Senate Bill 56 – Revise medical and adult-use marijuana laws; levy marijuana taxes
https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/136/sb56
SB56 is a full-scale takeover and rebuild of Ohio’s hemp market. The bill treats “intoxicating hemp” almost the same as marijuana and creates a tightly controlled system run by the Division of Cannabis Control and the Department of Agriculture.
- Redefines which hemp products are legal
SB56 creates a new legal category called “intoxicating hemp products.”
These are hemp items that exceed very small THC thresholds (for example, more than 0.5 mg delta-9 per serving or 2 mg per package). Most delta-8, delta-9, delta-10, and similar products fall into this category.
Anything that can be eaten, inhaled, or absorbed counts.
- Bans retail sales of intoxicating hemp unless you get a state license
Retail sale is completely illegal unless the seller becomes a state-licensed hemp dispensary and sells only to customers age 21+.
- Creates a full dispensary licensing system
Anyone who wants to sell intoxicating hemp must:
Apply for a dispensary license
Pass criminal background checks
Submit detailed applications for each location
Allow inspections and investigations
- Requires marijuana-style testing, packaging, and labeling
All intoxicating hemp products must follow the same testing and packaging rules used for adult-use marijuana in Ohio.
- Allows state seizure and destruction of noncompliant products
Inspectors may confiscate hemp they believe violates rules or contains banned additives.
- Gives the state broad power over advertising
Ads must be submitted to the state for preapproval. The superintendent can approve or deny within 21 business days.
- Adds potency caps and bans synthetic THC
The superintendent must set potency limits and prohibit synthetic THC in any product.
- Restricts local governments
Cities and townships cannot ban or limit dispensaries unless the ban already existed before June 30, 2025.
- Imposes storage rules, contamination limits, and bans mixing in drugs or enhancers
Products cannot include any drugs or substances that enhance THC effects.
- Criminalizes some consumer behavior
Consumers must keep edible intoxicating hemp in original packaging when not in use.
- Requires warning signage in dispensaries
Shops must display signs about health risks and illegality for under-21 use.
- Creates new rules for drinkable hemp products
Defines “low-level” and “high-level” drinkable cannabinoid products with precise THC thresholds and serving limits.
Plain-Language Summary
SB56 shuts down Ohio’s open hemp market and replaces it with a marijuana-style system where the state decides who can sell, what can be sold, how strong it can be, how it must be packaged, how it must be advertised, and who can buy it. Retailers must become licensed dispensaries. Cities cannot block them unless they acted before mid-2025. State agencies get broad authority to inspect, test, confiscate, and penalize.
The intention is to eliminate unregulated intoxicating hemp (like delta-8 products) and fold the entire market under strict state control.
SB56 clashes with core Libertarian principles. The bill replaces a free hemp market with heavy licensing, state approvals, advertising control, product seizures, and restricted adult choice. Libertarians support free markets and minimal government, and SB56 expands state power instead.