COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio leaders are debating whether or not to comply with an expected federal ban on "intoxicating hemp" products.
"It's not fair," said Meredith Farrow, owner of hemp business Clean Remedies in Avon.
As the federal government shutdown looks like it's coming to an end, hemp sellers like Farrow were surprised by the Senate. When voting to open the government, policymakers closed a loophole created in the 2018 Farm Bill, which allowed for low-level THC products to be sold without regulation.
Congress’s Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Farm Bill) allowed for hemp products to be sold as long as they have .3% THC or less. U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued guidance on their website that under the law, the Drug Enforcement Administration no longer has the authority to seize and criminalize sending or buying seeds with less than .3% THC. In 2019, Ohio legalized the product, as well.
"It would put all my employees out of business and me out of business — and our hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, thousands and thousands of customers that rely on this daily, they would be in a lurch," Farrow said.
Just last month, Gov. Mike DeWine signed a temporary ban on hemp that gets users high. The THC products can look like candy, and they're sold at places like gas stations and smoke shops with no age limits.
But a judge temporarily blocked DeWine's executive order.
"If I kind of knew, I could make a decision and pivot," Farrow said. "But being in limbo is the worst place to be,"
State Rep. Tex Fischer (R-Boardman) has been leading the charge to protect hemp products, and he said Congress threw a wrench in his plans.
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"We're still trying to figure out how to implement what's going on at the federal level, so I think that maybe pumped the brakes a little bit — while we try to figure out how to proceed based on that," Fischer said.
But marijuana industry legal expert Jonathan Adler explained that the federal policy doesn’t have to impact Ohio sellers. Hemp policy will likely be dealt with on a state level, like marijuana, he said.
"While marijuana is illegal for purposes of federal law, the federal government doesn't have the resources, doesn't have the personnel to go after individual retailers, individual buyers, let alone individual users," Adler said.
Adrienne Robbins with the Ohio Cannabis Coalition supports legal marijuana, but is anti-hemp. She said that the ban should be enforced in Ohio.
"We think this is an issue of public health for both adults and children, to be clear, when it comes to these unregulated products," Robbins said.
But if we aren't enforcing federal law with marijuana...
"Should we be enforcing it with hemp?" I asked House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima).
"It's a good question, in fact, a couple of people asked that today," Huffman responded. "Well, we can do whatever we want regarding hemp... Now, are we going to go around and start cuffing 17-year-old clerks at gas stations? No, but we've got to get this thing in shape."
Huffman has never been a fan of the product or of cannabis, but he said he has lost this fight — and it needs to be regulated in some way.
"I think that THC products should be sold the same way like we do with all alcohol products now... I think [a federal ban] changes the discussion that we're having now, because with the federal action, there's no legal way that these folks can operate where they are right now."
Still, he acknowledged that THC drinks are very popular and likely will continue to be allowed regardless.
And before Ohio can start evaluating, the leaders' eyes are on D.C.
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