The Ohio Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to advance a bill that strictly limits where Ohioans can purchase most products containing cannabinoid derivatives, like delta-8 THC.
Gov. Mike DeWine has hassled lawmakers to regulate hemp products since late 2023, but it has been mostly touch and go on how to handle the gray area the federal government created in 2018. It removed cannabis products with less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC from the definition of marijuana. Some contain ingredients that still induce a high, but are legal at any age in Ohio.
Senate Bill 86 puts intoxicating products behind dispensaries’ counters, if the products have undergone testing, and bans sale of them otherwise. It carves out CBD-infused drinks, allowing retailers with a liquor license to sell them.
With the legalization of recreational marijuana in late 2023, Case Western Reserve University Assistant Professor Stephanie Pike Moore said some Ohioans may not differentiate between what’s sold at state-licensed dispensaries and what’s sold at unlicensed retailers.
“That perception that some of these products are ‘diet weed’ is problematic,” Pike Moore said in an interview Thursday. “Some of these are really intoxicating, and the serving sizes that are listed on the packages don’t reflect how somebody might actually consume them.”
Derivative hemp products are often more synthetic, with less oversight into growth and production, she said. “While it might look like just run of the mill marijuana, it’s not the same because it’s not been examined from plant to purchase,” Pike Moore said.
Retailers selling the products, like gas stations, smoke stores and holistic wellness stores, have lobbied hard against SB 86.
“I don’t have a lot of sympathy for some of those businesses that are now being forced to not offer a product that was very clearly dangerous and targeted toward children,” Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said.
It now heads to the House, where lawmakers have been debating their own versions of regulations.
