Fact-Checked: Why Trust Rittgers Rittgers & Nakajima Last week the Ohio Senate passed Senate Bill 56 that could significantly alter the state’s recreational marijuana laws even though the measure legalizing recreational marijuana passed with the approval of 57% of voters. To better understand how the Senate’s bill would alter the State’s legalization of recreational cannabis November 2023, we have provided some of the more significant provisions of the Ohio’s existing recreational cannabis laws and the restrictions the Senate now seeks to enact:
THC Content Limits
- Existing Law: Permits cannabis extracts with THC content up to 90%.
- Senate Bill 56: Proposes reducing the maximum THC content in cannabis extracts from 90% to 70%. Additionally, it limits THC content for edibles to 10 milligrams per serving and 100 milligrams per package.
Home Cultivation
- Existing Law: Allows an individual to grow up to six plants, with a maximum of 12 plants per household where two or more adult-use consumers reside.
- Senate Bill 56: Seeks to reduce the maximum number of home-grown marijuana plants in a single residence from 12 to 6 plants.
Public Consumption
- Existing Law: Prohibits smoking, vaporizing, or using any other combustible adult-use cannabis product while in a vehicle, motor vehicle, streetcar, trackless trolley, bike, watercraft, or aircraft.
- Senate Bill 56: Strictly prohibits smoking marijuana in public, limiting consumption to private residences.
Transfer of Cannabis
- Existing Law: Allows individuals to transfer up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana to another person, provided no compensation is involved.
- Senate Bill 56: Prohibits any non-sanctioned transfer of cannabis between individuals, regardless of age or compensation.
Storage Requirements
- Existing Law: Does not specify storage requirements for recreational marijuana.
- Senate Bill 56: Mandates that recreational marijuana be stored in its original packaging.
Program Administration
- Existing Law: Maintains separate administrative structures for medical and adult-use marijuana programs.
- Senate Bill 56: Merges Ohio’s medical and adult-use marijuana programs under the Division of Cannabis Control, aiming for consistent requirements regarding testing, packaging, labeling, and advertising, especially those related to protecting children.
Senate Bill 56 was passed by the Sensate along party lines. It’s now heading to the Ohio House, and it is expected that the House will introduce its own version of the bill. Whether the House’s version will further restrict, or alternatively protect Ohio’s current cannabis laws, is still unclear. We will continue monitor the bill’s progression through the Ohio legislature and should there be a resolution that is sent to the Governor’s desk, we will repost this blog with the changes, if any, to Ohio’s recreational cannabis laws.