How Ohio marijuana laws could change in 2025
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Ohio’s adult-use marijuana program can change anytime at the whim of the Ohio Statehouse and now with new Republican leadership in each chamber, there is more alignment in what that might look like.
In December 2023, efforts to change the state’s adult-use program stalled in the House. The House introduced its own ideas during that time too. But after a lot of back-and-forth, and a call from the executive branch, nothing got through.
More attempts were made to reach a compromise before the end of the summer session, but at the time, the speaker said there were “just a lot of different opinions,” leading to any legislation in the area ultimately going nowhere.
Now, Ohio Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said he wants to see that work resurface, in fact, he worked on that legislation back in 2023, as part of an amended House Bill 86. “That was legislation I worked on personally,” he said. “[Adult-use marijuana] has a ton of unintended consequences in it that are going to be particularly bad, particularly as it concerns public use. Driving while intoxicated, things of that nature.”
That bill does things like cut back legal THC extract levels, for products like vapes, by 40%, half the number of plants someone can grow in their home (from 12 to six) and change the tax rate and how those profits are distributed.
“We need to fill in some of those holes,” he said. “But at the same time, Ohioans voted for access to marijuana. That access, as in previous legislation that we've tried to offer and push, is going to be preserved going forward.”
Senate Democrats supported that legislation back in 2023, and Ohio House Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) stands by it. “It was a ballot initiative that was very broad sweeping. The devil is in the details about how good public policy gets over the finish line,” she said. “I think there’s some changes, small changes, we could make that would really benefit the people of Ohio.”
Antonio said she hopes a compromise can be made, but said some provisions are important to her caucus, like expunging certain marijuana records. “That, to us is incredibly important,” she said. “You changed the law, but then you're going to have we have people in prison right now who are serving a term for something that now today is not illegal anymore.”
Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) agreed, the expungement piece is important and members of her caucus worked on legislation to do that, but it also never crossed the finish line. Ohio House Speaker, and former Ohio Senate President, Matt Huffman (R-Lima) is also in favor of provisions in that bill from the last general assembly. In December 2024, he said home grow is still an issue.
“The amount of home grow that is happening is far beyond the use for one or two people who may be growing it in their home,” he said on December 4. “It supplies an illegal market."
“I think that there will be quite a bit of division even in the Republican caucus on many of the details of that,” Russo said in December. “Going against the will of voters is certainly, I think, something that many of that weigh.”
Last month, Huffman said home grow “has to be part of the consideration,” when looking at how to change the adult use laws. On January 6, Huffman said that is not the pinnacle of his focus. “It seems that folks are kind of talking a lot about the home grow thing. I don't think that's really that big a big deal in terms of this issue,” Huffman said. “A lot of this is really has to do with regulatory, especially in the part that's not regulated, that has to get taken care of.”
Huffman was talking about Delta 8 when he said that. Delta 8 is a low-level THC product, sometimes called “diet weed,” that is currently sold throughout out with no regulations or age restrictions. Governor Mike DeWine has called for its regulation by lawmakers several times in the past year, but the legislature failed to act.
Across the aisle, Russo agreed, something needs to be done, but said there is a line that needs to be drawn. “We need to do better than what we’re doing because it is too readily available, especially to minors,” she said. Do I think a full ban is necessary? No.”
How do dispensaries feel about all of this? Spokesperson for Sunnyside, Jason Erkes, said the law changes will not come as a shock. He said they have been anticipating more solid regulations. “Tight now we've been operating in cannabis medical program plus with a lot of the guardrails down of people needing a medical card to get in the store while they formulate the rules and regulations for the adult use program,” he said.
Erkes said it is not necessarily frustrating waiting for things to be set, and said whatever the regulations may be, they will follow. He said what he is keeping an eye on are the stores selling Delta 8, and where those regulations end up. “Across the street, you have these stores that are calling themselves a dispensary selling completely unregulated products. We have no idea what's in them, no idea where they came from. And, of course, no age restrictions and they're ending up in the hands of kids,” he said.
“The shadow industry is selling products that are unregulated untested, not made in Ohio, no age restrictions. So, unless those are willing to fold underneath the laws that already exist, I don't see a need for that shadow industry to exist.”
Like you just read, several of these bills failed, in some cases less than one year ago. But with new leadership sworn in, the odds of things getting through, on any topic, increased. “Probably there will be more alignment, that’s my anticipation, just given that the speaker came from the senate and was previously the leader of the senate,” Russo said. “I suspect we will see things getting through, for better or worse, more quickly through both chambers.”
A bill has yet to be officially introduced this General Assembly on adult-use marijuana or Delta 8.