State Reps. Jamie Callender, R-Concord, left, and Tex Fischer, R-Boardman, right. (Photo: Morgan Trau, WEWS.)
The Ohio House of Representatives once again shielded marijuana and “intoxicating” hemp policy from Senate restrictions after the deal went up in smoke Wednesday night.
The Senate adjourned before the House could determine whether it had even obtained enough votes.
The hammer struck for what may be the last time before Ohio lawmakers go on summer break.
And their main priority was to be marijuana and hemp policy.
An agreement was reached to ban intoxicating cannabis products with low THC levels, which can be purchased at gas stations and tobacco shops.
Marijuana policy wasn’t expected to change much until Wednesday’s last-minute decision.
“The Senate has insisted on adding certain elements to the bill that are simply unacceptable to many members of the House,” said Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord.
They’ve hit a roadblock – a roadblock the size of Jamie Callender.
The Cleveland-area Republican calls last-minute amendments to the bill “unconstitutional.”
“The language they put forward that we had to protect from law enforcement searches and seizures based on being a ‘known user’ or a ‘known consumer,’” Callender said.
Democratic state Sen. Bill DeMora, R-Columbus, said the recent law would make it illegal to have marijuana in a car in some cases.
The changes could also threaten jobs if someone tests positive for THC.
It would also not include money to cover up the damage.
“Most Republicans in the House and Senate don’t care about the will of the voters, and that’s the biggest problem,” DeMora said.
But Ohio Senate President Rob McColley said their focus was on public safety.
“The sale of many of the products that we have already mentioned are really concerning have the potential to harm children,” McColley said in a previous meeting.
State Rep. Tex Fischer, R-Boardman, is working with Callender to protect access to hemp products while regulating them.
The duo has been opposing the leadership for months.
The president argued that he and the Senate had done their job on this issue.
McColley said he did not intend to publicly disclose the differences.
“I don’t think that’s fair for negotiations that should be conducted in the spirit of a conference committee,” he said. “The Senate has made significant, significant concessions to get to this point. We even made further concessions three times after we thought we had an agreement.”
But that’s not the end.
“We will hold a session in December if necessary,” said Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima.
But for a enormous group of Republicans and Democrats in the House, the Senate’s demands are unreasonable.
“The Senate always has the ability to come back and withdraw,” Callendar said.
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This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and are published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication on other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
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