Adults can now legally possess and grow marijuana in Ohio — but there's nowhere to buy it

Columbus, Ohio — Ohioans woke up Thursday to a country where recreational marijuana use was not yet an issue: adults can now legally grow and possess cannabis at home, but cannot legally purchase it.

On Wednesday night, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine urged lawmakers to quickly set parameters for Issue 2, the citizen initiative that voters approved in November. While the Senate pushed through an 11th-hour deal hours before the bill took effect, the Ohio House adjourned without acting on it.

Representative Jamie Callender said there is “no deadline” for implementing a legal sales plan, and that growing marijuana at home or allowing possession could go according to voters' wishes.

He said he wants to “make sure that we are thoughtful, that we have had enough time to look at it and deal with the things that are not going into effect immediately.”

Rep. Bill Seitz also defended the decision to adjourn without taking action on the 160 pages of related legislation now pending in the House of Representatives.

'We are not going to let such a monstrous proposal pass unnoticed within 48 hours. That's crazy,” Seitz said. Lawmakers need time to figure out the complexities of setting up cannabis sales, taxation and a regulatory structure, he said.

However, DeWine openly worried about a worst-case scenario developing, saying black market sales could flourish or fentanyl- or pesticide-laced marijuana products could become more accessible. He called the current state of affairs a “recipe for disaster.”

Lawmakers had four months to act last year. Because it was a citizen-initiated statute, Issue 2 had to be presented to the Legislature first. After the Republican Party-controlled legislature chose to do nothing, the measure was put to a vote on November 7 and passed with 57% of the vote.

This allows adults aged 21 and over to purchase and possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis and grow up to six plants per individual or twelve plants per household at home. It gave the state nine months to set up a system for legal marijuana purchases, subject to a 10% tax. Sales proceeds had to be divided between administrative costs, addiction treatment, municipalities with pharmacies, social equity payments and employment programs to support the cannabis industry itself.

With just days to go before the law takes effect, Senate Republicans proposed a sweeping rewrite of what voters approved, angering proponents of the issue and alarming both parties in the House of Representatives. It would have banned domestic cultivation, reduced the legal amount of cannabis you can possess to 1 ounce and increased taxes on purchases to 15%. It would also eliminate tax revenue funding for social equity programs supporting the marijuana industry and direct most of the tax money collected to a state general fund.

The compromise negotiated with DeWine and approved by the Senate on a 28-2 vote Wednesday would reduce the number of allowable household plants to six, keep the higher 15% tax on purchases and lower the allowable THC levels for cannabis extracts from 90 % to 50%. The deal would reinstate the 2.5-ounce possession limit and allow 35% THC in plants, while eliminating state control over most of the revenue.

The authors of the legislation won support in part from Democrats by adding a provision to expunge the criminal records of people convicted of possession of up to 2.5 ounces. That measure also requires child-resistant packaging and a ban on ads aimed at children — a priority for the governor.

If lawmakers stray too far from what voters approved, the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol or other proponents of Issue 2 can always pursue a referendum. That possibility should give lawmakers incentive to work with proponents of more relaxed marijuana laws, said Steven Steinglass, dean emeritus of the Cleveland State University College of Law and a leading expert on the Ohio Constitution.

He said some of the maneuvers taking place now are unprecedented.

“Voters have approved only three initiated statutes in 111 years, and none of the three have been amended, repealed or tampered with by the General Assembly.”

Senate President Matt Huffman said the Senate compromise respects voters while addressing important concerns.

“I am against legalization, but it is the law,” he said. “We don't want illegal sales – the black market if you will – to gain a foothold.”

In the meantime, there are numerous aspects of Ohio's new law that can be immediately enforced, said Louis Tobin, executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association.

“Starting Thursday, it will be very difficult to find probable cause and prosecute people found to be carrying less than 2.5 ounces of marijuana, but prosecutors and law enforcement will still be on the alert,” Tobin said. Smoking in cars still breaks the law, people carrying around more than 2.5 ounces still breaks the law, people engaged in private sales still break the law, people driving under the influence still break the law.”

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Samantha Hendrickson is a staff member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.