By Benjamin Davis / The Jambar
Senate Bill 56, a bill designed to regulate cannabis products in the state of Ohio, was signed into law by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Dec. 19, 2025. Since then, SB 56 has been a subject of debate, with people arguing its provisions are a necessity or an overreach by the government.
Ohioans for Cannabis Choice, a grassroots organization that opposes SB 56, submitted a petition to put the bill on pause and move it to a referendum in this year’s November election. Dennis Willard, spokesman for Ohioans for Cannabis Choice, criticized SB 56 and argued that it would shut down small businesses.
“Senate Bill 56 is being touted as a regulatory bill, but it’s absolutely not,” Willard said. “It is a piece of legislation that will shut down 3,000 small businesses across Ohio that sell cannabis products [and] put thousands of people out of work.”
Willard also argued that the bill contradicts Ohio voters, who voted in favor of legalizing cannabis products.
“It defies the will of the voters who, in 2023, overwhelmingly supported a measure to make cannabis legal in Ohio,” Willard said. “We believe it’s government overreach and a slap in the face to the voters.”
Rep. David Thomas, a defender of SB 56, said that he was not surprised that SB 56 became a subject of debate. According to Thomas, the bill passed with 52 votes at 2 a.m. while still in the Ohio House of Representatives.
“Whenever you’re changing or you’re having to update things that a lot of people have opinions on … you’ll get a lot of different feedback and a lot of different varied responses,” Thomas said.
Thomas argued that any job losses would be due to changes in federal law regarding hemp, rather than SB 56 itself.
“The job losses from this bill are due to the federal changes with hemp law,” Thomas said. “Part of the Big Beautiful Bill was language that essentially outlawed hemp products.”
Thomas also argued that even if SB 56 did not mention hemp, job losses would still occur due to the change in federal law.
“We did not want to do this, but the federal government essentially said, ‘States, you cannot do this,’ and so we just essentially codified that law,” Thomas said. “Ohio could have completely ignored that, not put anything in the hemp language for this bill and [on the] last day of this year, all those job losses would have happened anyway.”
The petition calls for SB 56 to be put on pause and moved to a referendum in November. Willard said that this means that Ohio voters themselves would decide whether or not the bill should be a law.
“We’re saying to the voters, ‘Here is this piece of legislation that lawmakers in Columbus passed. We’re giving you a chance to vote on it,’” Willard said. “So, if you vote yes, then Senate Bill 56 goes into law. If you vote no, then the voters are basically vetoing Senate Bill 56.”
Willard is confident that voters will reject the bill if it goes to a referendum, citing support that the petition campaign has already garnered.
“The grassroots support for our effort has been overwhelming [on] our website,” Willard said. “We’ve had more than 5,000 Ohioans go to our website and sign up to either pledge to sign the petition, [or] pledge to collect signatures.”
In order for SB 56 to go to a referendum, Ohioans for Cannabis Choice must collect 250,000 valid signatures. The deadline to meet that requirement is March 19.