COLUMBUS – A new law that’s likely to pass at the Ohio Statehouse next week would establish a series of minor criminal penalties for people who improperly transport or possess marijuana in Ohio, while rolling back legal protections for users in venues like child custody or professional licensing disputes.
For that reason, NORML is leading a quixotic effort to ask the Ohio Senate to reject Senate Bill 56 before a final vote next week.
With the Senate’s approval, the bill would go to Gov. Mike DeWine for a signature or veto.
Comprehensive New Regs On Intoxicating Hemp
The marijuana changes come within a larger package that also imposes a comprehensive, new regulatory system on intoxicating hemp, a product that’s functionally similar to legal marijuana but sold without the age restrictions, taxes or quality controls. DeWine, a Republican who opposed relaxing Ohio’s marijuana laws, has made a public cause of the intoxicating hemp issue for more than a year now.
But perhaps out of a political compromise, marijuana users have found themselves caught in the crosshairs within the hemp crackdown, according to Morgan Fox, NORML’s political director.
“A lot of these things are completely nonsensical,” he said in an interview. “This is recriminalizing a lot of behavior that is relatively innocuous and has been legal for some time.”
House and Senate lawmakers negotiated a final version of the legislation in a conference committee, which means the bill can no longer be changed. The House passed it last week, with a late-night 52-34 vote, where a handful of Republicans joined Democrats in opposition.
Committee members described the final version as a compromise between a list of scrambled voting blocs: Democrats who don’t want new criminal penalties for run-of-the-mill users, libertarian-minded Republicans protective of the right to grow one’s own marijuana, religious conservatives who disapprove expanding the legal use of intoxicants, local governments who want their tax money, a governor seeking a crackdown on the gas station hemp retailers, and both the hemp and marijuana industries seeking market advantage. (All told, 153 lobbyists registered to work on the bill as of August, state records show.)
In 2023, Ohio voters passed Issue 2 by a 57% to 43% vote, allowing for adults to lawfully use, buy, sell and possess cannabis. Those rights remain broadly intact under the bill.
However, SB 56 imposes legal penalties for things like possessing marijuana in anything but its original container or buying legal marijuana in Michigan where it tends to be much cheaper.
What follows is a closer look at some of those rules.
Out-of-state marijuana
SB 56 reclassifies what counts within the “scope of legalization” of marijuana. And by its rules, any marijuana that’s not either grown in one’s home or purchased at an in-state dispensary is illegal. Prices are far lower in the more mature cannabis market of Michigan, and SB 56 would make it illegal to bring that same substance back into Ohio.
Violators could be convicted of a minor misdemeanor, which entails a maximum fine of $150 but no jail time.
Fox, who lobbies on a national basis for NORML, said he’s not aware of any adult-use state that makes simple possession of cannabis that originated in a different state illegal.
Driving with marijuana in the car
Under the bill, drivers can transport legal marijuana by car. However, it must be stored in the trunk or, for cars without trunks, behind the last upright seat of the car. Marijuana and any paraphernalia also must be stored in its “original, unopened packaging.”
Similarly, edibles must be stored in their original packaging to comply with the bill.
Violations are a minor misdemeanor.
“You can be charged with a crime for having legal weed in a different package than what you bought,” said Bride Rose Sweeney, one of the House Democrats’ top negotiators on the bill, during a floor speech. “You can be charged with a crime for buying legal weed in Michigan.”
Lost legal protections
Besides legalizing marijuana, the 2023 law approved by voters created legal protections for adults who use marijuana in a spread of civil and administrative contexts.
For instance, state licensing boards can’t punish licensees solely for use of marijuana. A judge can’t strip a parent of parenting time or responsibilities solely based on marijuana use and barring clear and convincing evidence of the child’s lack of safety.
Similar protections exist regarding access to medical care like an organ donation, rejections to a person as a tenant, or disqualifying them from public benefits.
The bill removes almost all these protections, though users could still access public benefits (with the exception of unemployment compensation).
