The state’s existing 114 medical cannabis dispensaries could have been ready to sell product for adult use if the General Assembly would have sent him a cannabis bill in the last week, Gov. Mike DeWine said on Friday. Instead, the House adjourned for the year without acting on cannabis. The Senate’s bill did permit recreational sales out of medical dispensaries but wasn’t passed with an emergency clause or a supermajority to go into effect immediately. Meanwhile, Laura Hancock reports that the Ohio Department of Commerce has named the first superintendent of the Division of Cannabis Control, the new, consolidated agency that will handle regulation of both medical and recreational cannabis.
DeWine spoke with reporters Friday about a wide range of other topics, including lawmakers’ attempt to override his veto of a budget measure overriding local bans on flavored tobacco products, anti-transgender legislation, a bill to combat liberal bias on college campuses, and expanding Amtrak in Ohio. Jeremy Pelzer has the details.
Brown goes green: U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown told reporters on Friday that he’d vote to legalize cannabis on the federal level. As Pelzer writes, the Cleveland Democrat, who filed for reelection on Friday, has long been wary of legalizing cannabis, though he voted last month to do so on the state level. Currently, there are no cannabis legalization bills that have made significant progress through Congress.
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