Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine wants to ban 'intoxicating hemp' after marijuana legalization

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday called on lawmakers to ban a product closely related to marijuana, but unregulated for years in the state of Ohio.

While answering a question related to House Bill 68, the governor pivoted to an unrelated topic: what he calls "intoxicating hemp." Rather than add regulations like DeWine wants for state-legalized marijuana, he does not want to allow anyone to sell this separate product.

“It is intoxicating, it is something that needs to be banned, and again, the legislature could ban it,” said DeWine. “These hemp products can be sold anywhere in the state of Ohio, and we have no jurisdiction, we have no laws to prohibit that, we can do absolutely nothing."

DeWine made the comments during a news conference regarding House Bill 68, a bill barring medical professionals from providing treatment known as gender-affirming care that the governor vetoed. He also revisited concerns over Issue 2 that he had previously raised about the lack of ways to legally purchase marijuana in the state. He urged the house to pass legislation on the issue. In the past, DeWine has cited this as a risk because of a "black market."

"I will just say that since the house is coming back next week, this might be a good time to take up and deal again, something they did not do, which is to deal with the marijuana issue," said DeWine. "We still have a situation in Ohio every single day where people can use marijuana, they can possess marijuana, they can even plant marijuana, grow it, but they can't buy the seeds, legally they can't buy marijuana."

DeWine's concerns about the black market seem to largely be tied to the idea that fentanyl-laced marijuana is a major risk. However, health experts disagree with this stance.

DeWine said that if the house cannot pass legislation on legal marijuana, he hopes to see them at least address intoxicating hemp.

"At the very least, if they can't do that, I would hope they can deal with something that is very real across the state of Ohio and that is intoxicating hemp," said DeWine. "I can take you, if you drive from here to the governor's residence, we can take you to a place right there where kids, 12, 13, 14, any age can walk in and buy it."

Intoxicating hemp refers to inhalable or ingestible consumer goods that have a high-inducing active ingredient derived or processed from hemp. The most commonly available of these hemp products contain cannabinoids named Delta-8 THC and Delta-10 THC. These hemp cannabinoids are variants of Delta-9 THC, which is the primary intoxicating chemical in regulated marijuana. Due to containing less than 0.3% THC, these products are legal, but can cause a high similar to those caused by legal marijuana.

DeWine referred to these products as hallucinogenic, a term that typically refers to psychedelic drugs such as LSD and psilocybin.

State Sen. Stephen Huffman is currently drafting a bill separate from marijuana legislation to address intoxicating hemp, according to DeWine.

"I know that the house has said they don't want to take up marijuana in the same bill that they do intoxicating hemp," said DeWine. "So, what Senator Huffman has started to do, and I just want to congratulate him and thank him for that, he is now drafting a separate bill."

The governor emphasized that in order to protect children, he believes action should be taken to take aim at intoxicating hemp.

"If we want to talk about protecting kids, dealing with intoxicating hemp is something we need to deal with," said DeWine.