COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Senate recently passed a bill, co-sponsored by State Senator Al Cutrona, to regulate intoxicating hemp products.
Products like Delta 8 THC, Delta 10, and other synthetic cannabinoids derived from hemp are chemically altered to produce psychoactive effects similar to Delta 9, the primary compound found in marijuana.
“So, what we have going on right now is a totally unregulated framework where essentially it is being marketed to children,” Cutrona said.
Cutrona, R-Canfield, says these products — often sold at gas stations and convenience stores — are slipping through a loophole in state law.
“You have things that are intoxicating with no age restriction, so what we’re doing is trying to take these things and place them in marijuana dispensaries where they are alongside other intoxicating materials,” Cutrona said.
Like alcohol and marijuana, Cutrona believes intoxicating hemp should be off limits to anyone under 21.
“Right now, it is the Wild Wild West,” he said. “It is unregulated. Anybody at any age can go out there and grab one of these items off the shelf.”
And with some products containing synthetic ingredients to mimic marijuana ….
“I think it’s a fairness,” Cutrona said. “If you’re creating a very similar product, the synthetic materials out there that have a similar quality of intoxication, they should equally be in the same location with these marijuana dispensaries.”
Cutrona says this isn’t about eliminating the market, it’s about moving the product somewhere safer.
Senate Bill 86 has already passed through the senate and is now moving through committee in the Ohio House.
