What: The Farce. The Fix. The Force. The * …

You support legalizing marijuana, aka cannabis, in Ohio. In fact, you have followed this issue for years. A few citizens you knew were putting the subject on the ballot. You signed their petition, confident that you understood its contents. Sufficient signatures and plentiful petitions placed the issue on the statewide ballot in November 2023 as Issue 2. You made sure your voter registration was current so you could participate in the early vote. After election day, you woke up happily to find that over 2 million other Ohioans voted just like you. Ohio legalized adult use cannabis. The new law went into effect on December 7. And Ohioans lived happily ever after … or not. You recently learned that Ohio legislators are trying to gut the new law. Your reaction? WTF!

WHAT: THE FRAMEWORK

After decades of hard work, heartbreak, toil, trouble, tears, jeers, and sometimes cheers, Ohio voters passed Issue 2 – the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (RMLA) citizen-initiated statute – on November 7, 2023. By a comfortable fourteen-point margin of 57 percent vs 43 percent, 2,226,399 Ohioans legalized marijuana, aka cannabis.

Thirty days later, on December 7, 2023, the statute – initiated by citizens, not the legislature – became law. Or did it? Thanks to Ohio politics, this debate has become the back-and-forth of controversy.

Ohio’s laws find their basis in the Ohio Constitution, the Ohio Revised Code, and the Ohio Administrative Code. The constitution supersedes the other two. The revised code contains the law, while the administrative code lists rules adopted by state agencies. The Legislative Services Commission (LSC) codifies these codes.

When laws need to be changed, citizens have several options: the General Assembly of elected representatives and Senators; a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment; a statewide referendum; and a citizen initiated statute.

Most election observers would concur that the voter-approved ballot language of an initiated statute reflects the will of the voters. That being so, the statute should remain as is and be inserted into the Ohio Revised Code that way. This is what happened after the 2023 election, and that ballot language remains in the Code to this very day.

However, the trifecta dominated Ohio General Assembly signaled changes were in the works. Even before the election, Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman (now Speaker of the Ohio House) had modifications in mind:

“I definitely think that if it passes, there are problems in it that need to get addressed. I will advocate for reviewing things or repealing things or changing things that are in it."

At a Columbus event, Governor Mike DeWine observed,

“… there's a lot of holes in what was passed … What the people have clearly told us is they want legal marijuana in Ohio … We are going to see that they have that, but we’ve also got to live up to our responsibility to all the people in the state of Ohio, whether they voted for it or voted against it ... And we do it, frankly, the Ohio way.”

And so, the General Assembly took out its scissors, glue, and yellow markers to hack away at Issue 2, beginning even before it took effect. I guess that’s Ohio way?

WHAT: THE FIX

Barely before the balloting began, Republican lawmakers busied themselves with fixing Issue 2. In fact, just days before the election, the Ohio Senate penned Resolution 216, a 20-point package of deception and propaganda. Ohio voters weren’t listening.

Then, Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman  warned of repeal, insisting that, even if two million voters approved the measure, it was “coming right back before this body. [The General Assembly].” State Senator Stephen Huffman (R-5) (Matt Huffman’s cousin – can you say “trifecta”?) opined,

“It’s not to do away with the ballot initiative … It’s to work around the edges to make it better.”

The gauntlet had been laid. For most of the last two years, Republicans did just that. Here’s the list of revisionist bills from the General Assembly’s two most recent terms. One can’t help but notice that the trifecta has driven all suggested changes. But even with initial passage, none so far reached enacted law. (Thank God!)

WHAT: THE FARCE

Four bills hit the legislative floor immediately after Issue 2’s November 7, 2023, passage: House Bill 326 (11/13/2023), H.B. 341 (11/28/2023), H.B. 354 (12/5/2023), and H.B. 326 (12/6/23). The problem was that the 2023-2024 legislative cycle ended on December 31st. The bills died and a new legislature was seated in early 2025. If Matt Huffman was going to have his way, a flurry of new bills had to be introduced, heard, and passed - ASAP. The farce and its chaos ensued.

First was Senate Bill 56. Introduced on 1/28/2025 by Ohio Senator Stephen Huffman (R-5), this bill made no bones about the General Assembly’s contempt for cannabis. Even though the bill supported 2.5-ounce possession and a social equity tax distribution, the measure hit several non-starters, beginning with mandatory minimum sentencing for minor infractions. No Prison for Patients! Then, it reduced home grow to six plants and THC potency to 70%. Still, on 2/26/2025, The bill handily passed along party lines (that trifecta thing) and headed to the House where it received a raucous reception from opponents. 

Meanwhile, S.B. 86, also introduced by Senator Stephen Huffman on 2/4/2025, attacked intoxicating hemp products, a pet peeve of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. The bill took sales away gas stations and gave them to dispensaries. After a bevy of hearings, the bill unanimously passed on 4/30/2024 and also headed to the House.

Not to be out done, Ohio House member Brian Stewart (R-12) introduced H.B. 160 on 3/6/2025. This legislation tried to compress liquor, hemp, and adult use marijuana into one bill. Broad brush stroke, indeed. The bill changed the regulatory agency’s name, reduced potency, and nixed social equity, but kept homegrow plant numbers aligned with Issue 2. It also kept intact the onerous mandatory sentencing that tarnished S.B. 56. Opponent testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on 5/7/2025 crushed the bill, leaving it to languish after its third hearing.

Then, the drawing board moved back to the Senate and Sub. S.B. 56. This bill’s second house Judiciary Committee hearing occurred on 5/28/2025, with no testimony. At the third hearing on 6/4/25, opponents again pounded the measure, as they did with H.B. 160, leading to significant changes. As Rep. Stewart put it:

“What we’re doing is essentially taking House Bill 160 and putting that into Senate Bill 56 … [and] largely taken Senate Bill 86 and put that into Senate Bill 56 as well.” Legislative soup?

This hodge-podge resulted in substitute bill (l_136_1413-3 - sub bill) that eliminated mandatory jail time and also increased the tax revenue going to municipalities, which had become a sticking point.

After the 6/4/25 pounding, S.B. 56 was removed from the committee agenda for the week of June 18. A fourth hearing planned for June 24 initially had its location changed but was then cancelled. On again, off again. With their precious summer recess on the line, the General Assembly adjourned, delaying further hacks on Issue 2 to the fall.

As Rep Stewart put it, “We are going to push pause. We’re going to take the summer and come back and potentially take another crack at it.”

WHAT: THE FELONY

So why does the General Assembly go through the hassle of redoing Issue 2 in the first place? Recall, the RMLA adult use ballot initiative went into effect on its prescribed date: December 7, 2023. What’s in the Revised Code right now is the very language that voters approved back then.

Has the program put in place in 2023 been a failure? Are the changes suggested by the General Assembly necessary?

Here are the current metrics of Ohio’s marijuana program from the Division of Cannabis Control: 37 Cultivators, 46 Processors, 8 testing labs, 157 dispensaries, 456,921 registered patients, 41,941 caregivers, 104,032 pounds of non-medical sales, 11,248,014 units of manufactured product, and $669,537,500 product sales. The cannabis industry is slated to create as many as 45,000 new jobs during the next few years.

Does this look like failure to you?

Since Issue 2 went into effect, the State of Ohio has garnered over $30 million in tax revenue. Over time, this amount could rise to over $400 million.  According to Issue 2, Ohio’s 10% excise tax revenue on adult use cannabis sales is supposed to be distributed: 36% to municipalities with dispensaries; 36% to a social equity and jobs program; 25% to education and substance abuse treatment programs; and 3% to the state’s general revenue fund to run the program.

Of course, the state wants raise the tax 20+% or more and co-op these funds for police, prisons, and the general slush fund. No doubt social equity is on the chopping block. Some of the money intended for local communities with dispensaries is being held up during the budgeting process.

Sure, if the legislature wants to improve the program, go for it! But it appears that lawmakers instead want to handcuff it and its participants (literally) with rules that restrict and harm cannabis consumers. The most glaring are the mandatory minimum sentences and felonies that appear in S.B. 56 and H.B. 160. To be clear, there were NO such penalties in the Issue 2 ballot language, so there’s no “will of the voters.” Such crimes are a pure invention of a hostile General Assembly looking for a felony to solve.

In reality, Ohio data suggests that overall, marijuana-related crimes have declined since legalization. Arrests for both possession and sales are down. Preliminary data from the Ohio State Highway Patrol indicates a decrease in crashes involving marijuana and fatal crashes from 2023 to 2024, the period encompassing recreational marijuana legalization. 

As the old adage goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

WHAT: THE FALSE FLAG

“Issue 2” comes from the name given by the Ohio Secretary of State to a citizen-initiated statute called Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (RMLA) as it appeared on statewide Ohio ballot in the November 2023 general election. The statute passed by the fairly wide margin of 57% to 43% margin.

As mentioned earlier, citizen-initiated statutes are basically laws crafted by the general public. When they pass, their ballot language becomes part of the Ohio Revised Code.

The petitioning structure of citizen-initiated statutes guarantees that the General Assembly will have a number of opportunities to address its concerns and place its own preferred language in proposed laws. For example, right after collection and certification of the RMLA’s first round of citizen signatures, the proposed law was transmitted to the Ohio legislature by the Secretary of State. Lawmakers had four months to make changes, add new language, or delete provisions they didn’t like. But they did nothing. Given this, its ballot language joined the code as is. Consequently, the General Assembly’s current push to pass legislation overturning portions of Issue 2 is essentially a false flag. They could have, but chose not to.

Read the full text of Issue 2 here and see bullet points of its various provisions here.

WHAT: THE FIND

A recent scholarly paper from the University of Wisconsin Law School questions whether the General Assembly has the power to skewer initiated statutes in the first place. Were the legislative modifications, machinations, and mandates to “make it better” all for naught?

As the paper’s title indicates, there may be “Constitutional Limits on Legislative Overrides of Statutory Initiatives in Ohio.” The paper’s thrust seems to be,

“… the most faithful reading of Ohio’s constitutional text, structure, and history is one that significantly limits—but does not entirely prohibit—legislative overrides of initiated laws. More specifically, it argues that the constitution allows lawmakers to amend voter-approved initiated statutes only if their changes “facilitate” the initiative without in any way limiting or restricting it.”

Here is the Ohio Constitution (see p. 7 Initiative and referendum). Lawmaker’s Issue 2 ax appears to be grounded in the belief that the Ohio Constitution’s silence on the issue – it doesn’t explicitly prohibit amending or repealing voter-approved laws – grants the General Assembly a free rein. Not so. Again, the paper finds that legislators may amend voter-approved initiated statutes, but only if the changes don’t limit or restrict it.

WHAT: THE FOREIGN

The following bullet points come from a press release received by the Columbus Free Press from Grassroots Ohioans. The premise is that S.B. 56 is a “foreign-backed monopoly bill.”

This well-sourced document offers an interesting twist to the Issue 2 debate: If you vote yes on S.B. 56 …

You vote to hand Ohio’s economy to Canada, Cyprus, and Wall Street.

You vote to criminalize legal Ohio businesses overnight.

You vote against 57% of Ohioans who approved Issue 2 in good faith.

You vote to bankrupt farmers, beverage makers, and small-town retailers.

Vote NO to protect economic liberty.

Vote NO to support Ohio jobs and keep our money in our communities.

Vote NO and be remembered as someone who stood on principle when it mattered.

WHAT: THE FORCE

The success of keeping the legislature at bay in its quest to butcher or even repeal Issue 2 belongs to a cadre of dedicated activists who showed their muscle several times at hearings and in other interactions with legislators. In fact, a few deserve their own acclaim.

Attendance at hearings:

H.B. 56 opponent – approximately 45 on February 18 – 2nd Senate Hearing

H.B. 56 opponent – approximately 50 on June 4 – 3rd House Hearing

H.B. 86 opponent – approximately 25 on March 25 – 3rd Senate Hearing

H.B. 160 opponent - approximately 40 on May 7 – 3rd Senate Hearing

Via Facebook pages, Instagram, Zoom, email, rallies, lobby days, and other events, Ohio’s activists, policy groups, and individual interested parties gained their force. These interactions also included many phone calls, emails, and in-person visits with Reps and Senators. No doubt, this diverse crew was responsible for the cancellation of multiple hearings. Dare I say we overpowered the powerful?

Working in the legislature to preserve Issue 2 on the Republican side are Rep. Jamie Callender (R-57) and Tex Fischer (R-59).  Rep. Fischer, in fact, introduced is own ingestible hemp products bill – H.B. 198. It accrued testimony in April and May.

Democrats can thank Senator Bill DeMora (D-25), Rep. Eric Synenberg (D-21), and Rep. Dani Issacsohn (D-24) for their leadership.

It is said that these legislators, along with the activists, are behind the stalled legislation at the Statehouse. They frequently cite the will of the voters, something that is rarely heard from other bill sponsors like Stephen Huffman.

“Thumbing our nose in the face of the voters, I think that should be a non-starter for a lot of people.” Tex Flexner (R-59)

The words of the famed environmentalist, Margaret Mead, ring true for Ohio and are key to Issue 2’s success:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Ohio exemplifies this adage.

WHAT: THE FACTS

When lawmakers complain that the electorate doesn’t understand or even know about Issue 2’s subject matter – legalizing marijuana/cannabis – they obviously haven’t been following Mary Jane’s Guide. The nine Free Press articles below have reported the facts concerning Ohio adult use legalization beginning in 2019.

Mary Jane’s Guide articles concerning the evolution of adult use cannabis in Ohio.

5/9/2025         Dear Ohio House: Vote NO on HB 160 Includes Mary Jane’s testimony.

2/21/ 2025       SB 56: No mandatory minimum jail sentences

12/3/2025        Mary Jane's Guide: Intoxicating Hemp Products Safe or Not? Legal or Not? More Drug War or not? (See proposed legislation towards the end.)

12/4/2023        Mary Jane’s Testimony before the Ohio General Assembly on Issue 2

11/24/2023     WE WON! Two Million Strong! Issue 2 OK’d by Voters, “The Ohio Way”

10/24/2023     Mary Jane's Guide October 2023: Vote YES on Issue 2!!

  –    RMLA Goes to the Ballot

5/30/2023       Mary Jane's Guide - JUST SAY NO! to ISSUE 1 - 10th Anniversary Deep Dive (historic ballot issues) -

12/22/2022     Initiate This: Adult Use Comes to Ohio The Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol initiative and its Path to Potential Passage.

10/5/2019        Mary Jane’s Guide: Is Full Legal Coming to Ohio?

WHAT: THE FINAL ANALYSIS (by Tim Johnson)

What did SB56 and SB86 accomplish in revising Issue 2 language? Well, they rallied advocates, patients, and consumers to show up in the masses and provide testimonies to both the senate and house committee hearings. They silenced the stakeholders in providing little to no testimonies, placing them in a mute state in hopes it would not be discovered that several of them and their coalition actually supported the language in both bills to criminalize patients and consumers and to once again make a monopolistic attempt in controlling Ohio's cannabis community and industry, and they brought educational awareness to Ohio legislators along with their new found support of the cannabis community. 

What really surprised the cannabis community was how the stakeholders attacked their own clients, their own people, the consumer, and the patient with criminalization language rather than legalization language and support for consumer and patient protections. Consumers and patients are the ones who visit dispensaries and buy their products, (but they) want to enhance penalties and mandatory sentencing. That made no business sense. I will be clear not all stakeholders shared these same points, however; they too failed to show consumer and patient support. Business 101, the customer pays your bills.

"Legalization is not legalization until we are free from prosecution".

In unity, Ohio patients, consumers and stakeholders will create a sustainable and affordable cannabis model for others to follow. 

WHAT THE …

As readers will probably know by now, this article is based on the phrase, WTF or “What the F***”, which I’m sure both activists and lawmakers have used in frustration when trying to deal with and sort out the evolution of Issue 2 at the Statehouse. Misguided manifestos, canceled hearings, foreign interference, flurry of bills, and will of the voters. All of these and more have those involved scratching their heads and uttering those four- letter-words: WTF? Issue 2 and the Ohio General Assembly have paved the perfect path for them!

A PDF of this article can be found here.

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Mary Jane Borden is a best-selling author, skilled graphic artist, insightful analyst, and award-winning cannabis activist from Westerville, Ohio. During her 40-year career in drug policy, she co-founded seven cannabis-oriented groups, co-authored four proposed constitutional amendments, lobbied for six medical marijuana bills, penned over 100 Columbus Free Press articles, and has given hundreds of media interviews. She is one of the Courage in Cannabis authors, with articles in both editions. Her artwork can be viewed at CannabinArt.com and she can be reached at maryjaneborden@ gmail.com.