A Republican lawmaker, Senator Stephen Huffman, has introduced legislation to significantly amend the state’s voter-approved adult-use marijuana legalization law.
Lawmakers are reportedly fast-tracking Senate Bill 36, which seeks to make dozens of changes to Ohio’s law. Fifty-seven percent of Ohioans voted for the law in 2023.
Changes proposed by SB 36 include raising taxes on the retail sale of cannabis products, imposing new restrictions on home-cultivation, setting an arbitrary cap on the total number of retailers allowed statewide, and providing new penalties for adults who share their cannabis with other consumers.
This legislative effort marks the second time since the law’s passage that Republican lawmakers have sought to either repeal or amend many of its provisions. In late 2023, Senate members introduced separate legislation to gut much of the law. That plan was met with resounding resistance from voters, pundits, and members of House leadership. (A NORML action alert opposing the effort was shared with lawmakers over 7,500 times in 72 hours.) Senators ultimately advanced a substitute version of the bill, but House members refused to consider it.
In 2024, regulators implemented the law as written. Adult use marijuana sales began last August.
NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano expressed concern that lawmakers’ unwillingness to accept marijuana legalization election outcomes is becoming a disturbing trend.
“In a healthy democracy, those with competing visions on public policy vie for voters’ support and abide by their voting decisions. However, it is becoming clear that those who oppose marijuana policy reform would rather take voters out of the equation altogether,” Armentano said. “Whether or not one personally supports or opposes cannabis legalization, these cynical and undemocratic tactics ought to be a cause of deep concern.”
In 2021, lawmakers successfully petitioned courts in Mississippi and South Dakota to nullify statewide marijuana legalization election results. Following this past election, a former state senator in Nebraska has filed multiple lawsuits seeking to nullify two voter-approved medical cannabis access initiatives.
Earlier this week in Texas, city council members in the towns of Bastrop and Lockhart decided to set aside voter-approved municipal measures depenalizing low-level marijuana possession. (Their decisions followed legal actions taken by state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is suing localities who seek to deprioritize marijuana enforcement.) In Colorado Springs, council members also decided this week to place a question on the April ballot asking voters to overturn the outcomes of a pair of November marijuana initiatives.
NORML has an alert and pre-written letter opposing Senate Bill 36 available online.
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