Marijuana might be back on Ohio ballots in 2026 – WTVG
TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – There’s a push to get marijuana back on the ballot in 2026, but it’s not to add any new laws to the books. It’ll actually be a push to overturn some new regulations that the Ohio legislature and governor just put into law.
Supporters of this plan say it’s very simple. They want to will of the voters to be the law and not what politicians want.
Ohio voters approved recreational marijuana in 2023 but what voters approved isn’t the law of the land. Changes late this year by legislators removed use of some hemp products and changed the number of plants people could grow, for example.
“What we have is politicians in Columbus who think they know better than the voters,” said Dennis Willard with the cannabis petition group.
Willard is part of the group now collecting signatures for a November referendum to repeal parts of Senate Bill 56. That changed marijuana laws like use of Michigan products and forbidding certain hemp products which this group says will hurt thousands of businesses and jobs.
“The voters are going to speak again and they are going to say overwhelmingly ‘no’ to Senate Bill 56, ‘no’ to government overreach and ‘no’ to re-criminalizing cannabis products,” said Willard.
As that petition drive continues and we wait to see if it makes it to a ballot, we do know changes are coming to Michigan. It is now illegal for an Ohio resident to buy a product in Michigan and then use it in Ohio.
“I think people will not only reject that but will be angry about that,” said Willard.
If all the signatures are collected before the March date when these new rules go into effect, then supporters believe that will put all those new rules on hold until that November vote result.
This vote would not add any new language to state law. It would simply ask voters if those want to keep those most recent changes to marijuana laws on the books.
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