Ohio

Will Ohio’s marijuana law change soon? House lawmakers pitch new plan

Published

9 months ago

May 29, 2025

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Will Ohio’s marijuana law change soon? House lawmakers pitch new plan

A new version of Senate Bill 56 eliminates jail time for passengers smoking marijuana, restricts home-grow locations and regulates hemp products.
The bill changes how marijuana tax revenue is allocated, reducing funds for municipalities and eliminating money for substance abuse and social equity programs.
Additional changes include capping dispensaries, restricting smoking locations, banning child-centric advertising and setting THC limits.

Ohio lawmakers are one step closer to changing the recreational marijuana law approved by voters in 2023.

A House committee unveiled changes May 28 to Senate Bill 56, an overhaul of the adult-use cannabis program that would impose new rules and change how the state spends marijuana revenue. Lawmakers worked behind the scenes for weeks to hash out a modified proposal, and more changes could be on the horizon.

“Our organization has worked diligently to ensure that policymakers hear from the industry before making any changes to the current statute,” said David Bowling, executive director of the Ohio Cannabis Coalition. “While there’s still more to assess, the proposal is an important step forward.”

Here’s where the bill stands now.

House scraps jail time for smoking marijuana as a passenger

The Senate created new penalties for people who smoke or vape marijuana while riding in a vehicle, including a mandatory three-day jail sentence for first-time offenders. House lawmakers got rid of that.

It would still be illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana. The bill also requires anyone driving with marijuana to store it in the trunk or keep products in their original packaging.

Advocates for criminal justice reform said the bill is an improvement but doesn’t do enough to right the wrongs of cannabis prohibition. Lawmakers plan to eliminate a social equity program − which never got off the ground − that aimed to diversify the industry and study the impact of marijuana enforcement.

“We remain committed to our position that, in addition to legalizing cannabis, we must also repair the harms of past criminalization,” said Patrick Higgins, senior policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.

How much marijuana can you grow at home in Ohio?

The latest version of the bill maintains current rules for home grow: Adults 21 and older can grow six plants individually or up to 12 in a household with multiple adults.

But the legislation also adds some new restrictions. It bans growing at homes that serve as child care facilities or transitional housing. People who want to gift home-grown marijuana to another adult could only do so at their primary residence.

Hemp regulation added to mix

Lawmakers combined changes to the marijuana law with their efforts to crack down on delta-8 THC and other hemp-derived cannabis.

The bill now requires intoxicating hemp products to be sold at marijuana dispensaries with a tax rate of 10%. That includes anything inhaled or ingested with over 2 milligrams of delta-9 THC per package or 0.5 milligrams of other THC.

Retailers and breweries could sell beverages with no more than 0.42 milligrams of THC per ounce, which amounts to about 5 milligrams per 12-ounce can. There would be a $3.50-per-gallon excise tax on drinks.

New plan for spending marijuana tax money

The bill keeps the current tax rate of 10% on adult-use marijuana products, even though Gov. Mike DeWine and Senate Republicans pushed for an increase. But it changes where that money goes.

Lawmakers eliminated funds for substance abuse prevention and the social equity program. Instead, most of the money would go to the state’s general bank account.

The proposal does allocate 25% of the revenue to cities with dispensaries for seven years. That’s an upgrade from DeWine’s plan to scrap the fund altogether, but still less than current law, which gives municipalities 36% in perpetuity.

Many local leaders are frustrated that money promised in the voter-backed statute could decrease or go away entirely.

“We have a number of municipalities who went out on a political limb, often with great discussion, to create an environment for an emerging industry that’s somewhat controversial to emerge,” Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord, said.

How else could Ohio’s marijuana law change?

The new version of Senate Bill 56 also:

Limits the number of active dispensaries statewide to 400.
Only allows people to smoke or vape at private residences and outdoor concert venues, provided the venue allows it.
Bans advertisements and packaging that feature cartoons or other content geared toward children.
Caps THC content at 35% for flower and 70% for extracts, although the Division of Cannabis Control could change or eliminate those limits.
Requires the division to establish standards for delivery and online ordering at dispensaries.
Allows Ohioans to apply for expungement for low-level marijuana possession convictions.

The House will hold at least one more committee hearing on the bill before it’s up for a full vote. It would then need to go back to the Senate.

State government reporter Haley BeMiller can be reached at hbemiller@gannett.com or @haleybemiller on X.

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Ohio

Ohio woman sentenced in $775,000 Medicaid scheme

Published

11 hours ago

February 27, 2026

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COLUMBUS — A Lake County woman was sentenced this morning to jail time and ordered to pay $775,000 in restitution for fraudulently billing Medicaid, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced. “She inflated her earnings through brazen fraud, but her scheme burst wide open when our investigators got the case,” Yost said. “Cheating taxpayers comes with […]

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Ohio

‘Catastrophic’ Ohio farm fire kills 6,000 hogs and pigs, officials say

Published

23 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

‘Catastrophic’ Ohio farm fire kills 6,000 hogs and pigs, officials say

A wind-swept blaze at an Ohio hog farm complex caused “catastrophic” damage and left thousands of pigs dead, fire officials said, marking another devastating barn inferno contributing to the deaths of millions of animals in recent years.

The massive fire occurred on Wednesday, Feb. 25, at Fine Oak Farms in Union Township, Madison County, located west of Ohio’s capital of Columbus, according to the Central Townships Joint Fire District. Fire crews received a report of a barn fire shortly before 12 p.m. local time.

The incident was later upgraded to a commercial structure fire after Chief Brian Bennington observed a “large column of smoke visible from a distance” and requested additional resources. Multiple local fire departments, along with several other emergency agencies, were called to the scene.

“What our crews encountered upon arrival was a very difficult and heartbreaking incident,” Bennington said in a statement on Feb. 26.

The fire chief described the facility as a large farm complex used for hog production consisting of five large agricultural buildings, including four that housed about 7,500 hogs. When crews arrived at the scene, they found two of the barns engulfed in flames, Bennington said.

Crews were challenged by windy conditions that significantly impacted fire suppression efforts, according to Bennington. Three barns were destroyed in the fire, and about 6,000 hogs and pigs were killed.

Firefighters saved one barn and about 1,500 hogs, the fire chief added. No injuries were reported in the incident.

Bennington highlighted the assistance of the farming community throughout Madison and Clark counties, as multiple farmers responded with water trucks to help with water supply efforts. “Rural Ohio’s agricultural community is tight-knit, and they truly step up when one of their own is in need,” he said.

The incident remains under investigation, and the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office will determine the fire’s cause and origin. Bennington said there is no suspicion of arson and no ongoing threat to the public at this time.

‘Rapidly changing fire behavior conditions’

Heavy smoke from the fire could be seen for miles, and Bennington said first-arriving units were met with fire conditions coming from the opposite side of the hog farm complex.

The fire chief noted that the incident required extensive water-shuttle operations due to rural water-supply limitations in the area. Crews attempted to cut the fire off by deploying multiple handlines and using an aerial device, but “faced extremely challenging conditions throughout the incident,” according to Bennington.

Sustained winds of about 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph accelerated the fire’s spread, Bennington said. The high winds made it “extremely difficult” to contain forward fire progression and created “rapidly changing fire behavior conditions” across the agricultural complex, he added.

After about four to five hours, the fire was contained by fire personnel from four different counties, according to the fire chief.

“Unfortunately, the fire resulted in catastrophic damage to the business,” Bennington said in an earlier statement on Feb. 25. “A significant portion of the agricultural structures were destroyed.”

Latest major fire to impact an Ohio hog farm

The incident at Fine Oak Farms is the latest major fire to cause significant damage to an Ohio hog farm in recent years.

In August 2024, about 1,100 pigs were killed in Versailles, a village about 50 miles northwest of Dayton, Ohio, according to data from the nonprofit Animal Welfare Institute. In March 2022, about 2,000 hogs died in a barn fire at Kenneth Scholl Hog Farm in Brown Township, just west of Columbus.

Before the fire at Fine Oak Farms, the Animal Welfare Institute reported that other barn fires in Ohio this year killed 162 sheep, horses, cows, chickens, and other animals.

Hundreds of thousands of animals killed in barn fires each year

Data from the Animal Welfare Institute shows that hundreds of thousands of animals are killed in barn fires across the country each year. Since 2013, over 9 million farm animals have been killed in barn fires, according to the organization.

As of Feb. 26, the Animal Welfare Institute reported that 118,738 farm animals have died in U.S. barn fires this year, including the incident at Fine Oak Farms. The majority of farm animals killed were chickens in separate incidents in North Carolina and Georgia in January, and another incident in Missouri earlier this month.

“Most fatal barn fires occurred in colder states, particularly the Upper Midwest and the Northeast. New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois had the highest number of barn fires, respectively,” according to the organization. “The amount of cold weather a state experienced appeared to be a greater factor in the prevalence of barn fires than the intensity of a state’s animal agriculture production.”

In an updated report on farm animal deaths due to barn fires in 2025, the Animal Welfare Institute said more than 2.53 million farm animals were killed in barn fires from 2022 to 2024. The organization noted that the high death toll was “driven primarily” by fires at large operations that housed several thousand to over 1 million farm animals.

The majority of deaths in these incidents during that period, over 98%, were farmed birds, such as chickens and turkeys, according to the Animal Welfare Institute. But in 2023, a massive fire at a west Texas dairy farm became the single deadliest event involving livestock in the state’s history and the deadliest cattle fire in America in at least a decade.

18,000 head of cattle perished in the fire at the South Fork Dairy farm near Dimmitt, Texas. At the time, Roger Malone, who is the former mayor of Dimmitt, called the incident “mind-boggling.”

“I don’t think it’s ever happened before around here. It’s a real tragedy,” Malone said.

Contributing: Rick Jervis, USA TODAY; Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch

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Ohio

Ohio’s LaRose pushes back on voter fraud critics, Democrats

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Ohio’s LaRose pushes back on voter fraud critics, Democrats

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose discussed voter fraud and Ohio’s efforts to prevent it during a recent radio appearance.

LaRose appeared on “The Bill Cunningham” radio show, where he defended the state’s efforts to minimize voter fraud. A clip posted on X shows audio of LaRose arguing that policies aimed at preventing voter fraud are necessary even though cases are rare.

Here’s what to know.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose says voter fraud in Ohio is rare, compares prevention efforts to TSA security

In the clip, LaRose says that Democrats claim voter fraud is rare, and should be ignored.

“The left claims that voter fraud is rare, so we should just ignore it,” he said. “Well, airplane hijackings are also rare — we don’t abolish the TSA. The reason why we keep voter fraud rare in states like Ohio because we do these very things that they’re trying to take away from me.”

LaRose announced the inaugural meeting of the new Ohio Election Integrity Commission, which replaces what he called the flawed Ohio Elections Commission, in January 2026. The new committee, he says, will be used in “enforcing Ohio’s election laws, reviewing alleged violations, and ensuring accountability in matters relating to voting.”

In October 2025, LaRose said that he forwarded more than 1,000 cases of voter fraud to the U.S. Department of Justice. The cases involved 1,084 noncitizen individuals who appear to have registered to vote unlawfully in Ohio, and 167 noncitizens who appear to have also cast a ballot in a federal election since 2018.

In February 2026, President Donald Trump said Republicans should “nationalize” elections. He also accused Democrats of bringing migrants into the United States to illegally vote, a claim that is not backed by evidence, USA TODAY reports.

Voter fraud in the U.S. is considered rare nationwide, according to NPR, but there are still debates from both political sides on how frequently it occurs.

What is voter fraud?

Electoral fraud is defined as illegally interfering with the process of an election, according to Ballotpedia. This includes in-person voter fraud, absentee or mail ballots and illegal voter suppression.

Criminal penalties can include fines or imprisonment for up to five years, according to U.S. code. In Ohio, election interference can carry a felony of the fourth degree, according to Ohio Code.

Voter fraud is often a topic of debate among Democrats and Republicans, where organizations such as the conservative Heritage Foundation maintains a database claiming to show nearly 1,500 cases of election fraud since the year 2000.

Meanwhile, research by law professor Justin Leavitt published in 2014 found 31 cases of in-person voter fraud among billions of ballots cast from 2000–2014, according to Ballotpedia.

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