Cannabis flowers contain less than 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive substance in marijuana. (Photo by Graham Stokes for the Ohio Capital Journal. Only repost photo with the original article.)
Ohio House Republicans are poised to introduce legislation that would allow stores and breweries to sell beverages containing THC, but would ban all other forms of “intoxicating cannabis products.”
Also in the proposal, shared exclusively with WEWS, cities would receive long-awaited tax revenues from the sale of marijuana in dispensaries. This comes as a court blocked Gov. Mike DeWine’s cannabis ban.
Years of negotiations on marijuana and hemp policy – with no results.
After nearly two years, DeWine took matters into his own hands last week, signing an executive order temporarily banning the employ of what he calls “intoxicating hemp,” low-level THC that can be purchased at gas stations and tobacconists. It may look like regular candy and there is no age requirement to purchase it.
“Frankly, the legislature did not take action,” DeWine said.
On October 14, a judge temporarily blocked it.
“I continue to hope that the Legislature will take action,” DeWine said.
Every legislative leader agreed that children should not have access to THC.
Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, noted the differing opinions on how marijuana and hemp should be regulated when asked why getting a caucus agreement was so hard.
“There are three groups: people who believe marijuana should be legalized and regulated… There are other people who believe cannabis products should be given the same standing as anything that happened in the statute that was initiated…” Huffman said. “And then there are people like me who are prohibitionists who don’t think it should be legalized at all and that it should be rare. I would say prohibitionists have largely lost that argument.”
The speaker tried to get the 64 other House Republicans to agree on THC legislation. Ultimately, the two chambers reached an agreement this summer, but the Senate backed out at the last minute.
Now the House is ready to try again.
“This is going to be a very thoughtful and targeted bill,” state Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord, said Friday in an exclusive interview.
Callender is the resident marijuana expert in the House of Representatives. In the amendment to Senate Bill No. 56which would overturn the immense majority of existing legislation, the novel policy allows stores and breweries to sell beverages containing THC and regulates advertising so that it does not appeal to children.
“There will be a pretty complete ban apart from drinks, but it will be a temporary ban until some rules are developed, so that will buy more time,” Callender said, adding that this is not necessarily the final version. “But in the meantime, we will be taking high-THC products off the shelves, at least temporarily.”
The act will apply not only to hemp.
“When it comes to marijuana, we will make sure that tax dollars go to local governments in the way we promised, as voters promised and as local governments expected,” Callender said.
Currently, cities where clinics are located do not receive tax revenues from sales. The House has tried to get money for them, but Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) wants to change how the money goes to the Legislature.
“The Senate has already spoken,” McColley said. “We really just have to see what the House is willing to do at this point.”
The Senate withdrew from the summer agreement in part because of the tax debate.
Asked why it is impossible to introduce a bill talking only about hemp without concepts considered controversial by the Senate, Callendar replied that it was not impossible.
“Well, I guess we can still go there if we have to,” he said. “If we put all this together, it may make it harder for the Senate to say no to some marijuana-related issues that we feel strongly about.”
Lawmakers planned to introduce an amendment to the bill this week, and the legislature hopes to bring it to the Senate floor on Wednesday.
“They can accept it or not,” Callender said. “If they don’t, it will go to the conference committee and it will force the chambers to resolve the issue.”
The Senate’s top marijuana expert, state Sen. Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City), said the House only shared the legislation with them this week.
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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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