The Ohio Senate has passed a restrictive law that would change the way voters get to enjoy recreational marijuana. House Bill 86 is a far cry from the law voters passed on Nov. 7.
HB 86 would reduce home grow from 12 to six plants, decrease THC levels in products and raise taxes. Smoking would also be limited to private residences, and even vapes could be outlawed.
The changes are steep,
which is why the House is currently blocking HB 86 from going into effect. That means weed laws as voters passed them are on pause until lawmakers finalize their changes. Buying or selling recreational weed won’t be legal until lawmakers greenlight immediate recreational sales at existing medical dispensaries and start issuing additional licenses come Aug. 7.
Not quite weed, not quite legal?
One of those hopeful purveyors is the owner of the Cincinnati-based hemp delivery service “It’s Not Weed.” John, as we’ll call him, already sells CBD flower, delta-8 flower and handfuls of other cannabinoids that are already legal to sell, but he wants to pivot to recreational weed.
“From a timeline perspective, I think, the way this law was written, unless you are able to file as a social equity applicant, then effectively the only people who will be able to sell recreational marijuana before – I think it's Aug. 7 – will be existing medical dispensaries,” John said.
John thinks he could be waiting until 2026 before he’s able to sell marijuana as a small purveyor, if his business makes it that long. He told CityBeat the changing legal landscape might even make it harder to sell the delta-8 and CBD products he sells now.
“The scary question is how they've been kicking around legislation on hemp,” he said. “There's a bunch of things that have been legal under the Farm Bill, the things that we're selling, that the state [has tried to legislate away.] Effectively saying, things that are legal today – that businesses like mine are selling, that people are used to purchasing – are no longer legal.”
What about the rest of us?
As for smokers (or vapers, or whatevers), the only technically legal avenue for weed in Ohio right now is to grow your own.
While lawmakers are still duking out how many plants you should be able to grow at home, there’s really nothing stopping someone from getting started on their home grow system. You can even order seeds online from across state lines, according to Pacific Seed Bank, an online seed seller that ships to Ohio.
“When cannabis seeds are ungerminated, they are usually considered a collector’s item, or adult novelty item, for customers over the age of 21, and therefore relatively innocuous,” reads the facts and questions section of the Pacific Seed Bank website.
It was the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 that made it clear the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) does not have the authority to criminalize sending or buying seeds with less than .3% THC.
Even without the holiday shipping delays, it can take anywhere from three to eight months to successfully grow a marijuana plant ripe for cultivation, according to Leafly. Or Ohioans could wait until Jan. 24 when state lawmakers return to business.
Originally published by CityBeat.
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