DeWine signs the anti-marijuana, anti-hemp bill

Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday signed a measure that bans intoxicating hemp products and makes some changes to the state’s existing marijuana law.

Senate Bill 56 will take effect in 90 days.

While agreeing with the entire bill, DeWine opposed five milligrams of hemp, also known as THC, beverages being manufactured, distributed, and sold in Ohio until Dec. 31, 2026, vetoing the beverage provisions infused with hemp.

“My veto means that they cannot be sold,” DeWine told the Ohio Capital Journal. “The simplest thing, frankly, to do is to stop it right now instead of going until the date in November set by federal law.”

In his veto message, DeWine said that he thinks that THC beverages are not a good idea.

“Ohio is making good public policy by enacting its own intoxicating hemp ban earlier than federal law,” he said. “However, a carve out to allow the further sale of intoxicating hemp beverages for most of 2026 will create confusion for consumers and a lack of conformity with federal law.”

Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, told the Journal that Ohioans “got to this point because of poorly drafted federal legislation and people taking advantage of it.”

“So speculating about what the federal government may do in the future and what we may do as a result, I think, adds to the same problem that has already been created,” he said.

The bill would also reduce the THC levels in adult-use marijuana extracts from a maximum of 90% down to a maximum of 70%, cap THC levels in adult-use flower to 35%, and prohibit smoking in most public places.

The bill would also stop protecting marijuana users who are allegedly being discriminated against because others do not allow them to buy or rent houses and apartments, don’t hire them or fire them, or donate organs. The bill also allows police officers to have probable cause during traffic stops if someone has a history of using marijuana.

Additionally, Ohioans would not be allowed to possess marijuana in anything outside of its original packaging. The bill would criminalize bringing legal marijuana from another state back to Ohio.

Ohioans for Cannabis Choice said it will launch a referendum campaign, adding that the bill “forcefully denies the will” of Ohio voters.

“We believe voters will say no to government overreach, no to closing 6,000 small businesses and pink-slipping thousands of workers across the state, and no to once again re-criminalizing hemp and marijuana,” the organization’s spokesperson, Dennis Willard, told the Journal.

While Ohio becomes more strict on the issue, the federal government becomes more relaxed, with President Donald Trump reclassifying marijuana as less dangerous.