dispensaries from marketing the products as marijuana, using any terms associated with the sale of the product that would cause a consumer to infer the product is marijuana or that the entity selling the product is a marijuana dispensary,” Huffman said in his testimony.

He had a bill in the last General Assembly that would have banned the sale of all intoxicating hemp products, but it wasn’t able to make it out of committee. Hemp business owners testified against the bill since it would end their livelihood, but they spoke in favor of regulations.

SB 86 would also regulate drinkable cannabinoid products.

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Ohio GOP Lawmaker Files Bill To Revise Voter-Approved Marijuana Law With Less Sweeping Changes Than Senate-Passed Measure

A Republican Ohio lawmaker has introduced a rival bill to Senate-passed legislation that seeks to amend the state’s voter-approved marijuana legalization law. And the proposed changes in the House measure are less sweeping—for example, maintaining the current allowable amount of cannabis plans that can be grown at home by adults.

Rep. Brian Stewart (R), chair of the House Finance Committee, is sponsoring the new 120-page cannabis bill.

Unlike the Senate proposal from Sen. Steve Huffman (R) that moved through the full chamber late last month, Stewart’s legislation would not alter a provision of the current law allowing adults 21 and older to grow up to 12 plants for personal use by cutting that amount in half.

However, it would reduce the maximum THC limit for cannabis extracts from 90 percent to 70 percent, as News 5 Cleveland first reported.

The Senate bill would lower the maximum household plant limit for home cultivation from 12 to six, but it similarly calls for the same reduced THC cap. Both bills would also make it so only 350 dispensaries could be licensed in the state.

“While there will obviously continue to be good faith debate and disagreement over the pros and cons of legalization, a majority of our constituents have made it clear to us that they support legal adult-use marijuana that is taxed at a reasonable rate, that is regulated by the state to ensure products are as safe as possible and that can, if desired, be grown at home,” Stewart said during a press briefing on Thursday.

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Ohio GOP Leaders Claim Bill To Roll Back Marijuana Legalization Law Doesn’t Disrespect Voters

Ohio’s Senate president is pushing back against criticism of a bill that would scale back parts of a voter-approved marijuana legalization law, claiming that the legislation does not disrespect the will of the electorate and would have little impact on products available in stores.

“My definitive message is: If you want to go purchase marijuana products from a licensed dispensary, that is going to be unchanged by Senate Bill 56,” Senate President Rob McColley (R) said on a podcast posted on Friday. “The only difference you’ll notice is the packaging may not look as appealing to children, but you’ll still be able to buy the same products.”

McColley was speaking on a The President’s Podcast, produced and published by Ohio Senate Republicans. He and host John Fortney, the communications director for the Senate GOP caucus, spent the first half of the podcast defending SB 56, which would amend the cannabis law passed by voters in November 2023.

Among other changes, the bill would halve the number of plants that adults could grow, add new criminal penalties around cannabis conduct and remove select social equity provisions in the law.

The Senate approved the proposal on a 23–9 vote last week.

Critics, such as Sen. Bill DeMora (D), who spoke against the measures on the Senate floor, contend that the plan “goes against the will of the voters and will kill the adult industry in Ohio.”

Fortney began the podcast by acknowledging “a lot of controversy around Senate Bill 56,” asserting that “all it did was preserve access to what the voters approved in November of 2023, the initiated marijuana statute, and put some safety and security parameters around it for—of all things, Mr. President—children.”

“The far left, the Democrat narrative, the narrative of the legacy media, has been, ‘Republicans are trying to take away what the voters approved,’ which is patently false,” Fortney continued. “What a lie.”

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Ohio Senators Approve Bill To Scale Back Voter-Approved Marijuana Legalization Law By Reducing Home Grow And Adding New Penalties

An Ohio Senate committee has approved a bill to make significant changes to the state’s voter-approved marijuana law—by halving the number of plants adults could grow, adding certain criminal penalties and removing select social equity provisions, among other revisions.

On Wednesday, the Senate General Government Committee passed the legislation from Sen. Steve Huffman (R) in a 5-2 vote, sending it to the Rules and Reference Committee to prepare it for a full Senate vote that come come as early as Wednesday afternoon.

This comes about a week after the panel held a hearing on the proposal, taking testimony and adopting a substitute version. On Wednesday, the panel adopted an additional substitute that would clarify that THC limits per package don’t apply to products intended for combustion, prevent people with felony convictions from obtaining a marijuana license and restore the ability of level two cultivators to expand their operations to 15,000 square feet.

In its initial form, the bill would have raised the state’s excise tax on marijuana products from 10 percent to 15 percent and also changed how taxes are redistributed to local governments. But those tax provisions were removed at the previous hearing in light of separate plans to adjust the tax rate in broader budget legislation.

Democratic members of the committee offered a series of amendments, several of which sought to dial back some of the proposed changes to the voter-approved law. All were defeated by the panel’s Republican majority, however.

For example, the substitute approved in committee would lower the maximum household plant limit for home cultivation from 12 to six. An amendment was offered to “compromise” by raising that to nine.

Huffman made the motion to table that amendment, saying that “this bill is all about being reasonable and appropriate,” and the legislation “initially started with two plants, and we compromised up to six and I believe that continuing as six is reasonable and appropriate.”

Under current law as approved by voters in 2023, adults can grow up to 12 cannabis plants at home.

Reform advocates oppose the legislation because, in addition to halving the home cultivation limit, they say it would recriminalize the sharing of cannabis between adults, smoking or vaping in someone’s own back yard and transporting unopened edibles in a vehicle. It also would eliminate non-discrimination protections to ensure cannabis consumers aren’t denied child custody, access to medical care and public benefits.

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FIGHTING ELECTION FRAUD – BIG UPDATE: 20 Ohio Counties Launch Investigations into Suspicious Progressive Group that Allegedly Turned In Piles of Phony Voter Registrations

In August 2024, The Gateway Pundit’s Patty McMurray first reported on a Democrat-funded voter registration group accused of turning in hundreds of suspected fraudulent voter registrations—this time in Ohio!

** You can read the full TGP August report here.**

The Gateway Pundit discovered that a group called Black Fork Strategies, which operates across the state of Ohio, was being investigated by the Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose over another alleged fraudulent voter registration campaign.

On their website, Black Fork Strategies brags about registering a stunning 125,000+ voters in Ohio since 2018.

The Hamilton County Board of Elections has turned over several suspicious voter registration applications Ohio Secretary of State’s Public Integrity Division.

According to Hamilton County Board of Elections members, the voter registrations in question were recently turned in by the self-described “progressive” voter registration organization Black Fork Strategies.

In the video below, Hamilton County Director of Elections Sherry Poland discusses three issues she identified with voter registrations tied to Black Fork Strategies, which she claims is running voter registration drives throughout the state of Ohio.

In one example, Ms. Poland explained how they received a voter registration from Black Fork Strategies, and  the name of the registrant was ‘Henry Kissinger.’

“We did do a match, the voter registration database as compared to the DMV database, and it was a mismatch on every item listed, any identifying information listed on this registration form. So we again asked Black Fork Strategies for the canvasser who submitted this registration form, and that is on your summary sheet.”

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Ohio Democrats Replicate Mississippi Lawmaker’s ‘Contraception Begins at Erection Act’ Criminalizing Casual Sex and Masturbation

A bill put forward by two Ohio Democrats is essentially seeking to outlaw masturbation and casual sex.

State Reps. Anita Somani and Tristan Rader this week put forward the “Contraception Begins at Erection Act” in their legislature.

The bill mirrors legislation recently put forward by Mississippi State Sen. Bradford Blackmon under the same name.

Under the terms of the act, men would be prohibited from masturbating or engaging in sexual activity when there is no “intent to fertilize an embryo.”

In a video posted to BlueSky, the pair argued that such legislation was only fair because Republicans have sought to restrict the murder of unborn children.

“If this legislature is so dedicated to regulating women’s bodies and their access to contraceptives and abortion care then let’s start policing men in the same way. After all, it does take two to tango, right?”

“Our bill would make it illegal to discharge semen or genetic material without the intent to fertilize an embryo,” she continued.

“If you find the language [in the bill] to be absurd, then maybe you should find any bill attempting to restrict reproductive freedoms absurd as well,” Rader added.

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Ohio GOP Lawmakers Introduce Bill To Raise Marijuana Tax, Restrict Home Grow And Eliminate Social Equity Funding

Ohio Republican lawmakers are reviving an effort to significantly alter the state’s voter-approved marijuana legalization law—in part by raising the tax on cannabis products, halving the number of plants adults could grow and eliminating certain social equity provisions.

While GOP leadership has generally pledged that they will not seek to repeal the marijuana law altogether, a newly filed bill from Sen. Steve Huffman (R)—which the Senate president signaled he supports—would make major changes that substantially depart from the provisions of the initiative that voters strongly approved in 2023.

Among the proposed revisions, the bill would increase the excise tax on marijuana from 10 percent to 15 percent. And rather than have revenue allocated to specific areas supporting social equity and jobs programs, local governments that permit marijuana businesses, education and substance misuse initiatives and more, all revenue would instead go to the state general fund.

Senate President Rob McColley (R) told The Columbus Dispatch that legislators intend to discuss possible disbursements of that revenue this session, but he said he’s aligned with the bill sponsor on the idea of increasing the tax rate for cannabis.

“There’s an awful lot of societal costs that are going to have to be borne by the legalization of marijuana,” he said.

Under Huffman’s bill, adults would only be able to grow up to six plants, rather than 12, for personal use. It would also decrease the THC content cap from 90 percent to 70 percent.

Further, the proposal would limit the number of dispensaries to 350, while requiring all licensed retailers to serve both adult-use consumers and medical cannabis patients. The state Division of Cannabis Control (DCC) would also no longer be required to establish rules allowing for marijuana deliveries and online purchases.

GOP lawmakers considered a variety of potential amendments to the marijuana law in the weeks after voters passed the ballot initiative, and this latest attempt is likely to see similar pushback.

Sen. Bill DeMora (D) said during a committee hearing on Wednesday that the proposal effectively amounts to legislators telling voters: “Screw you, you don’t know what you’re talking about. You passed it with an overwhelming majority in the state, but we know better than they did what they were voting on.”

Huffman, the bill sponsor, said the legislation is not meant to “do away with the ballot initiative.”

“It’s to work around the edges to make it better,” he said.

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Mysterious drones spotted in Ohio skies, again

People who live in Mercer County have been left puzzled following a series of mysterious drone sightings over the past few nights. Sheriff Doug Timmerman confirmed that his office is actively investigating the incidents and working closely with federal and local law enforcement to identify the origin and operators of the drones.

According to Sheriff Timmerman, the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office is collaborating with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the FBI, and local law enforcement in nearby counties, including those across the Indiana border. Despite these efforts, the purpose of the drones and their operators remains unknown.

“Our office is aware of the significant number of drone sightings, and we are taking this matter seriously,” said Sheriff Timmerman in a statement. “We are committed to identifying who is behind these flights and ensuring the safety of our community.”

The Sheriff’s Office is calling on Mercer County residents to assist in the investigation by sharing any information or video footage of the drones. Citizens who capture footage are encouraged to submit it via the Mercer Sheriff Facebook page and provide the specific location where the video was taken. “For safety reasons, we strongly advise against trying to confront or follow these drones,” the Sheriff’s Office said.

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Fatal Traffic Crashes Linked To Marijuana Fell By 30% In Ohio Last Year As Legalization Took Effect, Contrary To Opponents’ Fears

As marijuana legalization took effect in Ohio over the last year, the number of fatal traffic crashes in linked to cannabis fell by 30 percent—contrary to warnings from opponents of the policy change who feared it would lead to more deadly car accidents involving stoned drivers. That’s according to new preliminary data from the Ohio State Highway Patrol, which found that proportion of impaired drivers suspected to be under the influence of marijuana also declined compared to 2023.

State voters approved marijuana legalization in November 2023, with use and possession becoming legal the following month. Adult-use cannabis sales, meanwhile, began last August.

State voters approved marijuana legalization in November 2023, with use and possession becoming legal the following month. Adult-use cannabis sales, meanwhile, began last August.

All told, there were 1,067 fatal traffic crashes in Ohio during 2024—the lowest number in at least five years, and down 7 percent from the 1,150 fatal crashes in 2023.

Of those, about 20 percent (215 crashes) were linked to cannabis last year—also the lowest number in years, and down from 27 percent (306 crashes) in 2023.

Impaired driving—referred to in Ohio as operating a vehicle under the influence, or OVI—also decreased from 2023 to 2024, with 644 fewer arrests last year compared to a year earlier. There were 83 fewer cannabis-related OVI arrests in 2024 compared to 2023.

In 2023, authorities logged 15,276 OVI arrests, about 10 percent (1,454) of which were related to marijuana. In 2024, 14,632 arrests took place—a decrease of about 4 percent. Of those, 1,371 were suspected to be linked to cannabis—a drop of approximately 6 percent.

Overall, 242 people died in Ohio last year in crashes believed to involve marijuana use. That’s 28 percent fewer deaths than the 335 logged in 2023. It’s also the lowest number of fatal traffic accidents involving cannabis since at least 2020.

The total number of crashes in general linked to marijuana in 2024—1,171—was also the lowest number since at least 2020 and marked a 12 percent decline since 2023.

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