Ohio Senate wants to stop you from growing weed; House fights back

COLUMBUS, Ohio — While Ohio Senate Republicans move to dramatically change recreational marijuana policy, the House is fighting back in a bipartisan fashion — saying the will of the voters must be followed.

On Thursday, adults 21 and older in Ohio will be able to smoke weed and grow up to six plants.

When Issue 2 passed in November, state Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Concord) knew he could be part of clarifying public policy. He invited News 5's Morgan Trau to his introduction of H.B. 354 in a "skeleton" session Tuesday morning. Skeleton sessions are when typically two lawmakers gather with the House clerk and take less than five minutes to introduce policy.

"We preserve the things that the people voted on," he told Trau after he banged the gavel and Finance Chair state Rep. Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville) watched.

Callender, who has been an outspoken supporter of marijuana, has been working on recreational implementation for years. Issue 2 came after all of his efforts were purposely stalled in the Statehouse.

"The Marijuana Legalization Initiative" allows Ohioans to grow up to six plants, with 12 per household. In addition, The proposal would impose a 10% tax at the point of sale for each transaction. It also establishes the Division of Cannabis Control within the Ohio Department of Commerce.

Ohioans voted in favor of the statute 57-43%.

"I'm glad it passed and I'm excited that we're going to be able to take some of these measures that make it a more responsible act," Callender said. "I want to make sure that here in this chamber, the People's House, that we carry out the will of the people — and the people have spoken."

His bill doesn’t make major changes, but it does add safeguards — like guidelines on advertising, public smoking bans and provisions that give local governments more of a say in where tax revenue goes. It also explains that home grow must take place at residential addresses.

"We've seen folks aggregate those six plants and, in essence, create a mega farm which is simply an aggregation or a co-op of a whole lot of home grows," he said, saying that he is trying to prevent that.

The bill, one that Callendar says has bipartisan support in the House, deeply contrasts the Senate’s more conservative version.

The proposal by state Sen. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) also includes guard rails to prevent exposure to children, including advertising guidelines. It would require marijuana to be packaged in a child-resistant container and prevents "cartoon character" or other pop culture figures whose target audience is a child from being used in weed marketing.

However, those safety guidelines are the end of the common ground.

The Senate proposal would reduce how much weed you could possess from 2.5 ounces to 1 ounce and 15 grams of marijuana concentrates to 5 grams.

It would make weed less strong by limiting THC levels for plants to 25%, when the minimum was 35%. In addition, it would limit extracts to 50%, when the minimum was 90%. In the original, the content limits are prescribed by the Department of Commerce. Manufacturers are allowed to make gummies and other extracts with less than 90% THC, and it is expected they will, but the DOC can't require them to have a lower THC cap, like 50%.

and it would make marijuana more expensive by raising the tax from 10% to 15%.

It also changes where the taxes go.

As mentioned, it was a 10% tax at the point of sale. It was 36% revenue to the cannabis social equity and jobs fund; 36% to the host community cannabis fund to provide funds to jurisdictions with adult-use dispensaries; 25% to the substance abuse and addiction fund; and 3% to the division of cannabis control and tax commissioner fund. Issue 2 capped the number of dispensaries permitted at once to 350, but the bill cuts that down to 230.

Read more about the Senate proposal by clicking here.

The Senate version ups to 15% tax at the point of sale. It is 30% to the law enforcement training fund, 15% to the marijuana substance abuse treatment and prevention fund, 10% to the safe driver training fund, and the remaining 45% goes to the grand revenue fund — aka, the state lawmakers.

"The social equity program — when you really got down to the nuts and bolts of it — it was tax revenue being collected to be put right back into the hands of the industry," McColley said. "It was a tax grab by the industry to prop up more dispensaries within the industry."

The "Social Equity and Jobs Program" was established by Issue 2. It is designed to fix "the harms resulting from the disproportionate enforcement of marijuana-related laws" and "reduce barriers to ownership and opportunity" to those "most directly and adversely impacted by the enforcement of marijuana-related laws," according to the initiative.

The most significant change is the proposal eliminates home grow.

"The opposition has been all around the black market," McColley said. "It's been around, 'how do we keep these plants from then being transferred and sold illegally?'"

After facing backlash, McColley assured he wasn't going against the will of the people, since he believes that the voters didn't really know everything that they were voting on.

"I think what the voters really voted for would have been access to products," the senator added.

Clearly, the voters want home grow, Callender argued. Access to products means access to home grow, he said.

It isn't just Callender who is frustrated with the legislation moving through the other chamber. Dozens of Republican and Democratic representatives are infuriated with the Senate.

One with a unique perspective is state Rep. Jeff LaRe (R-Violet Twp.) The Senate took his legislation, H.B. 86, that revised the limit on the gallons of spirituous liquor that a micro-distillery may manufacture each year and added their marijuana proposal onto his bill.

"Slap in the face of Ohio voters," LaRe told News 5.

The lawmaker doesn't support recreational marijuana, but he does respect the will of Ohioans, he added.

"It's unfortunate they want to use a bill that is focused on helping certain small businesses recover from the pandemic to fast-track language that changes the intent of the ballot initiative," he said. "I believe we should look into where the tax dollars are spent, but this goes way beyond those details."

Democrats agree. House Minority Whip State Rep. Jessica Miranda (D-Forest Park) says she can't and won't support the Senate version.

"I'm not a fan of turning my back on the Ohio voters and the will of what they said when they overwhelmingly passed Issue 2," Miranda said.

When asked what happens if the two chambers don't reach a compromise, Callender said he will be in better standing — since the House can just block the Senate version.

"I'm okay with just letting the initiated statute go into effect, which is a pretty strong bargaining position," he said. "If we don't come up with an agreement, I'll trust the rule-making process, trust Commerce to make good rules to do this."

The Senate is expected to pass the marijuana bill out of committee Wednesday morning, putting it on the floor for a full vote later in the day. The House version is set to be heard Wednesday, as well.

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