The Ohioans for Cannabis Choice campaign, which sought to repeal recent hemp and cannabis legislation at the ballot box, has failed to collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. Ohio Capital Journal reports.
Ohio Republican lawmakers passed Senate Bill 56 last year, which changes the state’s voter-approved adult-use cannabis policies and targets the state’s hemp industry with sweeping bans on most hemp-derived cannabinoids. Attorney General Dave Yost initially rejected the title and language of the campaign brief, but then approved the petition in February after the campaign filed revisions.
The campaign did not release the number of signatures they had collected, but it would need at least 248,092 signatures from a wide swath of counties to qualify.
“Unfortunately, we were unable to overcome a truncated window of time to give voters the opportunity to say no to government overreach.” – Dennis Willard, spokesman for Ohioans for Cannabis Choice, in a statement
The new rules, which take effect March 20, set new maximum THC levels for cannabis concentrates (70%) and flower products (35%) and prohibit possession of cannabis products sourced outside of Ohio. Cannabis consumers in the state are now also required to store cannabis products in their original packaging.
