COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Sweeping changes to Ohio’s voter-approved cannabis law are slated to take effect Friday.
Senate Bill 56 will introduce changes like limits on intoxicating hemp and charges for transporting cannabis outside of a car’s trunk or ingesting cannabis in public, including edibles that have been legal to use in public spaces for two years. Ohioans for Cannabis Choice had tried to stop the law from taking effect through a referendum petition but ended their campaign Wednesday. A legal request to pause the bill from taking effect was denied Thursday.
Ohio’s previous cannabis laws were enshrined by voters in November 2023, with 57% of Ohioans approving a basic framework for legal recreational marijuana. Ohioans for Cannabis Choice said S.B. 56 defies voters’ will by introducing new limits to cannabis laws and pursued a referendum. See previous coverage of S.B. 56 in the video player above.
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With enough valid signatures, the referendum petition would have paused S.B. 56 from going into effect and have Ohioans vote on whether to implement the law. On Wednesday, Dennis Willard, spokesperson for Ohioans for Cannabis Choice, said the group was unable to collect enough signatures in time. Between Feb. 3 and Thursday, the group needed to collect 250,000 valid signatures from across the state…