Ohioans attempting to undo legislative changes to their state’s voter-approved cannabis laws went down with a flat tire on their proposed referendum petition this week.
State Attorney General Dave Yost, on Jan. 13, refused to certify the summary language that Ohioans for Cannabis Choice submitted for their proposal, which aims to repeal the first 120 pages of a 130-page bill that Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law in December.
The legislation, Senate Bill 56, makes substantial changes to the adult-use cannabis legalization statute that voters approved with a 57.2% majority in the 2023 election. For instance, S.B. 56 criminalizes several cannabis-related acts, such as possessing or transporting cannabis not in its original packaging or cannabis that was purchased from out of state.
The legislation also prohibits intoxicating hemp products, with language that closely aligns with a pending federal ban that’s supposed to go into effect in November. S.B. 56 will go into effect on March 20 in Ohio.
Attempting to restore Ohio’s cannabis laws to what voters passed in 2023, Ohioans for Cannabis Choice collected 1,000 signatures before submitting their proposed petition to Yost on Dec. 29. However, Yost outlined six concerns in his rejection letter on Tuesday.
“Upon review of the summary, we identified omissions and misstatements that, as a whole, would mislead a potential signer as to the scope and effect of S.B. 56,” the attorney general wrote.
For example, one issue Yost identified was the group’s summary inaccurately stating that S.B. 56 requires the Division of Cannabis Control to adopt rules for the delivery of medical and adult-use cannabis, when the legislation only requires the DCC to adopt delivery rules for medical cannabis.
The summary also states that S.B. 56 specifies that all felony offenses disqualify individuals from licensure in the state’s cannabis program, but Yost said DeWine line-item vetoed that provision.
The attorney general also outlined specific inaccuracies related to dispensary gifts/samples/discounted items, local control, and taxing powers.
“The above instances are just a few examples of the summary’s omissions and misstatements, and further review will be undertaken should the matter be resubmitted,” he wrote. “Thus, without reaching the balance of the summary, I am unable to certify the summary as a fair and truthful statement of the proposed referendum.”
Ohioans for Cannabis Choice now have the opportunity to correct the language, collect another 1,000 signatures, and resubmit the proposed referendum petition to Yost’s office.
Campaign spokesman Dennis Willard told The Statehouse News Bureau that the group intends to do so.
“Voters this November will have the opportunity to say no to S.B. 56, no to government overreach, no to closing 6,000 businesses and abandoning thousands of Ohio workers, and no to defying the will of Ohioans who overwhelmingly supported legalizing cannabis in 2023,” he said.
If Yost certifies the campaign’s forthcoming resubmission, Ohioans for Cannabis Choice would need to collect roughly 248,092 more valid signatures (6% of votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial race) to land their proposal on the ballot. Ohio is one of 23 states in the country that currently allows for veto referendums, or a “citizen’s veto,” which ask voters whether an enacted law should be repealed or upheld.
When Ohio lawmakers pushed S.B. 56 across the finish line last month, with the state’s Republican-controlled Senate voting entirely along party lines, Sen. Bill DeMora, D-Columbus, called it a “spit in the face” to Ohio voters.
“2,226,399 Ohioans voted yes on a measure titled ‘To Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Initiative,’” DeMora said. “They know that marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol, that the thousands of Ohioans that were arrested for smoking a joint should never have been arrested. … In those two years, this body has done everything in its power to give Ohio voters the finger.”
