Ohio’s attorney general has rejected activists’ referendum petition to block parts of a restrictive marijuana and hemp law from going into effect, saying its summary is “misleading” and must be revised in order to proceed.
“Upon review of the summary, we identified omissions and misstatements that, as a whole, would mislead a potential signer as to the scope and effect of S.B. 56,” Attorney General Dave Yost (R) wrote in a letter to the petitioners on Tuesday.
The referendum, led by Ohioans for Cannabis Choice, seeks to repeal key components of a bill the governor recently signed to scale back the state’s voter-approved marijuana law and ban the sale of consumable hemp products outside of licensed cannabis dispensaries.
The group submitted an initial batch of 1,000 signatures to get the referendum process started last month.
Yost said that several aspects of the petition summary are misleading.
For example it contains “two very similar descriptions” of the definition of hemp, the attorney general said, meaning that “a potential signer would likely be misled as to the character and import of this definition.”
The submission also “inaccurately” states that SB 56 “permits delivery of adult use cannabis,” Yost said. “Nowhere in the bill is the division of cannabis control authorized to adopt rules on the delivery of adult-use cannabis.”
The summary additionally “inaccurately states that felony offenses are disqualifying for cannabis-related licensure,” the letter claims, pointing out that Gov. Mike DeWine (R) vetoed that provision and it is thus not part of the enacted law.
“The summary inaccurately states S.B. 56 repealed a prohibition of license holders offering gifts, samples or other free or discounted adult-use marijuana products,” Yost added. “This is false. First, no such prohibition was repealed by S.B. 56. Instead, the bill directs the division of cannabis control to ‘establish standards prohibiting the use of gifts, samples, or other free or discounted goods or
services to induce or reward a license holder for business or referrals.’”
Also, the petition “misleads the reader into believing that S.B. 56 gives local governments the authority to pass ordinances that prohibit or limit the rights of license holders and/or prohibit other activities that are permitted under statewide cannabis control laws,” the attorney general’s letter says.
Finally, Yost said that the petition summary “incorrectly states” that the bill authorizes local governments to levy excise taxes on recreational cannabis sales.
“The above instances are just a few examples of the summary’s omissions and misstatements, and further review will be undertaken should the matter be resubmitted,” Yost told organizers in the letter.
Dennis Willard, spokesperson for Ohioans for Cannabis Choice, said the campaign will “fix the language, collect an additional 1,000 signatures, and not slow down.”
“Voters this November will have the opportunity to say no to S.B. 56, no to government overreach, no to closing 6,000 businesses and abandoning thousands of Ohio workers, and no to defying the will of Ohioans who overwhelmingly supported legalizing cannabis in 2023,” he said.
DeWine’s office and a senator who led the charge to pass SB 56 have criticized the cannabis referendum campaign.
If and when the resubmitted petition is approved for broader circulation, the campaign will need to collect a total of about 250,000 signatures to make the ballot.
In general, the proposed referendum would repeal the first three core sections of SB 56, a controversial bill that DeWine signed into law last month that he says is intended to crack down on the unregulated intoxicating hemp market. But the legislation would do more than restrict the sale of cannabinoid products to dispensaries.
The law also recriminalizes certain marijuana activity that was legalized under the ballot initiative voters approved in 2023, and it’d additionally remove anti-discrimination protections for cannabis consumers that were enacted under that law.
The governor additionally used his line-item veto powers to cancel a section of the bill that would have delayed the implementation of the ban on hemp beverages.
Advocates and stakeholders strongly protested the now-enacted legislation, arguing that it undermines the will of voters who approved cannabis legalization and would effectively eradicate the state’s hemp industry, as there are low expectations that adults will opt for hemp-based products over marijuana when they visit a dispensary.
The pushback inspired the newly filed referendum—but the path to successfully blocking the law is narrow.
If activists reach the signature threshold by the deadline, which coincides with the same day the restrictive law is to take effect, SB 56 would not be implemented until voters got a chance to decide on the issue at the ballot.
A summary of the submitted referendum states that “Sections 1, 2, and 3 of Am. Sub. S. B. No. 56 enact new provisions and amend and repeal existing provisions of the Ohio Revised Code that relate to the regulation, criminalization, and taxation of cannabis products, such as the sale, use, possession, cultivation, license, classification, transport, and manufacture of marijuana and certain hemp products.”
“If a majority of the voters vote to not approve Sections 1, 2, and 3 of the Act, then the enacted changes will not take effect and the prior version of the affected laws will remain in effect,” it says.
Advocates have flagged a series of concerns with the law, pointing out, for example, that it would eliminate language in statute providing anti-discrimination protections for people who lawfully use cannabis. That includes protections meant to prevent adverse actions in the context of child custody rights, the ability to qualify for organ transplants and professional licensing.
It would also recriminalize possessing marijuana from any source that isn’t a state-licensed dispensary in Ohio or from a legal homegrow. As such, people could be charged with a crime for carrying cannabis they bought at a legal retailer in neighboring Michigan.
Additionally, it would ban smoking cannabis at outdoor public locations such as bar patios—and it would allow landlords to prohibit vaping marijuana at rented homes. Violating that latter policy, even if it involves vaping in a person’s own backyard at a rental home, would constitute a misdemeanor offense.
The legislation would also replace what had been a proposed regulatory framework for intoxicating hemp that the House had approved with a broad prohibition on sales outside marijuana dispensaries following a recent federal move to recriminalize such products.
Under the law, hemp items with more than 0.4 mg of total THC per container, or those containing synthetic cannabinoids, could no longer be sold outside of a licensed marijuana dispensary setting. That would align with a recently enacted federal hemp law included in an appropriations package signed by President Donald Trump.
The federal law imposing a ban on most consumable hemp products has a one-year implementation window, however, and it appears the Ohio legislation would take effect sooner. As passed by the legislature, a temporary regulatory program for hemp beverages would have stayed in place in Ohio until December 31, 2026, but that provision was vetoed by the governor.
The law also includes language stipulating that, if the federal government moves to legalize hemp with higher THC content, it’s the intent of the Ohio legislature to review that policy change and consider potential state-level reforms to regulate such products.
The bill signing came months after DeWine issued emergency rules prohibiting the sale of intoxicating hemp products for 90 days, with instructions to the legislature to consider permanent regulations. A county judge has enjoined the state from enforcing that policy in response to a legal challenge.
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Meanwhile, in September, the Ohio Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) filed proposed rules to build upon the state’s marijuana legalization law, laying out plans to update regulations on labeling and packaging requirements.
Ohio retailers sold more than $1 billion worth of legal marijuana products in 2025, according to data from the state Department of Commerce (DOC).
In March, a survey of 38 municipalities by the Ohio State University’s (OSU) Moritz College of Law found that local leaders were “unequivocally opposed” to earlier proposals that would have stripped the planned funding.
Meanwhile in Ohio, adults as of June are able to buy more than double the amount of marijuana than they were under previous limits, with state officials determining that the market can sustainably supply both medical cannabis patients and adult consumers.
The governor in March separately announced his desire to reallocate marijuana tax revenue to support police training, local jails and behavioral health services. He said funding police training was a top priority, even if that wasn’t included in what voters passed in 2023.
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