Is Ohio Senate Bill 56 Really About Protecting Monopolies?

COLUMBUS – Ohio Senate Bill 56 is proposed legislation that would amend certain aspects of the current cannabis industry in the state.

At the center of the bill are what lawmakers call “intoxicating hemp products,” meaning a hemp product with more than five-tenths of a milligram of Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol per serving, two milligrams of Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol per package or five-tenths of a milligram of total non-Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol per package, according to the bill as passed by the House.

But Don Wirtshafter, a lawyer who runs the Cannabis Museum in Athens, spoke of his concerns about another agenda behind the proposed legislation.

“They’re trying to do all these things, and the real purpose of all this isn’t to protect the citizens of Ohio,” Wirtshafter said. “It’s to protect these monopolies that have moved in and taken over the cannabis industry.”

Wirtshafter also highlighted an issue he had with the state’s language of “intoxicating hemp products.”

“They’ve made up this term. There is no such thing as intoxicating hemp,” Wirtshafter said. “To make it clear, these are synthetic chemicals and not anything to do with cannabis.

“It’s all underground chemists that have basically imitated cannabis to try to get their foot in the door,” Wirtshafter said. “It’s done very well; it’s become a billion-dollar industry.”

The growing concern now is the unknown, long-term effects of using synthetic cannabis.

“All these synthetic products are filled with all these unknown byproducts that have never been tested for toxicity or for safety,” Wirtshafter said.

Several other changes are also proposed in this bill, such as reducing the number of homegrown marijuana plants in a single residence from 12 to six, specifying that smoking marijuana is only permitted in a private residence and expanding government authority to prohibit or limit the number of licensed marijuana cultivators, processors, dispensaries or testing laboratories.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, synthetic chemical products – now called intoxicating hemp products -can be risky to use as new, unregulated synthetic cannabis products emerge on the market every few days.

Democratic Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney is the ranking member of the Ohio House Finance Committee and spoke specifically about one aspect of the bill that would curb the products from being sold to children.

“What’s been happening for years is gas stations, (or) anyone, would sell this hemp, intoxicating hemp, gummies or other products all throughout Ohio,” Sweeney said. “We had no idea how much it was or where they were selling it, because it was basically legal by the federal government.”

The proposed bill would add regulations to the industry and require companies to undergo a similar process to become a marijuana dispensary.

“We have to go through the Department of Cannabis Control, get a license, pay money, meet a certain standard,” Sweeney said. “We basically can have hemp dispensaries and marijuana dispensaries.”

Sweeney said this is part of a broader attempt to stop children from having access to these products, as many of them have similar branding to popular candy such as Gushers, Nerds and Sour Patch Kids.

Sweeney pointed out a story in which two Ohio middle schoolers were hospitalized after eating THC gummies.

Still, the bill has yet to go into law as the state senate rejected the changes made by the house, according to the bill’s status page. It is now set to go to a conference committee made up of four Republicans and two Democrats. Sweeney will be the Democrat for the house side.

“So those conversations are just starting, and the governor definitely is putting a lot of pressure on the General Assembly to give him a bill as soon as possible,” Sweeney said.