Ohio intoxicating hemp ban takes effect

Read more Ohio news and commentary at ohiocapitaljournal.com. Changes made by Republican state lawmakers to Ohio's voter-passed weed law have now taken effect, including new criminal charges, along with the state's new intoxicating hemp ban — which includes THC and CBD beverages. Ohio Senate Bill 56 became law Friday after Ohioans for Cannabis Choice failed to get enough signatures to get a referendum on the November ballot for voters to block the law. "Customers that seek our products out are often those very same customers that deal with stress, sleep, pain, and anxiety, and they're not trying to get high," said Joey Ellwood, a hemp farmer in Tuscarawas County. "They might have to turn to pharmaceuticals. They might have to drive across state lines. It's really a big question mark. They might be forced into undue burden with the pain, stress, sleep, and anxiety." He said 6,000 Ohio businesses will be affected by the new law. "That's a lot of jobs," Ellwood said. Mark Fashian was the president of hemp product wholesaler Midwest Analytical Solutions in Delaware, Ohio, but he is heading out of state. "I know I can't sell it in Ohio anymore," he said. "(Friday) morning, I'd be considered a felon. It's just unheard of. I can't believe our politicians actually thought this was a good idea." He worked with more than 500 stores around Ohio that sell intoxicating hemp products. "All of them are calling me in a panic, and I'm telling them the same thing — If I were you, I would get every product off the shelf and out of the store," Fashian said. A lawsuit was filed this week in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas to block the law from taking effect. Cleveland-based Saucy Seltzer, California cannabis drink maker Uncle Arnie's, Illinois hemp manufacturer Organic Pharma Techs, and federal hemp license holder Amy Ellwood filed the lawsuit against the state. The plaintiffs are asking for a temporary restraining order to pause the law from taking effect. "Without immediate relief, plaintiffs will go out of business in Ohio on March 19, 2026 and thus suffer irreparable harm," according to the lawsuit. "If they don't go out of business, they risk facing, at minimum, felony marijuana possession and trafficking prosecutions." On the federal level, Congress voted in November to ban products that contain 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container when they voted to reopen the government. Previously, the 2018 Farm Bill said hemp can be grown legally if it contains less than 0.3% THC. There is a one-year implementation delay for the federal hemp ban, but states can create their own regulatory framework before then. The Ohio Cannabis Coalition is glad the new law is taking effect. "S.B. 56 gives law enforcement clear authority to ensure that intoxicating THC products are no longer freely sold to children through thousands of locations in Ohio," OHCANN Executive Director David Bowling said in a statement. "This law will prevent unregulated products from reaching children and strengthen public safety across Ohio." THC beverages Ohio lawmakers had a THC-infused beverage provision in the bill that would have allowed five milligram THC beverages until the end of December, but Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine line-item vetoed that provision when he signed the bill into law in December. "We don't believe that the governor had the right to line-item veto, essentially, he fundamentally changed the bill outside of things that had to do with appropriations," said Bobby Slattery, founder of Fifty West Brewing Company in Cincinnati. Fifty West Brewing Company, Urban Artifact, Washington-based Cycling Frog, and Sarene Craft Beer Distributors filed a lawsuit earlier this month in the Ohio Supreme Court challenging DeWine's line-item veto of the THC beverage provisions. "This is not the end (of THC beverages in Ohio)," Slattery. "I think that for the people of Ohio, this product is a needed product." Fifty West Brewing produces Sunflower THC Seltzer and customers have been purchasing mass quantities of it this week before the ban, Slattery said. "There's a lot of people in a panic right now," he said. "They're confused as to where they're supposed to go if the beverages are taken away." Fifty West Brewing made about $1.5 million in sales of Sunflower THC last year and was on pace to make about $3 million in sales from it this year, Slattery said. "This year we were at a point where we thought that we might be producing more THC beverage than we do beer," he said. Slattery said some of his customers might opt for a THC beverage if they are trying to cut back on alcohol. "What we saw with Sunflower was it was this space in between a non-alcoholic beverage and an alcoholic beverage, sort of like a middle ground," Slattery said. Marijuana law Ohio's new law will change Ohio's marijuana law, which Ohioans voted to legalize marijuana in 2023. Recreational sales started in August 2024, and sales totaled more than $836 million in 2025. THC levels in adult-use marijuana extracts will be reduced from a maximum of 90% down to a maximum of 70%, cap THC levels in adult-use flower to 35% and prohibit smoking in most public places. It will prohibit possessing marijuana in anything outside of its original packaging and criminalizes bringing legal marijuana from another state back to Ohio. The legislation also requires drivers to store marijuana in the trunk of their car while driving. "The bottom line is that this is only going to benefit the unregulated market," said Morgan Fox, political director at the advocacy group National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML. "As people are being pushed into the unregulated market that is just adding insult to injury to them because they have less access to lab tested and quality controlled products, and whether because of financial reasons or because of simple lack of access that's going to potentially put consumers in danger." The law will re-criminalize marijuana, he said. "I think that most people will not be aware of it, and unfortunately, that's going to result in a lot of unnecessary arrests for voter approved behavior," Fox said.