TOLEDO, Ohio — Ohio lawmakers are back to work Wednesday and will decide whether to overturn Gov. Mike DeWine's veto on a bill banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
But on Friday, DeWine said that if they really want to protect children, lawmakers need to take a look at hemp.
Kevin Spitler opened the Toledo Hemp Center on Jackman Road ten years ago. He's proud to call his products "grandma-approved."
"Most of the clientele at my store is going to be 40, 50, 60 years old," Spitler said. "It helps them sleep, it helps with their anxiety, take their mind off the pain and stuff like that."
So when Spitler heard DeWine wanted to crack down on sales of delta-8, a legal, milder form of THC than what is in the more well-known marijuana, he knew it would affect his business and alienate his customers who don't want to go to a traditional "weed store."
"We need to have other facilities, other businesses besides just a dispensary that's able to accommodate these people," Spitler said.
The governor is focused on children who are getting delta-8 at gas stations, shops and online.
"I can take you to a place where kids, 12, 13, 14, any age can buy it," DeWine said. "It's intoxicating, something that needs to be banned."
Delta-8 is legal under the 2018 Farm Bill and its provisions regarding hemp, however, it is largely unregulated at the federal level.
"We have no jurisdiction, we have no laws to prohibit that, we can do absolutely nothing," DeWine said.
Buyers have to be 21 to buy delta-8 and according to the Food and Drug Administration, it has psychoactive and intoxicating effects.
"Delta-8 THC is going to get you a bit of a high, but not as much as your conventional marijuana products," Spitler said.
The Ohio House will not include hemp in its discussions over any changes to the recent marijuana bill and state Sen. Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City, is drafting a stand-alone bill to address hemp.
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