Ohio Senate considers recreational cannabis reform

The Ohio Senate has resurrected a proposal that overhauls the state’s relatively young recreational marijuana program, in part by raising the excise tax on all product sales from 10% to 15% (Source: “Ohio Senate looks to fast track rollback of recreational cannabis laws,” Statehouse News Bureau, Jan. 29).
 
Introduced this week by Sen. Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City), Senate Bill 56 closely mirrors a 2023 bill that cleared the chamber, merging the state’s medical and adult-use programs.
 
SB 56 strictly prohibits smoking cannabis in public, limiting Ohioans to partaking in private residences, and reduces home grow from 12 plants or less to six plants or less. It also limits how concentrated dispensaries’ THC products can be — maxing out at 35% for plant products and 70% for concentrates and extracts.
 
All related tax revenue would redirect to the state’s General Revenue Fund (GRF), unlike current law, which has pools of funds that go toward different purposes, like to local municipalities with dispensaries or to a social equity and jobs program that the bill also abolishes.