Overview
- The House voted 52–34 around 1 a.m. Thursday to pass an amended S.B. 56 and sent it back to the Senate, which adjourned and plans to take it up during a December session.
- The bill would confine most intoxicating hemp products to licensed marijuana dispensaries above a 0.4 milligram total THC-per-container threshold, allow 5 milligram THC beverages through Dec. 31, 2026, and remove sales from gas stations, bars and grocers starting in 2027.
- Marijuana provisions include lowering caps to 70% THC for extracts and 35% for flower, maintaining home grow limits, directing 36% of tax revenue to communities with dispensaries, restricting public smoking, and allowing expungement of some low-level possession cases.
- Lawmakers cite a new federal change signed by President Trump that sets a 0.4 milligram total THC-per-container limit with a one-year phase-in, leaving states to set their own frameworks before federal enforcement begins in November 2026.
- Gov. Mike DeWine’s October emergency order to ban intoxicating hemp remains temporarily stayed by a Franklin County court, and businesses warn that broad restrictions could cost jobs while negotiations continue.