Gov. Mike DeWine signed sweeping drug policy changes into law Friday that will for the first time regulate and tax Ohio’s “intoxicating hemp” industry while establishing new criminal penalties around the possession of legally-purchased marijuana.
The governor – a Republican who has long politically opposed tobacco, marijuana, gambling and other vices – also wielded his veto powers to kill off a carveout that would have temporarily allowed bars and retailers to continue sales of intoxicating hemp beverages to adults.
Republicans passed Senate Bill 56 mostly along party lines. The new law, which takes effect in 90 days, also creates a path to expungement for low-level state marijuana convictions, and releases to cities $96.5 million in tax revenue generated from Ohio’s first years of recreational sales. State officials have previously said they lacked legal ability to distribute those funds.
Neither the new law at large nor the governor’s veto of some of its provisions are necessarily final.
SB 56 passed with a veto-proof majority in the Senate but not the House, where several Republicans defected and joined Democrats in opposition. However, House Speaker Matt Huffman, who controls the House’s agenda, appeared alongside DeWine at the bill signing and made no suggestion of any veto override effort.
Citizens can also mount a referendum to repeal SB 56, though this is a difficult and time-sensitive endeavor that requires gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures and a statewide majority ballot vote.
Dennis Willard, a well known political operative, said in a text message that Ohioans for Cannabis Choice would vie for a repeal, but he declined to provide details on the finances or operational details required within the 90-day legal timeline.
“SB 56 forcefully defies the will of the voters of Ohio, who spoke clearly on this issue, and denies the people of Ohio the freedom to use these products for their personal use,” he said.
His statement refers to the citizen-backed campaign to circumvent lawmakers and legalize marijuana by popular vote in 2023, which passed with 57% of voters’ support.
The signing is a major win for DeWine, who has cajoled lawmakers in press appearances to finally end a system that has allowed schoolchildren to lawfully purchase marijuana-adjacent, intoxicating hemp candies on gas station shelves mimicking brand-name marketing.
Conversely, it’s a major loss for the previously unregulated hemp industry, which only formed in Ohio as a result of 2019 legislation that DeWine signed. Sale of the drug, which comes from the same cannabis plant as marijuana, is now relegated to dispensaries. There, sales are restricted to those 21 and older. It’s also subject to taxation, testing, $75,000 operating permits and other requirements.
Hemp will also more directly compete with functionally similar marijuana products, part of why hemp lobbyists described the legislation as an existential threat.
Lawmakers relented and wrote in the law a carveout for sellers of increasingly popular hemp beverages. However, that exemption lasted only until a federal prohibition of hemp products was to take effect in late 2026.
DeWine said Friday he vetoed the beverage idea to avoid “confusion” around what’s effectively temporary legislation. He said anyone working in the industry had already been put “on notice,” and voiced concerns around health implications of THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana and hemp.
“No one intended this hemp law to open the door to basically unlimited THC,” he said. “I think that my veto is consistent with that.”
The marijuana industry, which supported lawmakers’ crackdown of the unregulated hemp market, fared better. The bill continues to allow the use, sale and possession of marijuana for lawful adults, which itself was a radical shift in state policy strongarmed into law by citizens and not state lawmakers. And one adult can still grow up to six marijuana plants at home as well (12 if there are two adults living in the household).
However, the bill creates new criminal punishments for those who fail to follow rules like keeping it in its original packaging or prohibitions against buying it lawfully at an out-of-state dispensary and importing it. It also removes legal protections for users in terms of employment, health care access, professional licensure and child custody.
Bill confines hemp sales to dispensaries
In 2019, one of the first bills DeWine signed as governor legalized the sale of hemp, which federal lawmakers had recently legalized. He said at the time that “we believe the safeguards are in place,” according to Cleveland.com, and perhaps had in mind the various nonintoxicating uses of hemp like textiles or wellness supplements.
Since then, the market has exploded. Estimates vary but peg hemp somewhere between a $2 billion and $20 billion market nationally. Its products are sold as gummies, drinks, candies, tinctures and smokeable flowers, often marketed with the “THC” verbiage associated with marijuana. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued warnings to the public about health risks and to sellers about marketing to children, according to the Congressional Research Service, to little avail.
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Moving hemp into the marijuana model is just a ban by another name, as Jonathan Miller, a lawyer with the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, said to lawmakers.
He emphasized that not all hemp products are intoxicating – some are comparatively higher in CBD, which users say helps with pain relief and other maladies, while lower in psychoactive components like THC. And the move could destroy small sellers.
“Retailers throughout Ohio will be severely and negatively impacted by adopting this type of policy with CBD/hemp product stores having no ability to enter the monopolistic world of marijuana dispensary licensing,” he said.
John Lynch, an attorney who owns Rambling House Soda, maker of both bespoke, non-intoxicating sodas and intoxicating hemp drinks, said in an interview at his canning warehouse that he thinks lawmakers showed some preference for the hemp beverages because canned drinks are easier to regulate by nature.
“I always thought it could fold really neatly into the existing alcohol system,” he said. “Part of what a state has to look at is like how are they going to pay for that additional regulation. And through a simple taxation, you could see how the hemp beverage side could be a net positive for the state.”
According to the governor’s office, businesses like Rambling House Soda effectively have 90 days to sell their products under current rules. From there, sales could only occur at dispensaries.
In a text Friday evening, Lynch said DeWine’s veto “undermines legislative intent, penalizes licensed businesses that followed the rules, and deprives Ohioans of products they were safely enjoying.”
Rep. Tex Fischer, a Republican who championed intoxicating hemp as the bill progressed, couldn’t immediately be reached Friday for an interview.
New criminal penalties arise around marijuana possession
The statehouse legislation produced a notable split between the businesses behind the marijuana industry in Ohio and the drug’s die-hard users, who would sometimes show up at the statehouse in suits pockmarked with cannabis leaves.
Industry groups representing licensees, like the Ohio Cannabis Coalition, praised the legislation for releasing marijuana’s tax revenue to cities as promised. And, as executive director David Bowling put it, protecting families.
“The swift response [from lawmakers] reflects a clear commitment to public safety and a responsible marketplace,” he said.
On the other hand, organizations representing ordinary smokers accused lawmakers of defiling the will of voters. Their arguments focused on the new legal penalties the law sets up around the possession of marijuana, and the rollback of legal protections for adults who use it.
These arguments persuaded Democrats, who had been supportive of early iterations of the bill, to oppose it on its final passage votes. The bill passed the Senate along party lines 22-7. In the House, a handful of Republicans joined Democrats in opposition on a 52-34 passing vote.
On the criminal front, the legislation criminalizes the act of purchasing cannabis from other states that have legalized – where products tend to be cheaper – and bringing them back to Ohio. This is already a violation of federal law, though the change allows for state enforcement. (Fischer criticized this legislative compromise as both “protectionism” and a “courtesy to the industry,” in a previous interview.)
Additionally, the legislation creates penalties for failing to keep marijuana in its original packaging or for transporting it without placing it in the trunk or behind the last row of seats in unopened, original packaging.
Morgan Fox, political director for NORML, the oldest marijuana advocacy organization in the U.S., called some of the new rules “nonsensical” in a prior interview.
“This is recriminalizing a lot of behavior that is relatively innocuous and has been legal for some time,” he said.
The legislation also rolls back legal protections for marijuana users in a spread of civil and administrative contexts that were enshrined in the law voters originally passed.
For instance, state licensing boards can’t currently punish licensees solely for use of marijuana. A judge can’t strip a parent of parenting time or responsibilities solely based on marijuana use and barring clear and convincing evidence of the child’s lack of safety. Or, as Democratic Sen. Bill DeMora emphasized, the bill could take a person out of the running for an organ transplant just because they use marijuana.
“It’s disgusting,” he said in a speech on the Senate floor.