Ohio Republicans Drop Last-Minute Effort To Derail Voter-Approved Pot Legalization

Marijuana legalization took effect today in Ohio, despite a last-minute attempt to override key parts of that voter-approved policy. The failure of that effort suggests that the Republicans who control the state legislature recognized the political perils of so blatantly defying voters’ wishes.

Ohio, where legislators authorized medical use of marijuana in 2016, became the 24th state to legalize recreational use a month ago, when 57 percent of voters said yes to Issue 2. As of today, that ballot measure makes it legal for adults 21 or older to publicly possess 2.5 ounces or less of marijuana and grow up to six plants at home. Issue 2 also envisions a state-regulated cannabis industry with retail sales taxed at 10 percent. But as an initiated statute rather than a constitutional amendment, it can be revised by a simple majority of state legislators.

Before the election, Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman (RLima) said that if voters approved Issue 2, he would “advocate for reviewing things or repealing things or changing things that are in it.” Although Huffman was not specific, a bill that the Senate General Government Committee overwhelmingly approved on Monday would have reduced the possession limit to one ounce, eliminated permission for homegrown marijuana, reduced the statewide cap on the number of retailers from 350 to 230, increased the retail tax to 15 percent, and imposed a 15 percent tax on growers. It also would have effectively recriminalized marijuana possession by banning possession of cannabis obtained outside of a state-authorized distribution system that might not be up and running until late 2024 or early 2025.

After hearing testimony against that controversial proposal on Tuesday and getting an earful from outraged constituents, the committee dramatically changed course. On Wednesday, it unanimously approved a bill that would retain Issue 2’s possession limit, preserve the home cultivation option, and allow medical marijuana dispensaries to begin serving the recreational market in the near future, perhaps within a few months. The bill, which passed the Senate by a 282 vote, also goes beyond Issue 2 by requiring expungement of criminal records involving low-level marijuana possession.

During “the last three or four days,” committee chair Michael Rulli (RYoungstown) said, “a lot of the public has reached out to probably every single one of our senators with thousands of emails and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of calls. I think the people have spoken.” Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who also opposed Issue 2, called the Senate-approved legislation “a very, very good bill,” saying, “We have an obligation to follow the will of the people.”

The amended Senate bill no longer includes a cultivation tax, but it still would raise the retail tax by 50 percent, meaning the state would be collecting 15 percent in addition to standard state and local sales taxes thataverage 7.24 percent. And unlike Issue 2, the bill would allow local governments to impose their own taxes, up to 3 percent.

Those additional tax burdens seem inconsistent with Republicans’ professed goal of “stamping out the black market,” as Sen. Rob McColley (RFindlay) put it. “It’s an imperative that this thing get passed,” DeWine said. “What we don’t want is a situation where the black market grows.” Yet high taxes are one of the main factors that have made it difficult for state-licensed marijuana suppliers to compete with untaxed and unregulated dealers in states such as California.

In addition to the Senate bill, the Ohio House of Representatives is considering legislation that would restrict advertising, impose a 10 percent tax on growers’ gross receipts, and bar people from “aggregating their home grow plants into a single location, in essence creating an unofficial cultivation facility.” That bill, sponsored by Rep. Jamie Callender (RConcord), also would nix an Issue 2 provision that allows adults to share up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana “without remuneration.” In effect, the Marijuana Policy Project’s Karen O’Keefe complains, the bill “recriminalizes passing a joint.”