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Home Marijuana and Ohio: Legislation you should know about

Marijuana and Ohio: Legislation you should know about

By Fran Gerbig, Executive Director, Prevention Action Alliance & Working Partners®

(February 2022) Our nation is in the process of changing its relationship with our culture’s most widely used illicit drug – marijuana. As states consider and pass various marijuana-related bills, it’s important for businesses to stay apprised of the various initiatives that could impact their drug-free workplace program and operations.

To help you stay apprised on this complicated topic, we reached out to Prevention Action Alliance, whose mission is to lead healthy communities in the prevention of substance misuse and promote mental health wellness, for a summary of the various marijuana legalization efforts in Ohio.

There are several bills proposing full legalization of marijuana, one that would make changes to the state’s medical marijuana program, and a citizen-led initiative to treat marijuana like alcohol:

  • House Bill 210 (sponsored by Representatives Upchurch & Denson) was introduced on 3/16/21 and referred to the House Criminal Justice Committee. This bill proposes to allow the cultivation and possession of marijuana. Additionally, the bill would allow individuals convicted of marijuana-related charges to file for their records to be expunged. This bill has not moved since its introduction and is unlikely to move before the end of the General Assembly on December 31, 2022.
  • House Bill 382 (sponsored by Representatives Upchurch & Weinstein) was introduced on 8/2/21 and referred to the House Finance Committee. This bill, like HB 282, proposes to allow the cultivation and possession of marijuana. It would also levy a tax on its sale at 10% going toward education, construction, repair and maintenance of public roads, funding of clinical trials researching marijuana by use of veterans and refunding the State’s costs. Also, similar to HB 282, this bill has not moved since its introduction and is not likely to move before the end of the General Assembly.
  • House Bill 498 (sponsored by Representatives Callender & Ferguson) was introduced on 12/2/21 and referred to the House Finance Committee. This bill would also open the door to the cultivation and possession of by adults, and the related 10% sales tax would go to the marijuana receipts fund, the illegal drug trafficking enforcement fund, and the chemical dependency rehabilitation fund. There’s also a 5.75% tax on the storage, use, and other consumption of any other tangible personal property (e.g., items that can be seen, weighed, measured, etc. vs. stocks, bonds, copyrights and patents) and benefit realized of any service provided. This bill has not yet moved in the House Rep. Callendar acknowledged at the time that he introduced the bill that Republican leaders do not support it.
  • Senate Bill 261 (sponsored by Senator Huffman) was introduced on 1/9/21 in the Senate, where it went through the Small Business and Economic Opportunities committee and focuses solely on medical marijuana. It proposes the expansion of the medical marijuana program by increasing the number of qualifying conditions that a doctor could recommend marijuana for as treatment, including allowing a doctor to recommend marijuana for any condition they deem marijuana could reasonably help their patient. It also moves oversight of the medical marijuana program from the jurisdiction of the Board of Pharmacy to the Department of Commerce and would expand the number of dispensary licenses. Before adjourning for the holidays, the Ohio Senate sent SB 261 to the Ohio House with a favorable vote of 26-5. This brings the expansion of the medical marijuana program one step closer to fruition in Ohio.
  • The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol is an effort to fully legalize marijuana initiated by a group of citizens. The Coalition drafted and received approval for their statute, “An Act to Control and Regulate Adult Use Cannabis,” and gathered the necessary 132,877 signatures required to file their initiated statute with lawmakers. State legislators now have four months to take action on this statute, e.g., pass it, amend it or do nothing. If legislators decide to amend the bill or do nothing, the Coalition could decide to collect additional signatures to put the issue on the November ballot. The Coalition’s proposal, similar to HB 210, HB 382 and HB 498, would allow the cultivation, possession and taxation of adult-use marijuana.

Why are HB 498, SB 261 and the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol important to watch?

Prior to the submission of the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol’s initiative to the Attorney General, Prevention Action Alliance was told that both Governor DeWine and the General Assembly’s leadership are not in favor of marijuana legalization and would not consider supporting any attempts to legalize adult use of marijuana. However, the bill submitted by the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol gives the General Assembly four months to take action on their bill. This timeline may force the hand of the Republican-controlled General Assembly to reconsider its approach to marijuana legalization. If legislators choose to do nothing with the bill, the Coalition can collect signatures to place it on the November 2022 ballot. However, with HB 498 and SB 261, the General Assembly may be positioned to respond to the intent of the Coalition’s initiative.

Another item to note, these three initiatives build on the legislative framework developed when medical marijuana was first legalized in 2016 and stakeholders representing employer interests were involved in the process. The passage of any of these bills would likely mean an expansion of the marijuana industry and, relatedly, an increase in the availability of the substance. The good news for businesses right now is that the bills keep the 2016 previsions that allow employers to

  • decide if they want to accommodate or not an employer’s marijuana use
  • operate a drug-free workplace program, including testing for marijuana
  • consider marijuana use and possession when making employment decisions

For more information

As these bills work their way through the General Assembly, now is the time for employers (and citizens, in general) to learn more about Ohio’s pending marijuana initiatives. Prevention Action Alliance has created a series of resources to help Ohioans do just that – Marijuana Fact Sheets. Additionally, the organization regularly provides updates with information about pending bills and legislation in Ohio and at the federal level.


Fran Gerbig is the executive director of Prevention Action Alliance, a statewide prevention organization working to lead healthy communities in the prevention of substance misuse and the promotion of mental health wellness.