COLUMBUS, Ohio — Marijuana in Ohio costs more than double that of Michigan, yet state lawmakers want to make it even more expensive and less potent.
Dealing with Crohn’s disease since he was a kid, Terrell Washington felt stuck — Until he was able to access marijuana.
"It got me off of medication and got me into remission with my Crohn's disease because of using cannabis," Washington told me.
He knew he wanted to help people like him, which is why he founded Leaf Relief dispensary, which has now been selling marijuana to both medical patients and recreational users.
"Business has been good, but as we've learned, never get too comfortable with cannabis in Ohio," he continued.
He’s worried that his business will suffer under Ohio lawmakers’ latest attempt to regulate cannabis policy.
"When we legalized marijuana, there were a whole group of societal problems that were created by that," House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said.
In Nov. of 2023, voters overwhelmingly passed Issue 2 — which allowed adults 21 years of age and older to smoke, vape and ingest weed. Individual Ohioans are able to grow up to six plants with up to 12 per household. Dispensaries have been able to sell recreationally since Aug. 6, 2024.
Since then, lawmakers like Huffman have been trying to change the law.
Recently, Republicans have introduced Senate Bill 56, which has dozens of changes, but most notably would decrease the THC content and limit home growing from 12 plants to six.
RELATED: What a proposed Senate bill could mean for the future of recreational marijuana
"We're trying to move it [to be] a little bit more reasonable — continue to have adult use, but a little bit more reasonable usage," state Sen. Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City) said during the question and answer portion of his bill sponsor testimony.
Steve Huffman, the cousin of Matt Huffman, is a doctor and has been helping to lead all medical and recreational bills regarding marijuana for years.
"This bill is about government efficiency, consumer and child safety, and maintaining access to voter-approved adult-use marijuana," the senator said.
THC, the psychoactive cannabinoid, would be capped at 100 milligrams per package. Of the 61 edible products to buy on Leaf Relief’s site, only 12 were under 100mg. It also reduces the allowable THC levels in adult-use extracts from a max of 90% to 70%.
The bill would also raise the cost. Right now, there is a 10% tax at the point of sale. The GOP legislation would raise that to 15%, but Gov. Mike DeWine proposed increasing it to 20%.
"This money could be spent and it could be spent on things that we thought would really make a difference, and frankly, wouldn't get done but for using that money in the marijuana," the governor said.
Washington said this could devastate his local business.
"Would you say that this could price out customers?" I asked the dispensary owner.
"One hundred percent," he responded. "It's going to hurt dispensaries, cultivators, processors across the state because it's going to push people to the black market."
"Is this something that could push people to Michigan?" I asked.
"One hundred percent," he replied. "I don't know why we're no longer being pro-business when it comes to cannabis. We tout ourselves as being pro-business, pro-Ohioans in every other sector, but here — we just try and regulate the industry into the ground, which seems to abandon the traditional beliefs of the party who's making it."
I looked into it. According to data from each state's regulatory division from the end of Jan., Ohio costs about $192 per ounce of marijuana, while Michigan costs less than half at roughly $84. Michigan's per gram is almost $3, while Ohio's is close to $7.
Right now, there could be plenty of reasons for this — including the fact that Ohio's industry is significantly newer than Michigan's.
The point in bringing it up is that the Buckeye state will likely lose (again) to the state up north if the taxes double.
The taxes would also not go where the voters chose. Issue 2 created five funds in the state treasury: the adult use tax fund, the cannabis social equity and jobs fund, the host community cannabis fund, the substance abuse and addiction fund, and the Division of Cannabis Control and tax commissioner fund.
Instead, all revenue from the tax would get sent to the state General Revenue Fund, meaning the lawmakers can choose to put that money toward whatever they want.
All of these changes anger Washington since he said it's not what the voters chose.
Senate leaders have said that they aren't ignoring the will of the people because the voters didn't really know everything that they were voting on.
"I think that is a perfect example of some leaders' arrogance and disrespect for their own constituents," the dispensary owner said.
What's next?
S.B. 56 could get voted out of committee on Wednesday and hit the Senate floor, sending it to the House.
Speaker Huffman, who in Dec. said he wanted to drastically change the state's marijuana law, had seemingly had a change of heart in January. He has backtracked on at least some of his proposed restrictions after having meetings with the Statehouse's resident marijuana enthusiast.
State Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Concord), who blocked Huffman's dramatic changes from passing last General Assembly, said he has been meeting with the speaker to help teach him about the drug and the current policy.
He has been helping many other Republicans deal with the legalization of cannabis, Callender said.
RELATED: Ohio GOP backtracks on restricting recreational marijuana
Cautiously optimistic, the lawmaker explained that upcoming legislative changes would likely impact delta-8 and other unregulated hemp, in addition to raising THC limits of medical marijuana to the same as recreational.
Dispensaries have told me that they hope that is the case but are still concerned.
"I would encourage all Ohioans, because this affects all Ohioans, to urge the politicians to put local municipalities and Ohioans first — and not their egos," Washington said.
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