The Ohio Senate has resurrected a proposal that overhauls the state鈥檚 relatively young recreational marijuana program, in part by raising the excise tax on all product sales from 10% to 15%.
Introduced Tuesday by Sen. Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City), closely mirrors a 2023 bill that cleared the chamber, merging the state鈥檚 medical and adult-use programs.
SB 56 strictly prohibits smoking cannabis in public, limiting Ohioans to partaking in private residences, and reduces home grow from 12 plants or less to six plants or less. It also limits how concentrated dispensaries鈥� THC products can be鈥攎axing out at 35% for plant products and 70% for concentrates and extracts.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like concentrated orange juice,鈥� Huffman said Wednesday. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 drink concentrated orange juice. You鈥檙e going to dilute it down so that it's a reasonable amount.鈥�
All related tax revenue would redirect to the state鈥檚 General Revenue Fund (GRF), unlike current law, which has pools of funds that go toward different purposes, like to local municipalities with dispensaries or to a social equity and jobs program that the bill also abolishes.
Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said the tax hike and revenue redirection comes from a need to fund addiction services and law enforcement.
鈥淭here鈥檚 an awful lot of societal costs that are going to have to be borne by the legalization of marijuana,鈥� McColley said Wednesday.
Regulations of delta-8 THC and other similar derivatives are not among SB 56鈥檚 provisions. Huffman plans to put those long-debated changes in a standalone bill, which he said he will introduce sometime next week.
Also absent from it are expungement provisions that Senate Democrats pushed for in 2023. Sen. Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) said he believes SB 56 generally flies in the face of voters, who ratified the recreational program鈥檚 details via the ballot box that same year.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no way that I鈥檓 going to let all this money go to GRF funds when voters clearly didn鈥檛 want that,鈥� DeMora said. 鈥淥ur bill (in 2023) had money going to the 9-8-8 Suicide Hotline and other things that money was being allotted to that we agreed on. But it was not all GRF funds, and that鈥檚 ridiculous.鈥�
Among other items:
- It streamlines the licensing process for dispensaries and other industry facilities;
- Eliminates Level III cultivator licenses;
- Puts a ceiling on how many dispensaries can be licensed statewide, set at 350;
- Clarifies that drug-free workplaces are not violating Ohio Civil Rights Law protections by firing someone for cannabis use;
- And creates packaging and advertising regulations, such as barring edibles from being like a 鈥渞ealistic or fictional human, animal or fruit鈥�
The Senate GOP is looking to move the bill fast. It could be on the floor by February, McColley said Wednesday.
