The OHRA Org
House Bill 198 paints every hemp store in Ohio with the same brush. And that brush says “bad actor.”
The bill doesn’t look at who’s following the law. It doesn’t look at who’s checking IDs, paying taxes, or selling clean products in real storefronts. It just draws one big line — and puts legal hemp stores on the wrong side of it.
HB198 gives the state the power to shut you down without warning. No grace period. No time to adjust. No distinction between good operators and shady ones.
If you’re selling products with more than 0.3% total THC — even if those products are federally legal and properly labeled — you could face massive fines or worse.
And guess who benefits? It’s not your customers. It’s not your staff. It’s not the mom-and-pop store that’s been serving its town for years.
It’s the licensed marijuana dispensaries. The ones that already have lobbyists in Columbus. The ones that want to be the only legal option left standing.
HB198 doesn’t fix a problem — it creates one. It turns legal stores into targets. It punishes compliance. It rewards consolidation. And it does it under the false banner of public health.
But banning legal hemp products doesn’t protect people. It just drives them to unregulated sources — or shuts off access entirely.
The truth is, Ohio’s hemp retailers aren’t the problem. They’ve stepped up where others wouldn’t. They’ve given people safe, legal alternatives. They’ve operated in the open. And now, they’re being treated like criminals.
HB198 targets the wrong people. And if it passes, Ohio will lose more than just a few shops — it’ll lose jobs, revenue, and a trusted system that was working.
This bill doesn’t clean up the market. It hands it off.
