Adult-Use is Here: When Can Ohioans Buy Cannabis? 

Since the adult use cannabis law went into effect earlier this month, confusion abounds among citizens and businesses about how and where Ohioans can use it. MedicateOH reports on the way legal marijuana is changing criminal law in the Buckeye state, including the groundbreaking first Ohio appellate case to recognize a paroled medical marijuana patient’s rights.

No Place to Buy

Despite legalization, there is still no place to legally buy cannabis for regular citizens. Registered medical marijuana patients have been able to access state dispensaries since 2019. Adult-use consumers will get the first chance to access state dispensaries in late 2024.

According to the new law, citizens may also grow cannabis plants at home and can do that now. They cannot resell what they grow. Cannabis consumption is only legal for adults within their private residences. No public places may allow public consumption, per Ohio’s smoking ban.

Updates to Ohio’s Cannabis Programs

The adult use cannabis law stands currently as it was written and codified as Chapter 3780 of the Ohio Revised Code. The medical marijuana program’s website is no longer under the Board of Pharmacy. All details about both the MMJ program and Adult-Use program can now be found at https://com.ohio.gov/divisions-and-programs/cannabis-control/

James V. Canepa was announced as the first superintendent of the Division of Cannabis Control, the Ohio Department of Commere last week. Canepa is advising the Medical Marijuana Control Program on rulemaking options related to Issue 2. Canepa steps into the role on January 1. We expect to learn more about proposed changes to the medical marijuana program and adult use program after that time. 

Legislative discussion and rulemaking regarding the adult-use program and the continuation of the medical marijuana program will continue into the new year. The coming weeks may bring more hearings on HB354 and Sub.HB86, or additional legislation that might include bits and pieces of previous legislation proposed. These may include:

S.B.9

What is the status of the bill? As of 5/16/23 – Dead on the House Floor

• Primary Sponsors: Senator Stephen A. Huffman (R) and Senator Kirk Schuring (R)
• What Does SB9 do?
• Creates the Division of Marijuana Control (DMC) within the Department of Commerce for the purpose of overseeing Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Program.  
• Transfers the portions of the Medical Marijuana Program currently overseen by the Board of Pharmacy to DMC, including registration of patients and the licensure and oversight of dispensaries.  
• Establishes the Medical Marijuana Oversight Commission to develop and oversee DMC.  
• Expands the types of medical conditions that are eligible for treatment with medical marijuana.  
• Requires DMC to implement a merit-based system for reviewing applications.  
• Requires DMC to endeavor to achieve a ratio of at least one licensed retail dispensary per 1,000 registered patients up to the first 300,000 registered patients and then adding additional retail dispensaries on an as-needed basis.  
• Requires, within 90 days of the bill’s effective date, DMC to issue dispensary licenses to all cultivators that meet the relevant requirements.  
• Prohibits a new retail dispensary from being opened within one mile of an already existing dispensary.  
• Allows licensed dispensaries to advertise, on social media or otherwise, without receiving prior approval from DMC.  
• Allows licensed dispensaries to display products on advertisements and within the dispensary. 
• Requires DMC to establish a new cultivator license for stand-alone processors.
• Creates two levels of cultivator licenses, with level I cultivating up to 50,000 square feet and level II cultivating up to 15,000 square feet.  
• Enables cultivators to request an expansion of their cultivated area, with level I being able to cultivate up to 100,000 square feet and level II up to 20,000 square feet.  
• Authorizes a level II cultivation license holder to receive a processor license.  
• Allows marijuana products that fail laboratory testing or that falls outside of typical testing results to be retested.
• Allows tested samples to be sold.  
• Expands the permissible forms of medical marijuana that may be dispensed to include pills, capsules and suppositories, oral pouches, oral strips, oral or topical sprays, salves, lotions, or similar items, and inhalers.
• Increases the permissible tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content of extracts, from not more than 70% to 90%.
• Enables physicians to recommend medical marijuana via telemedicine.
• Requires that the medical director of a dispensary be certified to recommend medical marijuana and authorizes the medical director to do so.  
• Replaces interstate reciprocity agreements with a foreign patient database.

H.B.168

What is the status of the bill? As of 5/16/23 – Dead on the House Floor

• Primary Sponsors: 
• Representative Jamie Callender (R)
• Representative Casey Weinstein (D) 

• What Does this Bill do?

• Establishes the Division of Marijuana Control in the Department of Commerce
• Add methods of administration to OMMCP
• Gives Ohioans 21 years of age or older the right to consume cannabis for recreation
• Enacts an expunge and release program
• Loosens regulations on dispensaries
• Includes advertising
• Allows for Home Grow
• Adds qualifying conditions to medical program
• Enacts a Tax Levy

H.B.341

What is the status of the bill? 12/6/23 – Referred to House Finance Committee

• Primary Sponsor: Gary Click (R)
• To amend sections 3780.23, 3780.25, and 3780.30 of the Revised Code in order to adjust tax funds under Issue 2.
• The substance abuse research and education fund; 
• The substance abuse addiction and recovery fund; 
• The law enforcement cannabis training fund;
•  Nineteen and two-fifths per cent (not 36%) to the cannabis social equity and jobs fund to be used to implement the requirements of section 3780.19 of the Revised Code; 
• Nineteen and two-fifths per cent (not 36%) to the host community cannabis fund for the benefit of municipal corporations or townships that have adult use dispensaries, and the municipal corporations or townships may use such funds for any approved purpose. 
• Nineteen and two-fifths per cent (not 25%) to the substance abuse research and addiction education fund to support the efforts of the department of mental health and addiction services to alleviate substance and opiate abuse and related research and education in the state
• Nineteen and two-fifths per cent to the substance abuse addiction and recovery fund to support the efforts of the department of mental health and addiction services to provide and fund addiction recovery services, including the operation of the toll-free number authorized under section 3780.30 of the Revised Code;
•  Nineteen and two-fifths per cent to the law enforcement cannabis training fund. The attorney general shall use money in the fund to award grants to political subdivisions, as defined in section 2744.01 of the Revised Code, for the purpose of supporting law enforcement training efforts, including for the support of continuing professional training for peace officers required under section 109.803 of the Revised Code, or to pay for administrative expenses related to marijuana offenses.
• Removes the following language:  “A legislative authority of a municipal corporation or a board of township trustees is prohibited from: (1) Adopting an ordinance or resolution limiting research related to marijuana conducted at a state university, academic medical center, or private research and development organization as part of a research protocol approved by an institutional review board or equivalent entity; (2) Levying any tax, fee, or charge on adult use cannabis operators, their owners or their property which is not generally charged on other businesses in the municipal corporation or township; (3) Prohibiting or limiting home grow otherwise authorized under this chapter; and (4) Prohibiting or restricting an activity that is authorized by this chapter.”

Sub.HB86 and HB354

Sub.HB86 was referred to the House Rules and Reference Committee before Holiday. Read more about Sub.HB86 here. 

HB354 is currently assigned to the House Finance Committee. Read more about HB354 here. 

What happens next? 

We are awaiting the General Assembly’s return from Holiday Break. The House is scheduled to be back in Session January 10, 2024. Both the House and the Senate will be back in Session January 24, 2024. Hearings for any of these bills can happen once these legislators return from Holiday, however, the two bills with the most momentum are Sub.HB86 and HB354. The other bills may not ever go anywhere and will die on the floor. Anything those bills were looking to accomplish could possibly be amended into one of the bills that are active, but only time will tell. 

Gov. Mike DeWine stated publicly that marijuana being legal with no place to buy it, “doesn’t make a lot of sense.” He added, “there are huge, huge, huge problems connected with this, so we want the legislature to deal with it.” 

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted added,“They [legislators] have a responsibility to take action on this and they have just walked away without fulfilling that responsibility.”

Additional News

A first appellate victory for a medical marijuana patient on probation in Ohio paves the way for more lenient laws now that all adults may use cannabis in Ohio. Said the appellate’s attorney, David V. Patton of The Patton Law Firm in Solon Ohio, “I think the case is important because it is a rebuke to those Ohio judges who hate medical maijuana and refuse to recognize and enforce Ohio’s MMJ laws. Also, to my knowledge, this is the first appellate Ohio case that recognized MMJ patients’ rights for MMJ patients who are on probation.” 

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