“Spitting in the Face of Voters:” Ohio just weakened marijuana protections you approved

Despite Ohioans voting in large numbers to legalize recreational marijuana with specific protections for people who use it, state Republicans have quietly reversed key elements of the voter-approved law through a bill about regulating not marijuana but hemp.

The bill, aimed at regulating intoxicating hemp products, contains what Today in Ohio podcast host Lisa Garvin called “poison pills for the recreational marijuana industry” – nine significant changes that roll back protections voters explicitly approved.

“Fired if you get fired for marijuana use, you cannot get state unemployment benefits. That’s pretty bad,” Garvin said on Wednesday’s episode. “There are new criminal penalties for people who drive while intoxicated with marijuana... It also removes a state law that prohibits dis