But, the legality of these products can only be guaranteed until early December. On Dec. 2, a temporary restraining order is set to expire that blocks Gov. Mike DeWine’s executive orders that banned the sale of intoxicating hemp products, leaving it up to the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas to determine whether the Republican governor had the constitutional authority to outright ban the products.

Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, told reporters this week he expects the legislature to come up with a permanent solution before lawmakers take Thanksgiving break, “so we can get it to the governor and we’ll have that issue settled.”

Select members of the Ohio House and Senate will soon embark on a so-called conference committee to hammer out a compromise between each chamber.

Both chambers want to age-restrict sales and both want safety testing on intoxicating hemp products. The most glaring difference between their proposals is that the Senate wants to confine product sales to recreational marijuana dispensaries, whereas the House wants to create an intoxicating hemp license that mirrors the state’s recreational marijuana licensing framework.

“The positive about this is it’s going to eliminate about 6,000 places where children and other people can go in and buy (hemp-derived) THC products, unregulated, right off the shelf; you don’t have to show an ID,” Huffman said. “All of that is going away.”

The chambers have also indicated an appetite to make tweaks to the state’s voter-approved recreational marijuana law. Both chambers want to put bans on public smoking and create an expungement process for low-level marijuana charges, for example. But they differ on other aspects, like whether to keep or reduce the state’s current limit of 12 home-grow marijuana plants per household.

One of the most glaring differences between the two chambers is centered on where recreational marijuana tax revenue should go.

The Senate’s plan would funnel all revenue into the state’s coffers, while the House’s plan would give 36% back to the local governments that are host to recreational marijuana dispensaries, as intended by the voter-approved statute that legalized recreational marijuana in Ohio.

Despite the local kickback idea being part of the law, host communities have yet to receive any funds. Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, who has overseen the House’s negotiations on intoxicating hemp and marijuana, said the initiated statute does not contain language that actually allows the state to divert the money to the targeted communities.

Huffman projected confidence that an update would be included in the compromise.

“We will be able to release the money that these taxes are generating to the locals,” Huffman said. “I think a lot of local folks are waiting for that.”

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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.