“The referendum effort is about putting profits from unregulated intoxicating hemp and gas station weed sales above people.”
By Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal
Ohioans for Cannabis Choice can start collecting signatures to get a referendum on the ballot to block a law that will change the state’s voter-passed recreational marijuana law and ban intoxicating hemp products. But there are others in the industry that don’t agree with the new effort.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost approved summary language this week for the proposed referendum that would repeal Ohio Senate Bill 56, set to take effect March 20. Gov. Mike DeWine (R) signed the bill into law on December 19.
Yost’s approval comes after he initially rejected the language due to “omissions and misstatements,” but Ohioans for Cannabis Choice made changes to the language and re-submitted the petition.
“My certification…should not be construed as an affirmation of the enforceability and constitutionality of the referendum petition,” Yost wrote in the letter certifying the petition.
Ohioans voted to legalize marijuana in 2023, recreational sales started in August 2024, and sales totaled more than $836 million in 2025.
The new law will reduce the THC levels in adult-use marijuana extracts from a maximum of 90 percent down to a maximum of 70 percent, cap THC levels in adult-use flower to 35 percent and prohibit smoking in most public places.
It prohibits possessing marijuana in anything outside of its original packaging and criminalizes bringing legal marijuana from another state back to Ohio. The legislation also requires drivers to store marijuana in the trunk of their car while driving.
The Ohio Cannabis Coalition opposes the possible referendum.
“S.B. 56 upholds the will of Ohio voters by preserving a safe, regulated adult-use cannabis market while closing dangerous loopholes that allowed untested, intoxicating hemp products and out-of-state marijuana to flood Ohio shelves,” said OHCANN Executive Director David Bowling.
Ohio’s marijuana customers won’t notice any changes under the new law, said Pete Nischt, vice president of compliance and communications for Klutch Cannabis, which has dispensaries in Northeast Ohio.
“The person that is currently accessing the legal marijuana market in Ohio is not going to see any difference after the effective date [of S.B. 56],” he said.
The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, the group behind Issue 2 on the 2023 ballot, also opposes the attempted referendum.
“S.B. 56 is a common-sense refinement of Issue 2,” the coalition said in a statement. “S.B. 56 honors the will of Ohio voters while protecting public health. The referendum effort is about putting profits from unregulated intoxicating hemp and gas station weed sales above people.”
Wesley Bryant, owner of 420 Craft Beverage in Cleveland, supports the referendum effort, saying the legislation is “an attack on consumer rights.”
“Ohioans have been buying these products because they relieve stress, help people sleep at night, give relief to veterans with PTSD, and help some people who suffer from addiction,” Bryant said in a statement. “S.B. 56 is mean-spirited and rife with unintended bad consequences, and we are going to give voters a chance to say no to this harmful legislation.”
Joey Ellwood, a hemp farmer in Tuscarawas County, called the law government overreach.
“The people spoke in 2023 when they overwhelmingly voted to legalize cannabis, and we are going to allow them to speak once again this November by voting no on S.B. 56,” Ellwood said in a statement.
Ohioans for Cannabis Choice needs to collect 6 percent of the total number of votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election (248,092) to get on the Nov. 3 ballot. The group will also need 3 percent of an individual county’s gubernatorial turnout in 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties.
Organizers will have 90 days from the date the governor filed the law with the secretary of state to collect the required signatures.
The last referendum that passed in Ohio was when voters overturned an anti-collective bargaining law in 2011.
This story was first published by Ohio Capital Journal.
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