New hemp bill a common sense approach

Many have heard stories and even seen chemically modified THC “legal hemp” products being sold in gas stations, smoke shops and CBD stores in Ohio that resemble marijuana. Unfortunately, some of the consumers of the intoxicating products were underage.

The main reason this occurred was due to lack of oversight and loopholes being exploited from some bad actors and creative marketing. There were examples of hemp gummies with intoxicating effects packaged marketing being identical to regular candies such as nerds, sour patch kids and gushers.

Any elected official or parent should be worried by reports of children accidentally consuming hemp-derived THC products. State lawmakers responded with the passage of Ohio Senate Bill 56 signed into law by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine last month that treats intoxicating hemp products the same as marijuana.

SB 56’s goal is to bring order, protect families, and restore the rule of law in the hemp industry. Hemp was legalized under federal law under the auspices of agriculture, not as a backdoor way to market psychoactive drugs outside of Ohio’s voter-approved marijuana system. Over the years, the hemp market had drifted from this.

This column first published in the Dayton Daily News, where Rob Scott is a weekly opinion page contributor. See the rest of it here.