An Ohio campaign is making a final push for signatures to put a referendum on the November ballot that would repeal a law rolling back the state’s marijuana law and ban the sale of consumable hemp products outside of dispensaries.
With about a week until a signature turn-in deadline, Ohioans for Cannabis Choice is calling on supporters to spread the word and ensure that they’re able to submit the requisite 248,092 signed petitions by March 19 to secure ballot placement.
If the petition drive is successful, the implementation of the cannabis law enacted by Gov. Mike DeWine (R) after the state legalized adult-use marijuana would be put on hold until voters could have their say. If activists fall short, the controversial SB 56 would take effect immediately after the signature submission deadline.
Dozens of Ohio businesses—including smoke shops, breweries and local retailers—are hosting petitions on site for voters to sign. Ohioans for Cannabis Choice has an interactive map showing those locations, and it’s urging supporters to promote that resource and urge others to join in the push to repeal SB 56.
“This grassroots support is unprecedented in Ohio ballot initiatives and referendums, and we’re not done growing. But we are at a pivotal point in the campaign,” it said in an action alert last week, adding that the law that’d take effect without voter intervention would mean “the hemp products you are selling as businesses and purchasing as consumers, and supporting as Ohio voters WILL BE ILLEGAL and must immediately come off the shelves.”
“Yes, like you, we are as mad as hell at this government overreach, this attack on consumers’ rights, and this potentially devastating blow to 6,000 small businesses and their employees,” it said.
The governor, for his part, 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.
DeWine 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. That action is being challenged in a lawsuit filed by breweries.
Meanwhile, the referendum campaign working to block the law’s implementation has been in a time crunch since first floating the referendum late last year, only receiving approval to start collecting signatures for ballot placement last month after state officials initially rejected an earlier version of the petition that they said included factual errors.
Making the ballot is only part of the battle, though. And while a majority of voters approved marijuana legalization—and polls have indicated that most residents are against aggressive restrictions on hemp sales—it remains to be seen whether the referendum would gain sufficient support in November to prevent an industry upheaval.
The governor separately stirred controversy last month after telling critics of the law rolling back the state’s marijuana market and criminalizing intoxicating hemp products to stop “whining” and instead “be happy with their victory at the polls.”
When the governor said that “proponents” of the referendum should take the win and accept the policy changes that are being implemented under SB 56, he wasn’t necessarily referring to the broader marijuana industry, as many stakeholders support reining in the consumable hemp market.
DeWine’s office and a senator who led the charge to pass the bill have previously criticized the cannabis referendum campaign.
A summary of the submitted referendum states that “Sections 1, 2, and 3 of Am. Sub. S. B. No. 56 enact new provisions and amend and repeal existing provisions of the Ohio Revised Code that relate to the regulation, criminalization, and taxation of cannabis products, such as the sale, use, possession, cultivation, license, classification, transport, and manufacture of marijuana and certain hemp products.”
“If a majority of the voters vote to not approve Sections 1, 2, and 3 of the Act, then the enacted changes will not take effect and the prior version of the affected laws will remain in effect,” it says.
Advocates have flagged a series of concerns with the law, pointing out, for example, that it would eliminate language in statute providing anti-discrimination protections for people who lawfully use cannabis. That includes protections meant to prevent adverse actions in the context of child custody rights, the ability to qualify for organ transplants and professional licensing.
It would also recriminalize possessing marijuana from any source that isn’t a state-licensed dispensary in Ohio or from a legal homegrow. As such, people could be charged with a crime for carrying cannabis they bought at a legal retailer in neighboring Michigan.
Additionally, it would ban smoking cannabis at outdoor public locations such as bar patios—and it would allow landlords to prohibit vaping marijuana at rented homes. Violating that latter policy, even if it involves vaping in a person’s own backyard at a rental home, would constitute a misdemeanor offense.
The legislation would also replace what had been a proposed regulatory framework for intoxicating hemp that the House had approved with a broad prohibition on sales outside marijuana dispensaries following a recent federal move to recriminalize such products.
Under the law, hemp items with more than 0.4 mg of total THC per container, or those containing synthetic cannabinoids, could no longer be sold outside of a licensed marijuana dispensary setting. That would align with a recently enacted federal hemp law included in an appropriations package signed by President Donald Trump.
The federal law imposing a ban on most consumable hemp products has a one-year implementation window, however, and it appears the Ohio legislation would take effect sooner. As passed by the legislature, a temporary regulatory program for hemp beverages would have stayed in place in Ohio until December 31, 2026, but that provision was vetoed by the governor.
The law also includes language stipulating that, if the federal government moves to legalize hemp with higher THC content, it’s the intent of the Ohio legislature to review that policy change and consider potential state-level reforms to regulate such products.
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In September, the Ohio Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) filed proposed rules to build upon the state’s marijuana legalization law, laying out plans to update regulations on labeling and packaging requirements.
Ohio retailers sold more than $1 billion worth of legal marijuana products in 2025, according to data from the state Department of Commerce (DOC).
Last March, a survey of 38 municipalities by the Ohio State University’s (OSU) Moritz College of Law found that local leaders were “unequivocally opposed” to earlier proposals that would have stripped the planned funding.
Meanwhile in Ohio, adults as of June are able to buy more than double the amount of marijuana than they were under previous limits, with state officials determining that the market can sustainably supply both medical cannabis patients and adult consumers.
Photo courtesy of Brendan Cleak.
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