It is currently illegal to bring recreational cannabis products into Ohio, even if purchased legally in another state.

By Frank W. Lewis, Signal Cleveland

It was this story originally posted By Signal Cleveland. Sign up for their free newsletter at SignalCleveland.org/subscribe.

Intoxicating hemp products and THC-infused drinks are illegal again in Ohio and the maximum potency of the extracts is lower as a result The law entered into force on March 20.

Ohio voters legalized recreational marijuana and related products in 2023 when they passed Proposition 2. Republican lawmakers almost immediately vowed to roll back parts of it, and did so late last year, passing the new cuts mostly along party lines.

Here are some of the changes, including new criminal penalties for improperly transporting personal stash, bringing THC products across state lines or carrying them in public.

No more smoking or vaping in public places or businesses

You can attend a privately owned property if it’s not even a daycare center, halfway house, or community residential center.

Renters can still smoke in a house or apartment unless the lease prohibits it.

What are the new rules for storing edibles and weeds?

Edible and medical marijuana and other products should be stored in their original containers, even after opening.

What about driving with herbs, edibles or extracts?

If the original package has been opened, it should be stored in the trunk of your vehicle or behind the rear seats if there is no trunk. In other words, out of the driver’s hand.

The same rules apply to pipes, vape and other marijuana paraphernalia.

There are no out-of-state marijuana races or orders

It is currently illegal to bring recreational cannabis products into Ohio, even if purchased legally in another state. (Looking at you, Michigan.)

Sellers of these products, including edibles and grocers, cannot ship these products in Ohio.

Can I Door Dash or Uber Eats Marijuana?

Not right now. But the new law opens the door to home delivery of medical marijuana once the Cannabis Control Division drafts rules and standards.

Is it still legal to share marijuana with friends?

Yes, but with some changes.

• The handover must be done in a private house or in an agricultural space.
• The amount shared in one day cannot exceed 2 ½ ounces of plant material (excluding seeds and plants) or 15 grams of extract.
• You still can’t take money for kindly sharing your eye.

Did they confuse it with power?

yes The THC level of the extracts is limited to 70 percent (below 90 percent).

The limit on medicinal and recreational plants remains at 35 percent.

Can I go to jail for using recreational cannabis products?

Yes, if it violates your employer’s policies.

That was true under Issue 2, the law passed by voters in 2023. But under the new law, workers fired for violating the drug policy are not eligible for state unemployment benefits.

I can still grow marijuana at home, right?

Home growing is still an option and the limit is six plants per adult over 21 or a total of 12 per home.

However, growing even one plant over that limit can lead to a charge of illegal marijuana cultivation, which can lead to criminal penalties.

No edibles in the form of gummy bears or fruit snacks

The new law outlaws the sale of marijuana products that resemble fictional characters, real people, animals, fruit, or images that may appeal to children.

Changing who gets tax revenue from the sale of marijuana

The new law eliminates the social equity and jobs fund created by No. 2 and money for substance abuse and addiction education and treatment programs.

Cities with dispensaries still receive 36% of tax revenue and the rest goes to the state’s general fund. Sales of recreational marijuana products in Ohio were $836 million last year.

For more information on all the latest changes, check out this side-by-side comparison table from Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law. Read the full set of legislative changes here.

When tissue culture laboratories emerged in the 1970s, they quickly became the standard infrastructure for propagating tomatoes, corn, and dozens of other crops. Decades of scientific literature followed, refining formulas and SOPs that made the process reliable at scale. For cannabis, this body of knowledge does not exist, the consequences of the prohibition era. It’s a gap that companies like Microhemp, a tissue culture lab based in Italy, are now working to close. “Tissue culture labs have been around since the 70s,” says Marco Bianco, founder of Microhemp. “But when it comes to cannabis, this is a relatively new space.”

© Microhemp

Set to empty
Scientific failure has made the setup unimaginable. “Tissue culture has been known inside and out since the 70s. Around Cesena, where we are, there are many laboratories, but they work with traditional plants. Italy produces millions of plants in tissue culture every year, but the cloning formula of these plants is very well known to the scientific community. Because of the ban, there is not nearly as much for cannabis.” That’s why Marco says the value of Microhemp lies precisely in discovering the SOPs for tissue culture of cannabis. “We clean and preserve the genetics, and of course we replicate them.”

Before reaching that point, they had to go through the garage phase. That was 2018. “We started the first initial tests in the usual way. However, this could not work, everything became contaminated, which reinforced the belief that we had to create a sterile laboratory.” Thanks to a European grant, the Microhemp laboratory finally became a reality. “We built the lab inside two 12-meter containers. One has a growth chamber, and the other has a lab and a sterile growth chamber.” Notably, Microhemp did not buy off-the-shelf container farms, they acquired empty shipping containers and completely refurbished them to their specifications.

© Microhemp

Micropropagation of cannabis
This hands-on experience became the basis for one of the company’s secondary services: designing tissue culture laboratories and other facilities. But the core business remains micropropagation. “In micropropagation, every month, you triple the material.”

The method seems simple, but it is not. “We start with small plastic pots, with 7 nodes left to grow. We open the pot again, divide the plant into those 7 nodes again and move on to the last 3 pots. If you do this every month, you can produce a huge number of plants, it’s exponential. In a very short time, we build the line, which is millions of the same plants.” Achieving this requires careful planning at every stage. “The plant that I deliver to you today was taken from a sterile environment. To have that plant ready, we started two months before delivery, and before that there is at least two months of planning to reach the final clone. To deliver a plant to the customer, I decided that it would become a real plant four months before delivery. This creates challenges, because we have to be good at managing stocks, but this allows us to make traditional nurseries quite difficult. Our strength is in numbers, what really sets us apart is our cleanliness in GMP work when you do, the most important thing is to start with a plant that you can guarantee is not infected.

Synthetic seeds© Microhemp
Genetic conservation of microhemp can also take the form of synthetic seeds, a striking way of preserving genetics that keeps traits intact for the long term, and has a practical advantage unrelated to biology. “It’s a very convenient option from a purely logistical point of view,” explains Marco. “If a multinational has facilities in several countries and opens a new site in North Macedonia, synthetic seeds are the best way to move a specific genetic. Put the pot in your pocket,” he laughs.

The reality is more nuanced, as Marco is quick to acknowledge. Synthetic seeds cannot yet be germinated in rockwool, a separate laboratory is required on the recipient side. Microhemp has tested a middle solution: a container format that holds the synthetic seed and the grow room in the same container, but mechanically separated. The user drops the seed in the room to initiate the roots. “It wasn’t guaranteed enough. The seed was germinating with reasonable frequency, but not good enough,” says Marco. For now, the project is on hold while the company focuses on scaling up its core micropropagation and lab design services, which, as Marco says, is what a tissue culture lab actually does.

For more information:
Microhemp Srl
Via Giuseppe Verdi 131, 41019 Soliera (MO), Italy
+393351736178
(email protected)
microhemp.it

Indiana’s Republican governor says he will “rise to the crescendo” in the call to legalize marijuana, citing regional dynamics and even more, law enforcement reform. But for now, he says the GOP’s legislative leadership is “not interested in doing anything anytime soon,” even though “half of Hoosiers probably smoke illegally.”

Gov. Mike Braun (R) gave his perspective on the issue of cannabis policy in an interview with WOWO’s Fort Wayne’s Morning News, saying that lawmakers should give it “an extra look” and that, while he is personally “agnostic” when it comes to legalization, the reality is that Indiana is “now surrounded by four states” that allow medical or adult use.

“Probably half of Hoosiers smoke illegally,” he said, noting that suburban Kentucky allows patients to access medical cannabis, while Illinois, Michigan and Ohio have recreational marijuana laws.

“I’m going to listen to law enforcement. They’ve even changed their minds about legalizing and regulating,” Braun said, adding that he compared cannabis to gambling. The state was late to pass laws allowing adults to gamble, he said, but now ranks among the top three states nationally in terms of per capita revenue from vice.

“Some people won’t want to, just on principle. A lot of police and sheriffs in our state are willing to cross the border (to buy cannabis). It’s going to be a growing problem, so far, the way our state legislature has opposed it,” he said. “I’ve been more agnostic about it. I can see the points of view, and I’ve seen law enforcement move somewhat.”

“So that will give you the best description of where the dynamic is in our state,” Gov say WOW “I think the leader of the Senate and the Speaker of the House in particular are cool — and they control the legislative agenda — they’re not interested in doing anything anytime soon. But I think the crescendo will rise, and that pretty much describes where we are.”

Braun also addressed the issue in another recent interview, saying the state will “probably have to address” the issue and pairing cannabis reform with sports betting.

State legislators already He stated that there is no legalization of marijuana in the 2026 sessionit means another year where Indiana will be left out as one of the few states without effective medical or adult-use cannabis laws.

The governor said that individually He “fits in” with the idea of ​​legalizing medical cannabis in the state. Instead, Indiana lawmakers this session have focused on efforts to ban THC hemp products, though The battle for 2026 appears to be over after a last-minute push failed late last month.

Braun also touted President Donald Trump’s move to federally deregulate marijuana He could add “some fire” to the local push to legalize cannabis in his state. A month later, Trump signed an executive order directing the attorney general to move cannabis from Schedule I to III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), but that has yet to happen.

Among Indiana residents, however, a survey released in January found just that nearly three in five supported the legalization of medical and recreational cannabis.

Specifically, Ball State University’s (BSU) Bowen Center’s annual Hoosier Poll found that 59 percent of residents support the legalization of cannabis for medical and recreational purposes. An additional 25 percent came back allowing patients to access medical marijuana, bringing total support for that reform to 84 percent.

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Braun, for his part, He previously said it is “probably time” to introduce therapeutic cannabis among state patients. The comments came alongside a separate poll showing that nearly 9 in 10 Indiana adults (87 percent) support the legalization of marijuana.

The main Republicans in the Legislature, however, They have openly opposed marijuana reform.

“It’s no secret that I’m not,” Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray (R) said at the end of 2024. “I don’t have people coming to me with really compelling medical cases to find out why it’s so beneficial. And any situation I’ve seen, it’s passing medical marijuana, it’s basically passing recreational marijuana.”

House Speaker Todd Huston (R) questioned any medical benefits associated with marijuana, calling the substance a “mental health deterrent.” He and others suggested that lawmakers in favor of reform simply want to increase state revenue.

Some Marijuana reform bills have been introduced for the 2025 session of the Indiana legislatureincluding by Reps. Jim Lucas (R) and Shane Lindauer (R), which would legalize medical marijuana for people with “severe medical conditions determined by a physician.”