Ohio activists are launching a campaign to hit the brakes on a bill the governor recently signed to scale back the state’s voter-approved marijuana law and ban the sale of consumable hemp products outside of licensed cannabis dispensaries.
Ohioans for Cannabis Choice said on Friday that they’d be collecting signatures for the statewide referendum, which would pause the implementation of SB 56 until voters got a say at the next regular or general election.
Gov. Mike DeWine (R) has been adamant about cracking down on the unregulated intoxicating hemp market, but the legislation he signed would do more than restrict the sale of cannabinoid products to dispensaries.
It would also recriminalize certain marijuana activity that was legalized under the ballot initiative voters approved in 2023, and it’d additionally remove anti-discrimination protections for cannabis consumers that were enacted under that law.
The governor also used his line-item veto powers to cancel a section of the bill that would have delayed the implementation of the ban on hemp beverages.
Advocates and stakeholders strongly protested the now-enacted legislation, arguing that it undermines the will of voters and would effectively eradicate the state’s hemp industry, as there are low expectations that adults will opt
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