Dozens speak out against proposed changes to Ohio marijuana laws

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WTVG) – Dozens of people testified against proposed changes to Ohio’s adult-use marijuana laws Tuesday ahead of a scheduled vote to move the legislation out of committee.

The Senate General Government Committee heard testimony for more than two hours Tuesday on Senate Bill 56. Nearly everyone testified against the bill, which alters a number of provisions in Ohio’s recreational marijuana law that voters approved in November 2023.

The committee was set to vote on SB 56 on Wednesday morning, but Sen. Kristina Roegner, who chairs the panel, canceled Wednesday’s meeting. She said the committee will reconvene next week.

The bill repeals most of the law approved in 2023 and merges regulations surrounding adult-use marijuana with medical marijuana laws, according to an independent analysis of the legislation.

The bill limits how many plants Ohioans can grow at home from 12 to six and restricts smoking of homegrown marijuana to inside someone’s private residence. It also requires marijuana sold in the state to be less potent. The proposal caps the number of active dispensaries in the state at 350 and eliminates Level III adult-use cultivator licenses.

The legislation also includes new restrictions on advertising and packaging guidelines.

Opponents of the bill testified for more than two hours against it on Tuesday. Many, including the ACLU of Ohio’s chief lobbyist, Gary Daniels, urged lawmakers to respect the will of the voters.

“SB 56 is not the tidying-up of a citizen-initiated statute,” Daniels wrote in his submitted testimony. “Instead, it is a rebuke of the people and businesses that drafted the initiative, voted for it, worked tirelessly to implement it, and generated (so far) $319 million of adult-use sales. Your constituents deserve the chance to fully weigh on an important issue they passed so resoundingly before it is demolished by politicians.”A marijuana advocate from Toledo was among those who criticized how lawmakers were merging adult-use laws with the state’s medical marijuana program. Simon P. Dunkle IV, who serves as the Executive Director of Ohio NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), said marijuana has helped him through multiple medical issues.

“I’m not sure why we’re here again,” Dunkle said. “Why do we keep coming back and doing this? Everybody in this room understands that you guys don’t like marijuana and you really don’t want anything to do with it, but you’re willing to make millions of dollars off of it at the expense of the consumers in the state. It’s just not right at any level.”

Dunkle went on to say advocates like himself won’t stop fighting against changes to the law.

“If you take it away, you can put me on the list to arrest first, because I will not stop using it,” Dunkle said. “I will not stop making my own edibles and medications. This is highly unethical for you guys to give us the right to use it as patients and then manipulate it like this over the years.”

Sen. Roegner said at the beginning of Tuesday’s meeting that lawmakers have removed “tax or revenue distributions” included in the bill. Lawmakers can still choose to make changes to the marijuana tax in their budget, which needs to be finalized by the end of June.

The bill originally increased the marijuana sales tax from 10% to 15%. It also removed a provision that gave municipalities with marijuana businesses a share of the tax revenue. All marijuana tax revenue would have gone back to the state under the initial version of the bill.

Sarah Biehl with the Ohio Mayors Alliance said several communities only allowed marijuana businesses to open because they were relying on that money.

“To eliminate it would break that trust with a lot of our local governments,” Biehl said.