His order declares an adulterated consumer emergency for products containing intoxicating hemp. It includes THC-infused beverages and products like gummies containing Delta-8 THC.

Delta-8 produces a high similar to recreational marijuana but is unregulated.

“It’s really become a problem in Ohio. It’s become a problem across the country,” DeWine said.

Ohio’s Republican governor first started raising concerns about Delta 8 in January 2024 when he called a press conference to highlight how the unregulated products can be packaged and sold to children.

At his news conference announcing his executive actions, DeWine showed more intoxicating hemp products packaged to look like popular candies that he said were bought within the last 48 hours in Franklin County.

“They’re designed clearly to mimic candy, designed clearly to entice children to consume these,” DeWine said. “There’s no check on age. Anyone can walk in and buy one of these. I think the danger to our children is clear. Our children are vulnerable to these potent knockoff products that are for sale here in Ohio.”

Temporary ban
Effective October 14, DeWine’s executive order gives the Ohio Department of Agriculture the ability to exclude intoxicating hemp from the definition of legal hemp in Ohio.

When the order goes into effect Tuesday, the sale of intoxicating hemp products will be illegal under administrative law. By Tuesday, retailers must remove products containing intoxicating hemp from their shelves and end all sales. Violators could be subject to fines of $500 per day while the products are on sale.

The order lasts for 90 days, DeWine said. Then, the legislature can choose to extend the order or let it expire, the governor said.

“This is specifically aimed at synthetic, intoxicating hemp products that can be sold to kids, has no quality control, and are simply dangerous,” DeWine said.

The governor said simply implementing age restrictions on these products or limiting their sales to specific retailers would require legislative action.

Retailers don’t have to destroy the products ahead of the ban, he said. Instead, they can send them back to their manufacturers.

DeWine’s order does not apply to non-intoxicating hemp products or legal marijuana sold in dispensaries.

Lack of legislative action
The governor initially called on the legislature to enact regulations for the products or outright ban their sales in the state. Lawmakers have since debated various bills that would either implement new restrictions or ban them altogether, but none of the bills have made it to his desk.

“While the General Assembly continues to work on this important legislation, I am taking action under my authority as governor of the state of Ohio to get these products off the streets and have them taken off our shelves,” DeWine said. “Intoxicating hemp is dangerous. We need better to protect our children.”

DeWine said in January 2024 that his lawyers didn’t believe he could take executive action against intoxicating hemp products. He said Wednesday that as he saw the problem “getting worse,” he went back to his lawyers to ask them to revisit the issue. He said after another review, his team believed he can take this action.

The governor said if members of the legislature believe he doesn’t have the authority to act, then they should at least enact guardrails for the products.

“If they want to save kids from having damage from this, they can take action as well,” DeWine said. “We believe we have the authority to do this. I’m not going to sit back and not do it.”

The GOP-controlled legislature has also failed to agree on how to change Ohio’s marijuana laws that voters approved in 2022, though DeWine said during Wednesday’s news conference that the laws at least have advertising and age restrictions, unlike intoxicating hemp products.

Increasing poison center calls
DeWine cited increasing reports of Delta 8 THC poisonings reported in recent years to the Ohio Poison Control Center. 90% of reports involving children under age 12 required emergency room visits, he said.

Dr. Hannah Hays, the medical director at the Central Ohio Poison Center, said the number of accidental poisonings among children has risen sharply since poison control centers started tracking exposures in 2021.

“Intoxicating hemp products pose a serious and preventable threat to child health,” Hays said.

Pushback from the industry
Some in the industry have pushed back against the idea of full bans of their products while calling on lawmakers to enact what they view as some responsible regulations.

“You’re hearing from one of the few industries that comes before you and says ‘please regulate us,’” Jonathon Miller of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable said in testimony to lawmakers in December. “Robust regulation is clearly preferable to misguided prohibition in ensuring that products are safe and kept out of the hands of minors.”

Ban it or regulate it?
DeWine said when voters legalized marijuana, they didn’t vote to allow intoxicating products to be sold to children.

“When they’re dealing with THC, they expect it to be regulated, they expect to know what’s in the product, they expect to make sure that it’s pure,” DeWine said.