The Ohio Senate has resurrected a proposal that overhauls the state's relatively young recreational cannabis program, in part by raising the excise tax on all product sales from 10% to 15%. Introduced Tuesday by Sen. Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City), Senate Bill 56 closely mirrors a 2023 bill that cleared the chamber, merging the state's medical and adult-use programs.
SB 56 strictly prohibits smoking cannabis in public, limiting Ohioans to partaking in private residences, and reduces home grow from 12 plants or less to six plants or less. It also limits how concentrated dispensaries' THC products can be—maxing out at 35% for plant products and 70% for concentrates and extracts.
"It's like concentrated orange juice," Huffman said Wednesday. "You don't drink concentrated orange juice. You're going to dilute it down so that it's a reasonable amount."
All related tax revenue would redirect to the state's General Revenue Fund (GRF), unlike current law, which has pools of funds that go toward different purposes, like to local municipalities with dispensaries or to a social equity and jobs program that the bill also abolishes.
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