Intoxicating cannabis products and various sweets at a press conference on October 8, 2025 (Photo by Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal).
The Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would make changes to the state’s marijuana laws and add regulations for intoxicating cannabis products.
Ohio Senate Bill No. 56, which is in its 18th version, passed by a vote of 86 to 8. The bill returns to the Senate for approval.
Four Republicans – State Representatives. Tim Barhorst, Levi Dean, Jennifer Gross and DJ Swearingen – voted against the bill. Three Democrats also voted against the bill – state Reps. Christine Cockley, Ismail Mohamed and Desiree Tims.
Senate passed the bill in Februarybut the House made significant changes, most notably adding provisions regarding intoxicating cannabis. State Sen. Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City, introduced the bill in January.
“I’ve heard for a long time throughout this process from people in the cannabis industry: ‘regulate us like marijuana, regulate us like marijuana.’ And that was the focus of this bill.” mentioned condition Representative Brian Stewart, R-Ashville.
The 2018 Farm Bill says hemp can be grown legally if it contains less than 0.3% THC.
“I think we all agreed that this was not the goal of hemp legislation at the federal level or here in Ohio, but we had to do something to protect children from these products,” said state Rep. Tex Fischer, R-Boardman. “This legislation closes these loopholes to ensure that only more than 21 people will be able to access and purchase these products.”
Only a licensed cannabis dispensary would be able to sell intoxicating cannabis products to adults 21 years of age and older. Dispensaries will have to meet testing, advertising and packaging standards. A 10% tax will be added to the sale of intoxicating cannabis.
“This bill creates a legal path for the sale of regulated, licensed, tested, safely grown and intoxicating cannabis products and a limited number of cannabis dispensaries,” Stewart said.
The bill would limit the number of busy cannabis dispensaries to 400. The bill would allow certain cannabis dispensaries to be grandfathered in if they sold intoxicating cannabis products on or before August 30 and sales of the cannabis products exceeded 80% of their total sales in 2024 or 12 months before the bill takes effect.
However, if, due to the grandfathering provision, there are more than 400 grandfathered dispensaries, the Division of Marijuana Control will not be able to issue more licensees until the number of grandfathered dispensaries drops below 400.
Gross, who voted against the bill, said it violated federal law. She also said she has heard from five companies in her district that the bill is “effectively killing large swaths of the cannabis industry in Ohio.”
“It is right to remove packaging that dangerously attracts children, enforce age restrictions and limit advertising to younger generations,” Gross said. “But this bill is not ready yet… This bill is taking an ax to these small businesses.”
The bill defines an intoxicating cannabis product as containing more than 0.5 milligrams of delta-9 THC per serving, 2 milligrams of delta-9 THC per package, or 0.5 milligrams of total non-delta-9 THC per package.
THC-containing drinks are also included in the bill. A bar or restaurant will be able to sell 5-milligram THC drinks to customers to drink on-site, while a store will be able to sell 10-milligram THC drinks to take away.
“I think this sets the right tone for a sensible, fair and pro-business regulatory system, while maintaining that these products and consumers should be safe and should only be available to adults over the age of 21,” Fischer said.
Under this bill, the Division of Marijuana Control of the Ohio Department of Commerce would be responsible for regulating intoxicating cannabis products, and the Division of Alcohol Control of the Department of Commerce would be responsible for regulating products containing THC. drinks.
Jim Higdon, co-founder of Cornbread Hemp in Kentucky, which sells its products in more than 300 retail stores in Ohio, called the bill “by far the strangest… in all the states that passed cannabis laws this year.”
“This bill appears to prohibit the sale of cannabis edibles containing more than 2 mg of THC per package in all grocery and convenience stores, while legalizing beverages containing 10 mg of THC in the same stores.” Higdon said in a statement. “It’s hard to see how this makes sense when all these products should simply be age-restricted and taxed accordingly.”
Bill”“fundamentally different” from the one that came from the Senate earlier this year, said House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima.
“My number one priority is to solve this problem,” he said. “My priorities with this bill are certainly public safety, limiting access certainly to minors and ensuring there is some regulatory process.”
Ohio Governor Mike 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 granted the 14-day deadline momentary restraining order on DeWine’s executive order. The next hearing in this case is scheduled for October 28.
Marijuana is changing
SB 56 would reduce THC levels in adult-use marijuana extracts from a maximum of 90% to a maximum of 70%, cap THC level in flowers for adult exploit up to 35%limit the number of open marijuana dispensaries and ban smoking in most public places.
This would keep home growing in Ohio unchanged, with a limit of six plants per person and 12 plants per dwelling.
Ohioans passed a citizen-initiated bill legalize recreational marijuana in 2023 with 57% of the votes and sales started in August 2024. Ohio recreational marijuana sales exceeded $702.5 million in the first year. Ohio lawmakers can change the law because it was passed as a citizen initiative, not a constitutional amendment.
“Virtually everything that Ohioans can do today under the statute that was initiated will be just as legal once this bill is passed,” Stewart said.
One change, however, is the ban on smoking in most public places.
“Our voters … have made it clear that we do not want every downtown Ohio smelling like a Grateful Dead concert.” Stewart said.
The bill would provide 36% of revenue from adult-use marijuana sales to municipalities and municipalities with recreational marijuana dispensaries, which was originally included in the 2023 voter-passed bill.
Instead of having low-level marijuana convictions automatically expunged, people could also apply to have their marijuana convictions expunged.
“If you smoked a joint at the age of 18 in 2002, you should not be prevented from accessing housing, employment or public services at the age of 40 because you got into trouble at the age of 18 for doing something that is now completely legal,” she said. Ohio House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati.
Follow a Capital Journal reporter Megan Henry in Bluesky.
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