Another busy season for the Ohio General Assembly came and went without any success modifying marijuana laws. Early on in June, Republican lawmakers said they were close to consensus on changes, an issue they have gone back and forth over since smoking or ingesting it became legal for Ohioans 21 and older in December 2023. By late June, negotiations on Senate Bill 56 broke down yet again.
"I just told my caucus, we're not going to just say 'okay' because we're so anxious to pass the marijuana bill, which I'd like to get it done, but we're not going to give up House priorities to do that," House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said.
Huffman said pressing House priorities were ignored when the Senate brought forward what he said was a "whole new set of issues," pausing the bill's passage.
"Maybe there was, maybe a misunderstanding as to where we might have been on the bill as both chambers," Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said. Lawmakers and lobbyists have since said that misalignment was partly over how to handle delta-8 THC and other related, unregulated products.
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