What is the State of Marijuana in Ohio?
In Ohio, medical and recreational marijuana are legal. The state legalized cannabis for medical use in 2016 when Governor John Kasich signed House Bill 523 into law. HB523 also created the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program and set up the system by which the state licenses and regulates the cultivation, manufacturing, and sales of medical marijuana to eligible patients and caregivers. The first licensed dispensaries started offering medical cannabis in the state on January 16, 2019.
Adult-use marijuana became legal in Ohio on December 7, 2023 when voters approved Issue 2, a ballot measure on the November 7 election, by a margin of 57 - 43. Prior to this, most municipalities in Ohio have decriminalized the possession of up to 100 grams of marijuana. The legal sales of recreational cannabis is set to commence in Ohio in the second half of 2024. The law legalizing adult-use marijuana in the state stipulates that licenses must be issued to cultivators, processors, and dispensaries within 9 months of the December 7, 2023 start date.
How has Marijuana affected the Ohio Economy?
Medical marijuana purchases in Ohio are subject to a 5.75% state sales tax in addition to local county taxes. Total medical cannabis tax in Ohio varies by municipality and is between 6.5% and 7.25%. According to the state’s Division of Cannabis Control, dispensaries have sold $1.7 billion worth of cannabis between the commencement of the medical marijuana program and February 26, 2024.
Generally, the revenues generated from the sale of medical marijuana in Ohio are used to fund various programs and initiatives. These include:
Research on the use of medical marijuana for medicinal purposes
Educational campaigns on the safe and responsible use of medical marijuana
Substance abuse treatment and prevention programs
Grants for local governments to support drug abuse prevention and treatment programs.
The Ohio recreational marijuana law set a 10% sales tax on retail marijuana. However, a bill introduced after the law passed proposed raising this tax to 15%. Other changes introduced in this bill, HB 86, include allowing municipalities to tax retail cannabis in addition to the 3% excise tax already levied on cannabis sales. HB 86 passed both chambers of the Ohio legislature and is expected to be signed into law by the governor within 90 days. If it becomes law, it will allow Ohio to generate more revenue from recreational marijuana sales than from medical marijuana sales.
What is the Marijuana Crime Rate in Ohio?
Medical marijuana became legal in Ohio in 2016, enabling residents with valid registry identification cards to possess and use marijuana products. Possession of under 100g of cannabis was decriminalized in the state, but possession of over 200g of cannabis remains a felony. In 2014, prior to the legalization of medical marijuana, the FBI Crime Data Explorer revealed there were 19,063 marijuana-related arrests in the state. This consisted of 17,981 arrests for possession and 1,082 arrests for sales/distribution. In the first year of legalization (2016), arrests for possession had dropped to 17,714 (-1.48%), and arrests for sales had dropped to 1,017 (-6%). This represented a total decrease of 1.74% in marijuana arrests in the state, suggesting a downward trend in marijuana arrests.
In 2021, local law enforcers made more than 6,000 arrests for illegal marijuana possession and 219 arrests for marijuana sales crimes. While the figure for arrest for possession went up to over 7,000 in 2022, arrest for sales dipped to 208. There is a clear trend of declining arrests for marijuana-related crimes in Ohio since medical marijuana was legalized. Arrest figures are expected to fall even lower when the legal sales of recreational marijuana begins in the state.
What is the History of Ohio Marijuana?
Marijuana had been widely cultivated in the United States since the late-1700s, mostly as hemp for ropes, fibers, and clothes. An influx of Mexican immigrants in the early 20th century saw a proliferation of smokable marijuana, which resulted in a clampdown by the authorities. The federal government amended the 1907 Poison Act to include marijuana in 1913, which led several states, including Ohio, to enact state-level laws criminalizing marijuana. The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 effectively prohibited cannabis in the United States except for medicinal and industrial uses. However, the fees and procedures instituted by the law made its usage very rare. The U.S. Supreme Court struck out the Marihuana Tax Act in 1969, citing its violation of citizens' Fifth Amendment rights. This led to its repeal and replacement with the Controlled Substances Act in 1970. The Controlled Substances Act listed cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug, implying it had no accepted medical uses and a high potential for abuse. This prohibited the possession, cultivation, and sale of marijuana for any purpose.
Through the 1970s, there was a series of decriminalization of possession of small amounts of cannabis by several states. This was partly due to a change in attitudes following the Vietnam War and partly to reduce the pressure on law enforcement resources. In 1975, Ohio decriminalized marijuana possession of up to 100g (3.5 oz) to a minor misdemeanor with the maximum penalty of a $100 fine. There were no other measures to legalize marijuana in the state until 2015 when a ballot measure was introduced at the polls. The Ohio Marijuana Legalization Initiative, also known as Issue 3, sought to:
Legalize recreational marijuana use and sales for adults in Ohio
Allow the cultivation of cannabis on a commercial scale
Allow adults to possess up to 1 oz. of commercially purchased cannabis and up to 8 oz. of homegrown cannabis.
Allow the cultivation of up to 4 plants by licensed persons in their private residences.
The measure failed to pass by a 65-35 margin against at the polls. The measure's plan to monopolize the production of cannabis made its support among legalization activists quite tepid.
In 2016, the Ohio legislature enacted and passed House Bill 523, which was signed into law by Governor John Kasich on June 8. The Act legalized the cultivation, processing, dispensing, testing, and possession of marijuana for medical purposes in the state. It established the Medical Marijuana Control Program and set up a state-licensed system that oversees the growing, testing, processing, and retail dispensing of cannabis. It also established databases for certified physicians, patients, and caregivers and authorized different state departments to regulate and maintain the different aspects of the program.
Another voters’ initiative titled ‘An Act to Control and Regulate Adult Use Cannabis’ may appear on the ballot in November 2023. The initiative proposal, which seeks to legalize marijuana possession for adults aged 21 and above, was initially submitted in 2021. Unfortunately, the measure did not appear on the 2022 November ballot due to the timing of submitted signatures.
After garnering enough signatures, the question of the legality of recreational cannabis in Ohio finally appeared on the November 2023 ballot as Issue 2. It was approved by voters on November 7, 2023 with 57% of the vote. This led to recreational marijuana becoming legal in Ohio a month later, with legal sales commencing in 2024.
