By Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal
A Franklin County Court of Common Pleas judge issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) Thursday allowing two Ohio smoke shops to sell their existing inventory, less than a month after Senate Bill 56 took effect banning low-level THC hemp products and altering the state's marijuana laws.
Judge Jeffrey M. Brown's order covers Happy Harvest — with locations in Delaware, Marion, and Wood counties — and Get Wright Lounge, which has a single Columbus location. Both may sell only to customers 21 and older, and products cannot resemble candy.
"The judge here is concerned about retailers that have made big investments in inventory, and they can't move it, they can't transport it, they can't sell it," said Scott Pullins, attorney for the plaintiffs. "He's given them, really, a grace period that the legislature should give them."
S.B. 56 took effect March 20 after Ohioans for Cannabis Choice failed to collect enough signatures to place a referendum on the November ballot. The law cuts the maximum THC concentration in adult-use marijuana extracts from 90 percent to 70 percent, caps flower at 35 percent THC, bans smoking in most public places, prohibits possessing marijuana outside its original packaging, criminalizes bringing legally purchased out-of-state marijuana into Ohio, and requires drivers to store marijuana in their trunk. Pullins warned that unsold stock is now effectively frozen: "If you haven't gotten it out of state before the law goes into effect, you're kind of stuck. You get caught transporting it, and they're going to charge you with felony drug trafficking."
A preliminary injunction hearing is expected in about two weeks. Pullins said the plaintiffs aim to stay in operation through November, when federal restrictions on hemp products take effect on November 12. Congress voted last November to ban products containing 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container as part of a government funding bill; the 2018 Farm Bill had previously allowed hemp containing less than 0.3 percent THC.
State Rep. Jennifer Gross, R-West Chester, who voted against S.B. 56 in November, joined the lawsuit as a plaintiff and can testify to how the legislative process was handled, Pullins said.
A Sandusky County judge recently issued a separate TRO on the hemp portion of S.B. 56, allowing the continued sale of intoxicating hemp products in Fremont.
