Ohio legalizes hemp and CBD products

Ohio's Republican governor, Mike DeWine, signed a bill legalizing hemp and CBD in the state on Tuesday. Under the Ohio Medical Cannabis Act, effective fall, hemp and CBD were considered identical to cannabis and were therefore banned from sale. outside state-approved dispensaries.

Stores selling CBD products were already open, even though merchants were fully aware that the sale of cannabidiol in Ohio was still illegal outside of state-licensed medical cannabis dispensaries. The law went into effect immediately, releasing all embargoes on CBD stocks, and removing hemp-derived cannabidiol from Ohio's list of controlled substances.

Ohio agriculture officials now have six months to develop the regulations, which will then be submitted to the federal government for approval. According to Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Shelby Croft, the agency plans to have regulations in place by next year, so farmers can start growing hemp this spring.

The legalization of hemp and CBD will also enable research into the effects of cannabis to begin immediately. Ohio State University plans to purchase around 2,000 hemp plants, so that it can begin a series of scientific studies. The department says it needs $12 million to set up the necessary testing facilities and bring in qualified lab technicians.

The director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Dorothy Pelanda, said the agency had no plans to limit the number of licenses issued to grow or process hemp. This could have negative effects and create a disproportionate craze among new farmers for «green gold». Governor DeWine said Tuesday that it was up to farmers to take their place in this new industry. «It's a decision that farmers have to make based on their particular needs and what's in their best interest. So this crop is an additional crop that they can now legally grow: they're going to have to see if there really is a market.».