Cannabis News
Ohio House Passes Bill To Remove Voter-Approved Marijuana Legalization Protections And Restrict Hemp Market
The Ohio House of Representatives has passed a bill that would do just that make significant changes to the state’s voter-approved marijuana legalization law removing several protections for consumers, while also adding some new restrictions on hemp products intended to align the two sectors of the cannabis industry.
After passing through several House committees this week, with major amendments, the House approved Sen. Stephen Huffman’s (R) legislation on a vote of 87-8 on Wednesday.
Although the measure was previously approved by the Senate, it will have to return to that chamber for concurrence, or go to a bicameral conference committee, before going to the governor’s desk.
The House watered down some controversial provisions of the Senate-passed bill, but advocates are concerned that it would still make major changes to the marijuana law voters approve in 2023.
Rep. Brian Stewart (R), who has led the legislation through the House, argued before the vote that the legislation effectively achieves “carefully crafted compromise” among lawmakers with differing views on cannabis issues.
“It’s been very difficult to debate this bill, but most of our important bills usually are. Instead of being some kind of weak-sauce tie-breaker mash-up, this bill does what we claim we want to come to Columbus,” he said. “It tackles the issue head-on. It makes tough decisions. It respects and implements the views of residents and advocates from affected industries. This bill strikes a good balance between Ohioans’ individual liberties, their safety, the financial well-being of our local communities, and the need to protect the health and safety of Ohio’s children.”
Rep. Jamie Callender (R), who sponsored legislation to legalize marijuana before voters passed the reform on the ballot, said the bill is “not perfect,” but argued that lawmakers “must take action” to address intoxicating hemp and other pending issues.
“This is the revised code we’re writing,” he said. “I anticipate that there will be many more bills on these issues in the near and long term, as there should be … I will continue to work with all of them to make it better.”
While its supporters have described it as a less hands-off approach than the original Senate bill, the measure would make significant changes to existing legalization law, with several provisions that advocates say are in direct conflict with the will of voters and represent legislative overreach.
For example, the proposal would eliminate language in the current statute that provides anti-discrimination protections for people who legally use cannabis. It includes safeguards against adverse action in the context of child custody rights, the ability to perform organ transplants, and professional licensing.
It would also recriminalize possession of marijuana from any source other than a state-licensed Ohio dispensary or possession of marijuana from a legal household. Because of this, people can be charged with a felony for carrying cannabis purchased from a legal Michigan store in the Michigan area.
It would also ban the smoking of cannabis in outdoor public places, such as bar patios, and ban landlords from vaping marijuana in rental properties. Violation of this latter policy, even if it involves vaping in a person’s backyard in a rental property, would be a misdemeanor offense.
Karen O’Keefe, director of state policy for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), said in a letter to House lawmakers on Wednesday that SB 56 today “eliminates key protections of the law enacted by voters and re-criminalizes harmless behaviors that voters legalized.”
“Please reject this erosion of the liberties established by the voters,” he said.
Unlike the Senate-passed version of the bill, the House alternative would send cannabis sales tax revenue to local governments.
The legislation, amended by the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, also adds new restrictions on the hemp market. With the exception of beverages, hemp products would only be allowed to be sold in licensed hemp dispensaries.
Stores and breweries would be allowed to sell hemp-derived THC drinks, with new advertising restrictions to avoid appealing to youth. Products for on-premise consumption would be limited to 5 mg of THC, but adults could buy drinks of up to 10 mg to take home. Stronger drinks could also be manufactured in Ohio, but only for sale to people outside the state.
The bill would also include a new $1.20 per liter tax on hemp beverages.
The measure Earlier on Wednesday, the Treasury Board also amended it to clarify that people seeking to have their marijuana possession charges dropped would not have to prove the exact amount of cannabis they possessed. The amendment would also allow for dismissal of dismissed marijuana charges, not just convictions.
The amendment also aligns the beverage cannabinoid policy with the beverage laws and clarifies that the penalties for selling marijuana, hemp beverages or cannabinoid products to a minor would be the same regardless of the type of product.
Wednesday’s House vote comes weeks after the governor issued emergency regulations banning the sale of hemp products for 90 dayswith instructions to the legislature to consider permanent regulations. Last week, however, a county judge ordered the state to enforce that policy in response to a legal challenge.
“Quite frankly, the legislature didn’t take action,” Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said in an interview published this week. “I’m still hopeful that the legislature will step in and take action.”
House Speaker Matt Huffman (R) recently commented on the relative lack of progress on marijuana and hemp legislation since voters approved legalization on the ballot in 2023, highlighting the stark divisions within the Republican caucus.
There are “people who think marijuana should be legalized and regulated,” others who “think hemp products should be on par with everything that happened in the statute that started and then “people, like me, who are prohibitionists, don’t think it should be legalized at all and should be rare,” he said.
“I would say the prohibitionists have lost this debate.”
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Meanwhile, last month, the Ohio Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) introduced new proposed rules to underpin the state’s marijuana legalization law. establishing plans to update regulations on labeling and packaging requirements.
The proposal arrived a few weeks later Medical and adult marijuana sales in Ohio officially surpassed $3 billionData from the state Department of Commerce (DOC) shows.
the state About $703 million worth of recreational cannabis was sold in the first year the law was enactedAccording to data from DCC.
In March, a survey of 38 municipalities by the Ohio State University (OSU) Moritz School of Law found local leaders were “unequivocally opposed” to earlier proposals which would have cut planned funding..
Meanwhile, in Ohio, adults can buy more than double the amount of marijuana starting in June than were under previous limits, state officials determined that the market could sustainably supply patients and adult users of medical cannabis.
The governor announced his desire individually in March Marijuana tax revenue to support police training, local jails and behavioral health services. He said funding for police training was a top priority, even if it wasn’t approved by voters in 2023.
Ohio’s Senate President also pushed back against criticism of the Senate bill, claiming that the legislation does not respect the will of the electorate and it would have little effect on the products available in stores.
user photo Philip Steffan.
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Cannabis News
HoneyGrove Dispensary selivers affordable small-batch flower to patients amid push for MMJ reform
HoneyGrove Dispensary has partnered with Ewing-based medical cannabis company Noble Valley Harvest Company to offer small-batch flowers at reduced prices to medical marijuana patients.
Half ounces are available for $75 and full ounces are available for $125, with no sales tax applied to cardholder purchases. HoneyGrove waives sales tax on adult-use transactions for patients with a valid medical card to support patient access.
Within NJ’s three-ounce monthly purchase limit, cardholders can get $100 off multiple ounce purchases.
© Rey Fernandez
The initiative addresses ongoing concerns about affordability in New Jersey’s medical marijuana program, which has drawn criticism for high costs and limited supply. By offering premium, small-batch products at prices associated with lower-quality options, HoneyGrove and Noble Valley aim to improve immediate patient access while advocating for broader program reforms.
“HoneyGrove and HoneyStash are committed to patient care by partnering with local growers,” said Dave Valese, CEO of HoneyProjects, the management company for both dispensaries. “This partnership with Noble Valley ensures that medical patients receive high-quality flower at affordable prices, supporting our broader efforts to improve New Jersey’s medical cannabis program.”
“Noble Valley Harvest is producing small-batch cannabis for the New Jersey market,” said Dr. Lisa Grega, founder of Noble Valley Harvest Company. “We’re excited to give medical patients first access to help boost a market that’s shrinking in size and selection.”
For more information:
Honey Projects
honey-projects.com
Cannabis News
Ohio Senate Expected To Vote On Bill Recriminalizing Some Marijuana Activity That Voters Legalized
Many of the things that are common in modern cannabis come from a time when curiosity about the plant could lead to real problems. With the market now dominated by hybrid genetics, it is a common belief that it is almost impossible to bring anything back to an original cultivar. However, many of these initial building blocks came from the first wave of cannabis exploration, when a handful of growers traveled across continents in search of unique local varieties. Nevil Schoenmakers was one of them, and what he spotted on the side of a highway during a trip to Turkey left a mark on the history of cannabis that has never been erased.
On the way to Turkey
Dwight Diotte of D9 Canna Consulting still remembers those early years. A time when the modern industry was just an idea and the world of cannabis lived in the shadows between one country and another. Everyone in that circle followed clues more than maps, and it all felt like a treasure hunt with pocket knives and curiosity.
So how did cannabis ruderalis enter the cannabis world. The story begins with a road trip. Nevil was moving through Eastern Europe on one of his journeys to find his seed when he saw something strange on a highway in Hungary. The plants, already in flower, stand out against the July heat. He stopped so suddenly that his car screeched. Then he ran across like someone who had just seen a myth pass by.
© Dwight Diotte
He took some branches and dried them in the car heater. He soon realized that what he found was something special. He paused again, and turned around. Turkey could wait. What he had just discovered demanded attention, “and perhaps saved him from a more dangerous detour,” Dwight notes. The Cold War was still very real and the borders of that region were not yet friendly to roving plant hunters.
Sparking the seeds of something new
By the time Dwight saw Nevil the following year in the Netherlands, the seeds of the mystery were already on the table. They were tiny, dark and impossible to germinate with the usual tricks. Dwight remembers gently cracking the pebbles and soaking them as Nevil thought animals might do in the wild. “It felt less like horticulture and more like archaeology,” Dwight recalls.
Once they sprouted, the surprise came quickly. These were no ordinary plants. They went from seed to flower oblivious to the light of day and seemed determined to complete their cycle, encouraged or not. The concept of autoflowering did not yet exist. “Nevil saw the plants blooming on the fifth or seventh node and understood that something new was on the table.”
This was the birth of the modern ruderalis work, although at the time no one was thinking in neat categories. “We were trying to understand what we found.”
Claiming ownership
Dwight wandered between Canada and Europe during those years and witnessed it all. He helped raise funds for what would later become the famous Cannabis Castle, watched the early grow in action and watched Nevil push ruderalis as far as he could before returning to his passion for long-flowering cannabis. “The Finola project was created in the mid-90s and its founders claimed credit for the autoflowering breakthrough, even though the genetics went back to the same region that Nevil had explored, if not the same plants as Nevil himself,” Dwight said.
Everyone involved in that era seemed to reinvent themselves every season. The seed companies changed their names. Growers moved between projects. Some developed legendary cultivars. Others disappeared completely from public life. Through it all, Nevil remained a figure who kept one foot in research mode and the other in business reality. When the Dutch tightened regulations in the nineties, the landscape changed again, and a series of legal dramas followed across continents. “A few years later the dust settled and life moved on, but the seeds of his legacy had already been planted.”
According to Dwight, many of the fog lines that dominate the shelves today have their origins in Nevil. “It’s the same in the autoflowering category. Even after turning his attention away from ruderalis, he produced work that breeders talk about in low tones and reverence.”
Heritage
Dwight still grows ruderalis for fun. He says that plants teach him things. He says that even after forty years they still amaze him. “Nevil Schoenmakers always worked with what he found and let the plants say what they wanted to be. But the evidence is hard to ignore. When the first little black seeds were opened in Hungary, the industry of the future cracked with them. And even today, every time an autoflower appears on a legal shelf anywhere in the world, a small part of that moment is still on the side of the road in Eastern Europe.”
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