COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Possession, consumption and home-grow of recreational marijuana is now legal in the state of Ohio, but the details of the law are not set in stone yet.
Thursday morning, the Ohio House Finance Committee heard hours of testimony for their House Bill 354, sponsored by Representative Jamie Callender (R-Concord) to tweak the new recreational marijuana law.
“We need to act quickly, but there was no deadline,” Callender said. “And if we get it next week that’s great, if we get it by Christmas that’s great, but if it’s January, that’s okay too. It will be when it will be, but we want to get it done right.”
Wednesday night Governor Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) urged the legislature to pass legislation to tweak the law as soon as possible, but they failed to send something to his desk.
“I think the governor is of a generation where I think he’s actually afraid of marijuana and afraid of some of the social and sociological impacts it may have,” Callender said. “And I think over time, the predisposition to a stigma that he has will wear off.”
The Senate did pass House Bill 86, a bill to make several tweaks to the law, like allowing Ohioans to buy at medical dispensaries. Callender said House members will consider those changes.
“I’m excited about getting the market open sooner, I think that’s a good idea,” he said.
Callender said another provision he likes in the Senate’s bill is criminal record expungement.
“There’s a sensical argument that we should have the ability to expunge those off your record, so they don’t continue to keep you from getting a job for something that’s not legal,” Callender said. “I’m supportive of it, but I don’t know where our caucus and our chamber is. We are having those discussions, and it is certainly something we will consider.”
But in the House — representatives on both sides of the aisle say doing things like scaling back home-grow and THC levels, like is done in the Senate’s bill, are non-starters. The House bill focuses on putting up parameters, to do things like ensure children are not targeted by advertisements and establish guardrails to ensure home-grow is not cultivated and sold, inadvertently creating an illicit market.
Supporters of recreational marijuana, like Broderick Randle II said the law needs to be clear.
“Either learn more about the plant or even speak to people that are getting educated and more informed about the plant to help them make better decisions,” Randle said.
Randle said he has seen first-hand how the plant can “help in a lot of ways.”
“I used to work in a dispensary,” he said. “And I have experienced so many walks of life get better quality of life and better healing and just a better satisfaction from life using this plant.”
And independent processors like Nickole Ross said they also want clarification on the law.
“We want to be able to see Ohioans have a safe and effective program,” she said. “And some of that safe, effective program comes down to making sure there’s diversity and inclusion.”
Ross said independent processors take the flower, produce it into consumable goods like topics, vape carts and edibles and distribute it to licensed medical dispensaries. She said she, alongside other stand-alone processors, have committed and invested into the medical program, and wants the opportunity to continue helping the growth of the adult-use program too.
“Operators like stand-alone processors have been left out. We just wanted to be able to get clarification with legislators on how we can make sure that we’re incorporated,” Ross said. “We have proven that we can succeed in this program so why shouldn’t we be able to compete and succeed late too.”
As of now — the next House and Senate sessions are scheduled for Wednesday, so that is the soonest they could pass any legislation related to the state’s new marijuana law.