Ohio Governor Mike DeWine holds an intoxicating cannabis product from Nerdy Bears and Nerds Gummy Clusters during a press conference on October 8, 2025, during which he issued an executive order banning intoxicating cannabis products. (Photo: Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal).
Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate agree that laws are needed to prevent children from buying intoxicating cannabis products, but there was no movement last week on legislation regulating these products.
DeWine recently announced a 90-day period executive order prohibiting the sale of intoxicating cannabis products it started on October 14.
Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Carl Aveni issued a 14-day momentary restraining order against DeWine’s executive order. The next hearing in this case is scheduled for October 28.
Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said the 14-day pause on DeWine’s hemp ban does not create an urgent need for lawmakers to pass legislation regulating the products.
“I think the governor issuing the order could have immediately started trying to find some solution to this whole thing,” he said in an Oct. 15 conversation with reporters. “I think maybe the 14-day TRO will just muddy the waters more than before.”
Huffman said the momentary pause creates uncertainty.
“In a sense, uncertainty is not good, but it also happens when the situation is uncertain, then people are more willing to try to solve something,” he said. “We do not want Delta-8 products sold to children in stores. Everyone agrees with that. There are many other details that need to be worked out.”
Ohio Senate Bill 56 will be subject to a possible vote before the Ohio House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday afternoon. The bill would only allow licensed marijuana dispensaries to sell intoxicating cannabis products that have been tested and meet packaging, labeling and advertising requirements. The bill that was passed in Senate earlier this yearit would also change parts of the state’s marijuana law.
Ohio Minority Leader Denmark Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, said a bipartisan compromise is possible when it comes to regulating intoxicating cannabis products and preventing children from buying those products at the grocery store or gas station.
“Our role is to keep the community safe by finding commonsense laws and regulations regarding drugs of abuse,” he said. “…We should be able to do a lot of good, sensible and middle-of-the-road things with any drug-related cannabis bill. We should be able to focus on keeping children safe.”
There are: several bills in the Ohio Legislature that would regulate intoxicating cannabis products in various ways. Earlier this year, the Ohio Senate passed several bills related to the regulation of intoxicating cannabis products, which are now before the Ohio House.
“We’re really just trying to wait and see what the House is willing to pass,” Ohio Senate President Rob McColley – said R-Napoleon. “My concern is that for many cannabis products, there is no regulatory system around them. We have no way of determining the place of origin if we receive a defective batch. There are no age restrictions for many things.
He said Ohio lawmakers should have done something about hemp a long time ago.
“We need to make sure that we have very basic safeguards in place to make sure that if we do allow this product to be sold, only adults are buying it and not in containers that children can get into,” McColley said.
Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, expressed hope that passing a bill to regulate intoxicating cannabis products is urgent.
“We should set an age limit,” she said. “I think the biggest concern for Democrats and Republicans is that we don’t want this stuff getting into the hands of children.”
On at least 32 states they have certain regulations regarding intoxicating cannabis products.
Follow the OCJ reporter Megan Henry in Bluesky.
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