Ohio Bill Would Create Regulations for Intoxicating Hemp Products, Ban Underage Sales 

A recently proposed bill in Ohio seeks to ban the sale of intoxicating hemp products to people under 21-years-old. The measure would also prohibit the sale of intoxicating hemp products that have not been tested under the same program as products sold in the state adult and medical cannabis market. 

Additionally, the proposal would ban sales of any intoxicating hemp products that are “considered attractive to children,” according to the bill text, banning products “that bears the likeness or contains the characteristics of a realistic or fictional human, animal, or fruit, including artistic, caricature, or cartoon renderings.” 

State Sen. Bill DeMora (D) told the Ohio Capital Journal that he introduced the measure “to get rid of the stuff that everybody agrees is bad.” 

“Everybody agrees (intoxicating hemp products are) targeted to children to look like Skittles and Oreo cookies and that it’s unregulated. … We need to act because this stuff is poisoning kids (and) making kids sick.” — DeMora to the Capital Journal 

The measure, which includes a fifth-degree felony charge for underage sales and a first-degree misdemeanor charge for selling products that could be attractive to children, has the support from Gov. Mike DeWine (R), who told reporters last week that the lack of regulations for intoxicating hemp products is “a huge problem.” He added that if the bill isn’t passed, he is looking at things he “might be able to do without legislative action.”      

“There’s really no regulation at all. We need regulation. We need the legislature to take action on this,” he said, according to the Capital Journal. “Hopefully this bill will, if nothing else, we can all agree on one thing – to get the bad stuff out of the hands of kids and stop the marketing toward kids.” 

According to a 2024 study by the Ohio State University Drug Enforcement Policy Center, Ohio is one of about 20 states that do not have any regulations on intoxicating hemp products.