Have Ohio lawmakers learned to love drugs?
The year was 2023. While the most salient issue on the off-year ballot was a constitutional guarantee of abortion access, Ohio voters also had their second crack at legalizing adult-use marijuana, an idea lawmakers had snubbed for years.
The citizen-drafted law passed 57% to 43%. It, like abortion access, was a clear winner among the people.
Matt Huffman – an influential Republican who was then the Senate President and is now the Speaker of the House – was among the crowd that wasn’t about to light up in celebration.
He issued a bitter statement on election night.
“This statute was written by the marijuana industry and should not be treated as a cash grab for their cash crop at the expense of a state trying to emerge from the opioid epidemic,” Huffman said at the time. “The General Assembly may consider amending the statute to clarify the questionable language regarding limits for THC and tax rates as well as other parts of the statute.”
Fast forward to this week. Republicans in the General Assembly sent Gov. Mike DeWine their first significant drug policy overhaul since Issue 2 passed. If DeWine signs it, Ohioans will still be able to walk into a dispensary, buy a joint of either marijuana or “intoxicating hemp,” and smoke it in their homes. They can also stop at a grocery store or bar on the way home for a “drinkable cannabinoid product” until 2026. (You can read Jake’s writeup of the Senate’s passage vote here.)
That’s not to say everyone is happy. Marijuana advocates and Democrats criticized the legislation for reviving varying criminal penalties around certain conduct involving marijuana. The hemp industry must now undergo the regulatory and tax rigmarole of the dispensary model.
That said, Ohioans can still buy their drugs. The Republican establishment didn’t exactly legalize marijuana this week, but they passed legislation that didn’t slam the door on it either. In a state that still classifies the drug as “marihuana” in the lawbooks, the non-repeal is noteworthy in itself.
Ibogaine in the membrane
Marijuana wasn’t the only drug of choice at 1 Capitol Square this week. The Ibogaine Treatment Study Committee had its first hearing this week, studying its namesake drug, which comes from a compound found in the roots of the African iboga shrub.
The drug is known to produce an intense, psychedelic trip. But preliminary research with extremely small sample sizes has suggested its potential in treating substance use disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and mild traumatic brain injuries.
The drug has developed some perhaps unlikely believers, including Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague. Last year Sprague hired Bryan Hubbard, the current CEO of Americans for Ibogaine, as a consultant, and Rex Elsass, an Ohio-based national GOP consultant whose anti-overdose advocacy organization has worked with Hubbard.
The committee is chaired by Rep. Justin Pizzulli, a Scioto County Republican representing one of the hardest hit counties in America by the opioid epidemic. Pizzulli, a younger and new member of the General Assembly, wrote the amendment in the state budget that established the committee. It must produce a report on clinical uses of ibogaine by Dec. 31, 2027. He said the committee will bring in physicians, scientists and patients (including many veterans) who will convince even the nonbelievers.
Among those doubters: his vice chair, Ohio Sen. Stephen Huffman, cousin of Speaker Huffman and a licensed physician with years of practice as both a lawmaker and a doctor. Huffman called himself “skeptical” about the lack of research into ibogaine and its potential uses but said he’s keeping an open mind.
He said he doesn’t think there’s much interest from the House Speaker or Senate President on ibogaine. And he doesn’t think there has been a culture change among lawmakers around drug policy so much as lawmakers heeding public demand shown for recreational marijuana.
“The people really wanted it. Sixty percent of the people voted for it. But I believe that if you walked about there today and asked 100 people what ibogaine is, I don’t think you’d find one of them,” he said.
“I don’t [like marijuana]. I want good marijuana policy. I think it’s bad for the youth. I don’t care to use it. But people choose to do that. I think the state has an obligation to make it as safe as you can, and I think the same for ibogaine.”
Recovery home legislation overhauled
There are many aspects of drug policy that deal with life and death issues, including the long-standing aftermath of the opioid epidemic in Ohio. Andrew published a story this week about a judge’s recent order requiring a Portsmouth company to cease “recovery housing” services at seven locations in Scioto County. The ruling followed a state lawsuit that accused Step Wellness and its owner of failing to register in a mandatory state database. Signal mentioned the company as part of a broader article in September highlighting Scioto County officials’ challenges in regulating fast-expanding recovery homes, which provide a sober environment for people struggling with addiction.
Pizzulli has introduced legislation, House Bill 58, meant to tighten regulations on the industry. The bill stalled in committee after opposition from addiction treatment advocates and industry providers, who say the changes would stifle the state’s recovery efforts.
Pizzulli and his co-sponsor, Columbus Rep. Dontavius Jarrells, overhauled the bill last month in response to those concerns. The new version would:
- Increase state oversight of recovery homes
- Form a task force to make recommendations for industry standards
- Require courts that transport criminal defendants for out-of-town drug treatment to pay for the return trip home of any defendant who fails treatment
- Give local prosecutors authority to sue recovery home operators that fail to comply with state standards
In an interview, Pizzulli said the changes came in response to concerns raised by advocates and recovery providers. He said he now expects the bill will have the support it needs to get committee approval sometime next year, which would set it up for a vote by the full House.
“To my knowledge, I’ve whipped the votes and we have the votes to pass it,” Pizzulli said. “I hope to pass it.”
In the news
The promise of job creation: Ohio’s state auditor ran the numbers behind job creation tax credits and other economic development incentives the state issues. Most recipients fail to deliver on the number of jobs they promised, the audit found. And the state takes no corrective action in 4 in 10 of those shortfall cases. Read more.
SB 1 fallout: A Youngstown State alum planned to leave the university $100,000. But Senate Bill 1 changed his mind. The move shows another way Ohio’s new higher education law continues to ripple across public campuses. Read more from Amy Morona.
Vivek Ramaswamy cancels plans: Online conservative backlash over Ramaswamy’s plans to headline an IT industry event last week caused him to pull out of the event days before it was set to begin. Read more from Andrew Tobias.
Trump’s pardon: President Donald Trump pardoned a Washington, D.C. area businessman who was convicted of securities fraud over his dealings with a Cleveland-area company whose CEO bilked nearly $7 million from investors in a penny stock scheme. Read more from Jake Zuckerman.
The 3 C’s: Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati are already Democratic strongholds, but local Democratic leaders say they need to bolster their base there to make the state competitive. Read this story from our partners at NOTUS.com.
Don’t miss this
We want to make sure you don’t miss these stories from other media around the state. Is there a good way to make childcare in Ohio affordable? Jessie Balmert of the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau reports that Ohio is one of just six states that don’t spend any state money on childcare beyond what’s required for a federal match.
The Wall Street Journal recently published some interesting articles about Ohio, including an investigative look at the turbulent path of Ohio State University wide receiver Phillip Bell III through the secret high school NIL market and the paradoxical way that Columbus’s reputation as an affordable city is making its homes more expensive.