Latest news with #StephenHuffman
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hemp regulation in Ohio: How you would be impacted
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WJW) – An Ohio State Senate committee is expected to vote on a bill that could change where certain hemp products are sold. Senate Bill 86 targets 'intoxicating hemp products,' which would ban their sale at places other than dispensaries. Travel advisory to Caribbean island warns of kidnapping risk SB 86 looks to regulate hemp derivatives, such as Delta 9, and other cannabinoid products. The bill is sponsored by Ohio District 5 Sen. Stephen Huffman and Ohio District 17 Sen. Shane Wilkin. The bill's opponents say SB 86 would also restrict hemp-based wellness products that are currently sold in local grocery stores and instead force people to buy those same products at dispensaries. Jim Higdon, Co-Founder of Cornbread Hemp, is testifying against the bill. 'SB 86 goes too far, effectively banning many of the most effective hemp-based wellness products by imposing a 0.5 mg THC limit per product and forcing them into dispensaries,' Higdon said in a press release. Lake County community mourning 10th grader killed in crash Higdon noted that hemp is federally legal and argued the hemp industry should not be forced under the control of a recreational marijuana market. Tuesday's hearing could determine whether the bill moves forward in the Senate. The bill has not been introduced in the House. Click here to read the bill's full text. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ohio Republicans claim voters didn't know what they were voting on when legalizing weed
Republican Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, left, and state Sen. Stephen Huffman, R-Tipp City, right. (Photo from the Ohio Senate website.) Ohio Senate Republicans have voted to change the recreational marijuana policy that the voters enshrined into law in 2023. Amidst protests from cannabis enthusiasts, GOP leaders continue to argue that voters didn't actually know what they were voting on during the election. From discovering medicinal cannabis while dealing with polycystic ovarian syndrome to helping collect signatures to legalize recreational marijuana, Tasha Rountree has been fighting on the front lines for the product. 'Just having something to help get me up, get me moving,' Rountree said, noting other benefits of cannabis, like how it eases her anxiety. This is why she is extremely disappointed in state lawmakers. Since Ohioans overwhelmingly voted to allow for adult-use cannabis in 2023, legislators have been trying to change the law. 'We feel lied to, we feel bamboozled, we feel infiltrated in our community,' she said. Republicans in the Senate have now passed Ohio Senate Bill 56, which would decrease the THC content allowed in products and limit home growing from 12 plants to six. The vote was along party lines, with all nine Democrats voting no. The bill now goes to the Ohio House for consideration. THC, the psychoactive cannabinoid, would be capped under the bill at 100 milligrams per package. It also primarily reduces the allowable THC levels in adult-use extracts from a max of 90% to 70%. To learn more about the bill, click to read this article by the Ohio Capital Journal. State Sen. Kristina Roegner, R-Hudson, believes that the Senate Republicans' changes are common sense for public safety. 'We want to make sure it's done responsibly, respectfully and protects the children in Ohio,' she said. The lawmaker noted that the bill has a series of advertising restrictions so that it doesn't target youth. The packaging of products can't use any cartoon or character that would appeal to children. Advertisers are not allowed to promote within 500 feet of a slew of places, such as a school, church and public library. They aren't allowed to claim that marijuana has 'any positive health or therapeutic effects.' It also cracks down even more on public smoking. 'I don't think we want our children to be exposed to these types of materials or chemicals,' Roegner added. 'It's just not healthy.' It's easier to say where you can smoke under current law: private property that allows it. The law is relatively unclear, according to legal experts and politicians. Part of the anti-smoking law states that the act is banned from public indoor spaces; however, there are some exceptions: some outdoor patios, individual rooms in nursing homes or hotels and motels that designate rooms for 'smoking.' This seemed to address a very niche aspect of private residence prohibition, meaning if that residence is a child care home or a location where the lease agreement states no one can smoke, a user could get a minor misdemeanor. The bill would change the tax structure. Instead of a portion of the funds going to a social equity fund, which would help marginalized communities get dispensary licenses, that money would be held until lawmakers decide where it should go, according to an analysis by the Legislative Services Commission. Rountree feels that the Black community deserves to have a stake in the industry since extensive data and research have shown that they have been disproportionately impacted by marijuana-related laws. 'We don't have the cultivation sites, we don't have the processing and now we don't have the dispensary — and now we don't even have the opportunity,' she said. 'So it's like, what do we do all that for? We've been lied to, we've [had] a stolen opportunity.' Somehow, it seems the social equity and jobs program has already been removed from the state website despite S.B. 56 not being in effect. A page on the Department of Development website used to detail what the program would do and was previously found here. It is no longer available as of Wednesday evening. Asked for an explanation, the department has not yet responded. The bill would also cap the number of dispensaries in the state to 350. Rountree feared this would eliminate competition, but Roegner disagreed. 'I don't think this will stifle the industry,' she said. 'I mean, this is certainly a booming industry. Something that marijuana supporters did like was a provision that was taken out that would have made marijuana more expensive by hiking taxes. However, the tax policy is currently being debated in the state operating budget. Bill sponsor Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City, said that the voters knew they wanted legal weed — but didn't know everything they were voting on. 'I'm not sure why people voted for the initiative — it could have been home grow, public smoking, increase in dispensaries; it could have been anything,' Huffman said. 'We'll never know.' We questioned why this rhetoric persists. '[You and other lawmakers have said] voters knew that they were choosing marijuana, but they didn't know exactly what they were voting. Why do you think that?' we asked Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon. 'Well, I wouldn't say they didn't know what they're voting on,' he said, contradicting what he and his colleagues have said for years. 'I think what the comment [that] was made today was that everybody may have had a different reason for getting to yes and, just like with any other large piece of legislation, that is voluminous and dealing with a variety of changes.' He said that since voters chose to vote on it as an initiated statute instead of a constitutional amendment, they should have known the risk that lawmakers would get involved. For context, there are two main ways citizens can get something on the statewide ballot: an initiated statute and a constitutional amendment. The recreational marijuana proposal was an initiated statute, which means it goes into the Ohio Revised Code. An initiated statute, or a law, has an easier process of making it to the ballot than a constitutional amendment. Initiated statutes can be easily changed, while amendments cannot. When pressed further by another reporter, McColley frustratedly answered that there are 'a variety of reasons' why people voted for the bill — and some people voted for one thing and possibly not another. 'Do you think that the changes that he's proposed go against the will of the voters?' we asked Rountree. 'Absolutely, absolutely,' she responded. 'How can you say I'm smart enough to vote for you in office, but I'm not smart enough to know what I voted for? Either I'm incompetent or I'm not.' The bill will now be sent over to the House for review. Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, who in December 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. Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on X and Facebook. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ohio Senate passes bill that would make major changes to adult-use marijuana law
A bill proposed to change the recreational marijuana law passed in the Ohio Senate on Wednesday. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Senate Bill 56 passed with a vote of 26 to 9. As previously reported on News Center 7, Senator Stephen Huffman (R-Tipp City) proposed the bill on Jan. 28. TRENDING STORIES: 21-year-old killed in police-involved shooting near Montgomery County golf course identified Man accused breaking into ex-girlfriend's home before killing her formally charged Cell phone repairman caught downloading nude photos from customers' phones in Ohio If the bill is adopted, it could change several aspects of the law, including the number of plants a person can grow in a household, taxes and THC potencies. >>RELATED: Local senator proposes major changes to adult-use marijuana law Cities that house adult-use marijuana dispensaries get a big chunk of tax money, but the bill would keep that money with the state. As previously reported by News Center 7, city leaders in Riverside, Piqua, and Beavercreek all said they were not in favor of these changes. Riverside City Manager Josh Rauch said the bill is 'problematic on a number of fronts' for local governments. 'If the state takes that money away, it just increases the tax burden for our own residents and kind of cuts against the way that the language that everybody voted on a couple of years ago is actually written,' Rauch said. Some of the other changes include decreasing the number of marijuana plants Ohioans over 21 years old can grow in one household from 12 to six and decreasing the THC potency in oils and vape products from 90% to 70%. The bill will now move to the Ohio House of Representatives. If it passes, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine will receive the bill and decide to sign or veto it. DeWine's office previously sent News Center 7 a statement regarding the bill saying 'voters approved it in a manner subject to amendment by the general assembly.' News Center 7 will continue to follow this story. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Local senator proposes major changes to adult-use marijuana law
A local state senator has introduced a bill that could make major changes to Ohio's adult-use marijuana law. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Ohio Senator Stephen Huffman (R-Tipp City) introduced Senate Bill 56 on Jan. 28. TRENDING STORIES: Airline company corporate headquarters leaving Dayton after 40 years Teacher on leave after accusations of inappropriate contact with students Do you recognize him? AG Yost looking to identify body found in December If the bill passes, it would change several aspects of the law, including the number of plants a person can grow in a household, taxes and THC potencies. Currently, Ohioans over the age of 21 can grow up to 12 marijuana plants in one household. This bill would cut that number in half to six. The bill will also look to increase the tax on the adult use of marijuana sales from 10% to 15%. These funds would go into the state's general fund instead of being divided up, according to the bill. THC potency in oils and vape products will decrease from 90% to 70% if the bill passes. Adults who use marijuana can currently store it in the main compartment of their vehicle if it's sealed and has the original label. But this bill would require all marijuana to be stored in the trunk. The bill was referred to the Senate committee on Jan. 29 and has several steps before it could pass. News Center 7 will continue to follow this story. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
