{"id":202693,"date":"2026-02-15T21:53:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T02:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=202693"},"modified":"2026-02-16T08:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T13:54:08","slug":"group-collecting-signatures-for-marijuana-referendum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/02\/15\/group-collecting-signatures-for-marijuana-referendum\/","title":{"rendered":"Group getting signatures for pot referendum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Megan Henry\/Ohio Capital Journal<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohioans for Cannabis Choice have started to collect signatures to get a referendum on the ballot to block a new law that will change the state\u2019s voter-passed recreational marijuana law and ban intoxicating hemp products. But they are up against a March 19 deadline.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They need more than 248,000 signatures to get on the November 3 ballot. The group will also need three percent of an individual county\u2019s gubernatorial turnout in 44 of Ohio\u2019s 88 counties.<\/strong> Despite the looming deadline, Joey Ellwood, a hemp farmer in Tuscarawas County, is confident they will get the needed signatures to get the referendum on the ballot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a ground swell and folks are angry,\u201d he said. \u201c(Politicians) hate the fact that people spoke and now they\u2019re trying to re-criminalize cannabis and ban products, and we\u2019re not going to stand for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Joey Ellwood, a hemp farmer in Tuscarawas County, prepares to speak at a press conference for Ohioans for Cannabis Choice on Feb. 9, 2026. Photo by Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost initially rejected the referendum\u2019s summary language, but recently approved after Ohioans for Cannabis Choice made changes to the langauge.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are on a limited timeline,\u201d Ellwood said. \u201cThe attorney general took a significant amount of time to go through that, which put us up against it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio Senate Bill 56 \u2014 set to take effect March 20 \u2014 will reduce the THC levels in adult-use marijuana extracts from a maximum of 90 percent down to a maximum of 70 percent, cap THC levels in adult-use flower to 35 percent, and prohibit smoking in most public places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It prohibits possessing marijuana in anything outside of its original packaging and criminalizes bringing legal marijuana from another state back to Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legislation also requires drivers to store marijuana in the trunk of their car while driving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohioans voted to legalize marijuana in 2023, recreational sales started in August 2024, and sales totaled more than $836 million in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legislation would also ban intoxicating hemp products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have many patients that have maintained their sobriety from drugs and alcohol due to CBD and CBD-combined products,\u201d said Dr. Bridget Williams, a board-certified family physician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI also have a lot of patients that have been able to maintain sobriety by using cannabis related products, CBD, and THC for social interaction.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

She founded Green Harvest Health, an Ohio medical cannabis clinic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have to consider that if we do not allow these opportunities to continue, we will have patients that will no longer have an option for their stress or the sleep issues they might experience,\u201d Williams said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wesley Bryant, owner of 420 Craft Beverage in Cleveland, said he supports regulation, testing, age-gating products, and having a proper licensing framework. His business employs 20 people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s 20 families that I employ,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat am I supposed to do on March 19, when I have to look at these 20 families and tell them, you can no longer work here, not because we failed as a business, but because the government failed us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the federal level, Congress voted in November to ban products that contain 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container when they voted to reopen the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previously, the 2018 Farm Bill said hemp can be grown legally if it contains less than 0.3 percent THC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a one-year implementation delay for the federal hemp ban, but states can create their own regulatory framework before then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI actually do not see a ban coming in November,\u201d Bryant said. \u201cWhat I see is a regulatory framework that\u2019s been sorely missed from the jump start of the farm bill, so I think that that is coming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio Cannabis Coalition and Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol \u2014 the group behind Issue 2 on the 2023 ballot \u2014 oppose the attempted referendum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to bash my counterparts,\u201d Bryant said when asked about opposition from Ohio\u2019s marijuana industry. \u201cThat\u2019s not what I\u2019m here to do. What I will say is they have a limited license program. It is in their best interest to abolish competition, and with S.B. 56, that\u2019s what you have, abolition of competition.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last referendum that passed in Ohio was when voters overturned an anti-collective bargaining law in 2011.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Megan Henry\/Ohio Capital Journal Ohioans for Cannabis Choice have started to collect signatures to get a referendum on the ballot to block a new law that will change the state\u2019s voter-passed recreational marijuana law and ban intoxicating hemp products. But they are up against a March 19 deadline.   They need more than 248,000 signatures to get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-202693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-10 21:35:14","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202693"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202723,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202693\/revisions\/202723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}