Ohio lawmakers have advanced a bill that would scale back the state’s voter-approved marijuana law—with new amendments to ban the sale of hemp products that fall outside of a newly revised federal definition for the crop, unless they’re sold at marijuana dispensaries.
After the House revised the Senate-passed legislation from Sen. Stephen Huffman (R), removing certain controversial provisions, the Senate quickly rejected those changes late last month. That led to the appointment of a bicameral conference committee to resolve outstanding differences between the chambers.
That panel approved a newly negotiated form of the bill on Wednesday evening, which then passed the House early on Thursday morning. The Senate doesn’t meet again until next month, but if that chamber follows suit, the bill will move to the governor’s desk.
To advocates’ disappointment, the current version of the measure retains earlier Senate-passed language recriminalizing certain marijuana-related activity that was legalized under a ballot measure voters approved in 2023.
“I cannot support it because it fundamentally undermines the will of the voters and what they said that they wanted,” Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D) said at the conference committee meeting. “They said we need to stop punishing adults for responsible use. They voted
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