Cannabis advocates file petition to repeal new Ohio law cracking down on THC products – Signal Ohio
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A citizen’s group has filed the initial paperwork to repeal the bulk of the law Gov. Mike DeWine signed earlier this month that would ban the “intoxicating hemp” THC beverages commonly found in bars and restaurants.
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The paperwork, called a referendum petition, was filed with Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office on Monday. A group called Ohioans for Cannabis Choice described itself as fighting for the thousands of small businesses that have emerged in the intoxicating hemp industry.
“We’re saying no to SB 56 because it goes too far, and has so many unintended consequences,” Joey Ellwood, a Tuscarawas County hemp farmer, said in a statement issued by the group. “Ohioans oppose re-criminalizing cannabis, for example, making it a crime to grow more than six plants, a crime to have unauthorized paraphernalia, and a crime to buy marijuana in Michigan and bring it home. And this is just the start. Politicians in Columbus won’t stop until marijuana and hemp are completely illegal in Ohio again.”
Ellwood’s name appears on the referendum petition, along with Wesley Bryant of Berea, the owner of 420 Craft Beverages, a business that sells “intoxicating hemp” THC beverages. Andrew Greene Jr., of Miamisburg, also appears on the petition as a member of the petitioner committee.
The group submitted the petition along with at least 1,000 voter signatures, a requirement under the state’s referendum laws. The petition seeks to repeal 120 pages of the 130-page law.
The filing triggers two actions from two different state officials.
LaRose, a Republican who is the state’s top elections official, must review and verify the voter signatures within the next 10 days. This process involves checking the signatures against county voter registration records. LaRose also must check the text of the petition against the text of SB 56 to ensure they match.
Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, also will review the petition’s title and summary to determine if it is a “fair and truthful” description of SB 56’s effects. Yost’s review must be complete by Jan. 13, according to the attorney general’s website.
If officials approve the petitions, the campaign group then would have until a deadline in March to collect 248,092 voter signatures, including a minimum number from 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties.
If the group successfully collect those signatures, the law would remain on hold until a statewide repeal vote could be held in November.
Mounting a successful referendum campaign is expensive, including often hiring workers to circulate the petitions. Not every effort succeeds – as was the case earlier this year with an unsuccessful attempt to repeal Senate Bill 1, a controversial higher education law.
Republicans passed Senate Bill 56 mostly along party lines. The new law requires “intoxicating hemp” products to be sold in state dispensaries, like recreational marijuana. The bill marks the first time the industry, which emerged under a loophole in a 2018 federal law that legalized industrial hemp production, has faced state regulation.
In addition, it creates new criminal penalties around the possession of legally-purchased marijuana.
It also creates a path to expungement for low-level state marijuana convictions, and releases to cities $96.5 million in tax revenue generated from Ohio’s first years of recreational sales. State officials have previously said they lacked legal ability to distribute those funds.
Before signing the bill, DeWine vetoed a section that would have created an exemption for THC beverages to be sold in bars and restaurants until the end of next year, when a federal intoxicating hemp ban takes effect.
Notwithstanding the referendum effort, SB 56 is set to take effect in March.
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State Government and Politics Reporter
I follow state government and politics from Columbus. I seek to explain why politicians do what they do and how their decisions affect everyday Ohioans. I want to close the gap between what state leaders know and what voters know. I also enjoy trying to help people see things from a different perspective. I graduated in 2008 from Otterbein University in Westerville with a journalism degree, and have covered politics and government in Ohio since then.
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