The federal provision changes the federal definition of legal hemp, excluding all hemp-derived products that contain artificial or synthesized cannabinoids and all naturally derived hemp products that contain more than 0.3% of intoxicating cannabinoids like delta-8 THC, THCA, and “any other cannabinoids that have similar effects.”
Such a restriction is characterized as an outright ban by industry advocates. Ohio Healthy Alternatives, an organization against government overreach in the hemp space, opposed the proposal.
“The OHHAA hopes that the state of Ohio, which is entering conference committee this week, will honor its intent to regulate and create a legal market for hemp products, versus using what is happening at a federal level as an excuse to ban our industry, costing 20,000 Ohio families their ability to make a living,” the organization said in a statement.
The Ohio Cannabis Coalition, a trade group representing businesses licensed to operate in Ohio’s cannabis market, supported the measure.
“The issue of so-called intoxicating hemp has become a growing concern across Ohio, undermining our state’s regulated cannabis industry, confusing consumers, and putting public health at risk,” said David Bowling, executive director of OHCANN. “This legislation represents an important step toward bringing clarity and accountability to the marketplace.”
The federal measure was folded into the legislation that ended the longest federal government shutdown in American history. The U.S. Senate passed the legislation by a vote of 60-to-40 on Monday, with eight senators breaking ranks from the Democratic caucus to agree to open the government. The House on Wednesday passed the measure 222-209 on a mostly party line vote.
The federal intoxicating hemp ban will go into effect one year after the bill was signed by President Donald Trump late Wednesday.
Ohio has the option, theoretically, to ignore the federal government’s hemp restriction. The state already allows a recreational marijuana market that is technically illegal under federal law. Huffman, however, said he’s not inclined to go against Congress’s action.
Negotiations between the Ohio House and Senate have been underway for weeks after the chambers passed different blueprints on how to regulate intoxicating hemp sales in Ohio, with the Senate opting to confine sales to recreational cannabis dispensaries and the House opting to create a state-issued license for intoxicating hemp retailers. Both plans, Huffman said, would be impacted by the federal law.
“We’re not going to set up a whole regulatory system for something we’re not going to be allowed to do under federal law,” the Republican speaker said.
Ohio’s legal landscape on intoxicating hemp is muddled. State law until now reflected federal law, which legalized hemp-derived products in 2018, and neither statute had been updated to reflect developments in the industry that made way for increasingly intoxicating hemp-derived products.
This has led to what is essentially an unregulated — or at best a self-regulated — intoxicating hemp market where retailers can sell intoxicating products to any Ohioan at their own discretion, and the products are not subject to state or federal testing.
“I think this changes the discussion that we’re having now,” Huffman said. “Because, with the federal action, there’s no legal way that these folks can operate where they are right now. Now, are we going to go around and start cuffing 17-year-old clerks at gas stations? No, but we’ve got to get this thing in shape.”
It’s been Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s position that federal and state laws never intended to create an unregulated market. After urging the legislature to take action, the Republican governor issued executive orders in October to fully ban intoxicating hemp sales in the state. A county court temporarily paused those orders through at least early December following an industry lawsuit that asserts DeWine overstepped his authority.
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
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