BUCKEYE LAKE, Ohio — AUGUST 17: Roger Davis of Grove City works to remove fan leaves from around the flowers before the marijuana plants are dried, August 17, 2023, at PharmaCann, Inc.’s cultivation and processing facility in Buckeye Lake, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original story.)
Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, who just a month ago said he wanted to drastically change the state’s marijuana law, has seemingly had a change of heart. He has backtracked on at least some of his proposed restrictions after having meetings with the Statehouse’s resident marijuana enthusiast.
In November 2023, Ohio voters overwhelmingly passed Issue 2 — a new law allowing adults 21 years of age and older to smoke, vape, and ingest weed. Individual Ohioans are able to grow up to six plants with up to 12 per household. Dispensaries have been able to sell recreationally since Aug. 6, 2024.
“It was a front-row seat for history on that day back in August,” AJ Caraballo with Amplify Dispensary said.
We were there with him when the Coventry store opened for recreational marijuana sales. It’s been a whirlwind since he said Wednesday.
“It’s great to see new customers coming in month over month into the regulated market here in Ohio,” he said.
His store locations have had roughly 52,000 unique customers since the launch, he added. The state reports more than $265 million in adult-use sales as of Jan. 11.
But Caraballo is running into an issue. Smoke shops are stealing buyers from them — with delta-8 products that aren’t regulated or tested.
“Folks should be looking for the green DCC sticker on their dispensary doors so they know they’re entering into a licensed facility with that safe, tested product,” he said.
Lawmakers have been trying to ban or regulate delta-8, a low-level marijuana sold at convenience stores. Huffman said it’s a priority to get done.
“I think that all THC products should go through the dispensaries,” he said Tuesday.
But other of Huffman’s (R-Lima) ideas are worrying Caraballo and marijuana enthusiasts.
Huffman, who up until January was president of the Senate, hasn’t been very positive about Issue 2 passing.
“There were some fundamental flaws in the initiative that was introduced and passed by the voters — which you usually have when there’s not a vetting from all sides,” Huffman said last month. “The bill that the Senate passed last December addresses many of those things.”
In December 2023, the Ohio Senate passed a bill to restrict marijuana. If signed into law, it would decrease the allowable THC content and raise the cost. Among dozens of other restrictions and changes to what the voters chose, it would ban the vast majority of vapes. It would also limit home-growing marijuana from 12 plants to six.
“The amount of home growth that’s happening, of course, is far beyond the use for one to two people who may be growing it in their home… The only reason that someone would be growing that much marijuana is to resell it,” Huffman claimed, later alleging that someone growing 12 plants would likely be participating in the “illicit market.”
But in recent weeks, he has backtracked.
“It seems that folks are kind of talking a lot about the home growth thing,” Huffman said in early January. “I don’t think that’s really that a big deal in terms of this issue.”
He seemed more resigned about it on Tuesday, as well.
“I don’t think anybody realistically is suggesting that we’re going to repeal the legalization of marijuana,” Huffman said. “I’m not for it. I wasn’t for the casinos coming to Ohio, either. But there’s lots of stuff that’s part of the Constitution and the law that are there that I don’t like.”
State Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Concord), who blocked Huffman’s dramatic changes from passing last General Assembly, said he has been meeting with the speaker to help teach him about the drug and the current policy.
“He’s come a long way — he has put a lot of time and effort into learning the industry,” Callender, a marijuana enthusiast and weed expert at the Statehouse, said. “We’re not on exactly the same page, but I think we’re pretty close.”
Cautiously optimistic, the lawmaker explained that upcoming legislative changes would likely impact delta-8 and other unregulated hemp, in addition to raising THC limits of medical marijuana to the same as recreational.
He has been helping many other Republicans deal with the legalization of cannabis, he said.
“Even if they’re personally opposed to the concept, they have accepted that it’s here and so they’ve shifted their focus from blocking it to making it safe,” he said.
We asked why he believed Huffman’s sudden change, to which he credited education.
“He has put the effort in to learn the industry and learn about it, which I don’t think he was happy about having to do,” Callender said. “But he has realized that, unlike the Senate, the House Republican caucus has a number of members who want to defer to the voters.”
However, Callender’s mentoring may stay as just that — as Huffman seemingly made a lighthearted joke referencing him.
A reporter playfully questioned if Huffman needed to find out who has the most experience with THC in the legislature to carry the bill, meaning introduce it, advocate for it, and be the face of it. Multiple reporters chimed in, saying, “Jamie.”
“Whoever it is will not be carrying the bill — there’s a lot of details,” he said, referencing how stereotypical “stoners” tend to be spacey. “It’s hard to remember.”
Callender thought it was funny, too.
“I talked to him again this past weekend, and I do not believe I will be the one he has to carry the bill, which makes sense because we have not been exactly on the same page the whole time,” he laughed. “I think we need to all work together on one bill and work to make it the best we can.”
Still, Caraballo and other dispensaries are urging lawmakers to follow the will of the voters.
“Customers are still learning that they have access to safe, legal products here in the state of Ohio,” Caraballo said. “And any changes that cause that confusion could be detrimental to the program.”
A new marijuana policy will be proposed in the coming months.
This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
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