Ohio Cannabis News

Budtenders at the Strawberry Fields dispensary in Columbus, Ohio voted to join Teamsters Local 413, becoming the first dispensary workers in the state to join the union.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) has called upon the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature to make changes to the state’s voter-approved cannabis legalization measure before it takes effect on December 7.

The medical cannabis market in Ohio is expected to hit $520 million this year, according to cannabis industry intelligence firm BDSA, which also predicts the state’s combined cannabis markets will total $820 million in 2025.

Ohio voters opted to legalize adult-use cannabis during Tuesday’s election. Under the new law, adults aged 21+ can purchase and possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis and grow plants at home.

Recent research suggests that legalizing adult-use cannabis in Ohio would likely generate about $260 million in “net benefits for society,” ranging from between $200 million in net costs and $1.9 billion in net benefits.

Republican lawmakers in Ohio have approved a resolution opposing the cannabis legalization question going to state voters next month, urging citizens to vote “no” on the proposal.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has issued a legal analysis on the state’s proposed cannabis legalization ballot initiative in an effort to provide “vital clarity and transparency” ahead of the November 7 vote.

According to a recent poll, a 59% majority of Ohioans support the upcoming ballot initiative to legalize adult-use cannabis. If approved, Ohio would be the 24th U.S. state to pass a cannabis legalization proposal.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) and the Ohio Association of Health Commissioners, which represents the state’s 112 local health departments, have come out against the state’s upcoming adult-use cannabis legalization ballot initiative.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has confirmed that the campaign to legalize adult-use cannabis in the state successfully gathered enough signatures to put the issue before voters this November.

A recent Ohio State University study found that adult-use cannabis sales in the state could generate between $275 million and $403 million in tax revenues by the fifth year of operations.

Advocates behind Ohio’s latest effort to legalize adult-use cannabis have submitted additional signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office after the campaign came up 679 signatures short last month.

Ohio cannabis advocates who are seeking to put a legalization question to voters in 2024 came up 679 valid signatures short of their goal. The campaign was given until August 4 to gather the rest of the signatures.

Florida-based Trulieve Cannabis Corp. filed a civil lawsuit against an Ohio medical cannabis company seeking payment of loans and other fees valued at $23.8 million.

Officials on the Ohio State Medical Board last week added irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) as a qualifying condition to the state’s medical cannabis program.

Ohio cannabis advocates with the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol say they have collected enough signatures to put a legalization question before voters.

A pair of Ohio state representatives have introduced a bipartisan proposal to legalize the cultivation, purchasing, and possession of cannabis by Ohioans aged 21+. The bill also contains language for the expungement of prior cultivation and possession offenses.

Activists in Ohio are again collecting signatures to put a cannabis ballot initiative before voters in November after state lawmakers failed to pass a citizen-authored legalization initiative this year.

Under an executive budget proposal by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), the Ohio Board of Pharmacy would no longer be responsible for regulating the state’s medical cannabis dispensaries.

Seven police officers who helped carry out a raid on Afroman’s house in Ohio last year are now suing the artist over his use of footage from the raid, which depicts the officers’ faces, in music videos and on social media. The rapper says he plans to countersue.

Under an Ohio proposal, motorists who fail a drug test for cannabis would no longer be charged automatically with a DUI, acknowledging how evidence of cannabis use can remain in the body for days or even weeks after consuming.

Ohio medical cannabis advocates are pushing for the third year in a row to add autism to the state’s medical cannabis qualifying conditions list.

Ohio lawmakers are considering expanding the state’s medical cannabis industry to accommodate any condition that could “reasonably be expected to be relieved” by cannabis.

Two men in Ohio have been indicted for charges stemming from unlawful securities practices and fraud in a fake medical cannabis and CBD oil manufacturing business.