House Bill 160 closes the intoxicating-hemp loophole and updates Ohio’s marijuana law. Its first hearing was in April 2025 and CCV’s David Mahan gave proponent testimony on 30 April.
The loophole is a definitional one. Products derived from hemp can be intoxicating while falling outside the rules written for marijuana, which means they can be sold without the age controls, labelling and licensing those rules impose.
In practice that puts intoxicating products on shelves a child can reach, in packaging that does not have to say what it is.
The bill does not ban the products. It puts them under the same rules as the products they resemble: the age gate, the labelling, the licence.
The bill has had proponent testimony and no vote. It is one to watch rather than one to report on.
Written from CCV’s own record, the bill number, vote counts, dates and sponsors are verified against ccv.org. The wording is not CCV’s and needs their sign-off.
