DeWine says he will sign the anti-marijuana, hemp bill
Gov. Mike DeWine reassured anti-marijuana and anti-hemp Ohioans by saying that he will sign a bill that would restrict the sale of most hemp products and marijuana.
DeWine, a Republican, said that children would not be able to access “juiced-up hemp” after he signs Senate Bill 56. As of right now, children can allegedly buy hemp in convenience stores and gas stations, and DeWine said this era of the “wild, wild West” will be over, Cleveland.com reported.
“To me, it’s a major, major victory, and it’s a long time coming. But it’s a major victory, I think, for kids in the state. There’s going to be some regulation. They won’t be able to have juiced-up hemp gummies. They won’t be able to walk into a gas station and an 11-year-old buy this stuff,” he said, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
DeWine has been very adamant about banning “intoxicating hemp,” as Ohio.News previously reported.
“It’s really become a problem in Ohio; it’s become a problem across the country,” DeWine said during the press conference.
He then once again brought up that children can buy hemp without even knowing what it is, thinking that it is just candy.
“They do it on purpose; they do it to attract kids,” he said in his briefing. “Intoxicating hemp is dangerous.”
In response to the announcement of the anti-hemp executive order, members of a group advocating for “health-conscious alternatives instead of pharmaceuticals” sued to block the bill from becoming law.
Titan Logistics Group, Fumee Smoke & Vape, and Invicta Nutraceuticals, members of the Ohio Healthy Alternatives Association, filed the lawsuit in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.
“Governor DeWine’s actions are a clear usurpation of the Legislature’s power,” they said in the complaint. “The public interest will be served by preventing a sitting governor from taking unilateral, unlawful action anytime the Legislature does not timely take action he/she requests.”
The hemp advocates also said that DeWine cannot regulate the product because “there is no evidence that hemp products pose an imminent threat to public health.”
Soon after that, Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Carl Aveni issued an order, thus pausing DeWine’s hemp ban. To this day, the ban on that prior order remains in place, with Aveni recently extending it.
After that, the House passed a measure to add hemp to Ohio’s marijuana laws. Despite the pleas from the pro-marijuana groups, the state Senate also passed the bill and sent it to DeWine.
