For the second week in a row, Ohio Senate Bill 56 was up for a possible vote out of the Ohio House Judiciary Committee, but both times the vote did not take place. Once the bill is voted out of committee, it can be brought to the House floor for a vote. The Senate passed the bill in February.
But now it looks like Ohio lawmakers will likely go on summer break without making any changes to the state’s marijuana law, a Republican state representative told the Ohio Capital Journal this week.
“We are going to push pause,” state Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, said when asked about the marijuana bill. “We’re going to take the summer and come back and potentially take another crack at it.”
Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said the Senate raised more than a dozen issues related to S.B. 56 last week.
“I just told my caucus, ‘We’re not going to just say, OK, because we’re so anxious to pass the marijuana bill, which I’d like to get it done, but we’re not going to give up House priorities to do that,’” he said last week.
The lawmakers are currently working on the state’s two-year operating budget, which Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine must sign before July 1. The lawmakers will go on summer break after the budget is finished.
S.B. 56 would reduce the THC levels in adult-use marijuana extracts from a maximum of 90% down to a maximum of 70%, limit the number of active dispensaries to 400 and prohibit smoking in most public places.
It would keep Ohio’s home grow the same at a limit of six plants per person and 12 plants per residence. State Sen. Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City, introduced the bill in January and the bill originally would have limited Ohio’s home grow from 12 plants down to six.
Ohioans passed a citizen-initiated law to legalize recreational marijuana in 2023 with 57% of the vote, and sales started in August 2024. Ohio lawmakers can change the law since it passed as a citizen initiative not a constitutional amendment.
“The people of Ohio spoke very clearly on this issue,” said Ohio House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati. “They knew what they were voting on, and they voted to pass adult-use cannabis recreationally here in the state of Ohio.”
For more information, click on Ohio Capital Journal
