THC-containing beverages for sale at Savor Growl in Columbus, Ohio, October 13, 2025 (Photo by Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal).
Opposing Ohio Republican lawmakers’ attempts to ban intoxicating cannabis products and change the state’s voter-passed recreational marijuana law failed to collect enough signatures to put a referendum on the ballot this year and block it.
Ohioans for Cannabis Choice does not say how many signatures they have collected. They had to collect 248 092 signatures, and also had to collect 3% turnout for single county governors in 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties to get on the November 3 ballot.
“Unfortunately, we were unable to exceed the shortened period to give voters a chance to reject the government’s excessive demands,” he added. Dennis Willard, spokesman for Ohioans at Cannabis Choice – wrote in the statement.
Initially, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost rejected the summary of the referendum in January, but approved it in early February after Ohioans for Cannabis Choice made changes to the language.
This was the plan on Thursday, submit the collected signatures to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose so he can verify them. Since then, the deadline for submitting signatures has passed Ohio Senate Bill No. 56 comes into force on Friday and will ban intoxicating cannabis products – including THC-containing drinks.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed the bill into law in December after urging lawmakers for nearly two years to do something about intoxicating cannabis products.
At the federal level, Congress voted in November to ban products containing 0.4 milligrams of total THC per package when it voted to reopen the government. Previously, the 2018 Farm Bill stated that hemp could be grown legally if it contained less than 0.3% THC.
The federal hemp ban comes with a one-year delay, but states can create their own regulatory framework before then.
Ohio’s new law will change Ohio’s marijuana laws by reducing THC levels in adult-use marijuana extracts from a maximum of 90% to a maximum of 70%, limiting THC levels in adult-use flower to 35%, and banning smoking in most public places.
It would prohibit possession of marijuana outside its original packaging and criminalize bringing legal marijuana from another state back into Ohio. The legislation also requires drivers to keep marijuana in the trunk of their car while driving.
“Marijuana will be criminalized again in Ohio, businesses will close, workers will lose their jobs, and consumers will be denied the right to products they should be able to purchase.” Willard said in a statement.
Ohioans voted yes legalize marijuana in 2023recreational sales started in August 2024, and sales amounted to over $836 million in 2025.
“Voters overwhelmingly supported cannabis legalization in 2023.” Willard said in a statement. “It only makes sense that Governor DeWine and state lawmakers should go back and ask these voters if they want to ban hemp and recriminalize marijuana. We know and our elected leaders know, the answer would be a resounding no.”
Ohio Hemp Coalition i Ohio Cannabis Coalition and Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol — the group behind Prop. 2 on the 2023 ballot — opposed the attempt to hold a referendum.
Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said he wasn’t surprised the referendum didn’t get enough signatures.
“There would basically be two sectors of the same community, as we say, hemp and marijuana producers fighting each other,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “I don’t think it was financially viable for them to have a referendum on this bill.”
Referendums are sporadic, and the last one held in Ohio was in 2011, when voters overturned a law banning collective bargaining.
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