Ohioans approved Issue 2 because it created a simple, comprehensible, voter-designed cannabis system. It legalized adult use, protected home grow, limited local obstruction, established clear tax distribution rules, and placed regulation under one division with a focused mandate. The framework was straightforward, predictable, and easy to administer. SB 56 replaces that model with a dense, sprawling, government-heavy system that voters did not authorize.
Instead of one chapter governing adult-use cannabis, SB 56 scatters authority across multiple rewritten chapters, new sections, and cross-references. The bill layers new mandates on testing, labeling, zoning, licensing, enforcement, and product categories. What was once a clear regulatory structure voters could understand becomes an administrative maze managed by multiple agencies. The simplicity that made Issue 2 functional is gone.
The tax system voters approved was direct: a ten percent tax with fixed distribution percentages. SB 56 discards that formula and substitutes appropriations that must be recalculated, defended, and reauthorized. This shift increases bureaucracy, reduces predictability, and creates opportunities for political manipulation. A transparent voter-mandated model becomes a government-controlled revenue machine.
The bill also introduces bloat by adding responsibilities that did not exist under Issue 2. New regulatory powers, duplicative oversight structures, expanded rulemaking authority, and enlarged enforcement mechanisms all increase the size and complexity of state involvement. None of this aligns with what voters enacted. Ohioans chose legalization, not administrative expansion.
SB 56 reintroduces the very problems Issue 2 sought to eliminate: uncertainty, government intervention, and unnecessary barriers to market entry. The voter-approved framework made participation accessible and understandable. The legislative rewrite makes it difficult to navigate without lawyers, lobbyists, and compliance specialists. A simple, voter-driven system has been replaced with a bureaucratic one controlled by political actors rather than the public that passed it.