(The Center Square) – While Ohio’s new budget has been the legislative focus in the last two weeks, lawmakers continue to push to change the rules voters approved for recreational marijuana use.
Many expected the House to pass changes earlier this month that would have cut in half the amount of home-grown marijuana allowed and given cities more power to regulate or ban recreational use.
Instead, the House Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on the Republican-led bill, pushing movement on proposed restrictions to the fall after the summer break.
The Senate passed the proposed changes in February, more than a year after voters overwhelmingly approved recreational marijuana in Ohio with specific regulations.
Senate Bill 56 has had three hearings in the House Judiciary Committee with considerable opposition from cannabis-related groups and the American Civil Liberties Union-Ohio.
The ACLU called the bill “intrusive government oversight” of personal marijuana use.
“The people of Ohio endorsed a policy to legalize and repair resoundingly. As it stands today, Sub. SB56 remains at odds with this endorsement,” Patrick Higgins, senior policy counsel for ACLU-Ohio, testified recently.
The Ohio Chamber of Commerce, however, endorsed the bill, telling lawmakers employer protections like allowing for drug-free workplaces are critical from businesses across the state.
“The OCC believes the Issue 2 statute is ambiguous as to what extent private property owners will be able to prohibit people from using, possessing, displaying, or transferring marijuana on their properties, apart from existing bans on smoking,” testified Rick Carfagna, senior vice president of the Ohio Chamber. “The OCC firmly believes that publicly accessible places such as shopping malls, restaurants and bars, amusement parks, and other large areas under private ownership should be able to limit cannabis use, possession, or transfer beyond the state’s existing smoking ban.”
The voters did not approve any of the new restrictions passed by the Senate and debated in the House that include reducing the number of plants that can be grown in a home from 12 to six, lowering the THC level from extracts from 90% to 70% and banning sharing between adults.
It would also require marijuana and paraphernalia to be transported in the back seat or trunk of a car.
Also, someone fired from their job because of marijuana use would not be eligible for unemployment.
Voters also mandated some of the tax dollars be spent on social equity and jobs programs, but the bill eliminates that provision and reduces the money spent on mental health and addiction services.
