By Grady Andersen, Newswire Intern

A Columbus court has extended their temporary restraining order against Governor Mike DeWine’s executive order limiting the sale of hemp-infused products.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued a public health emergency and executive order placing a ban on the sale of hemp influenced products. Dewine is worried about deceptive advertising and other issues that might arise, citing knock-off products. He showed several items, including nerd gummies and fruit gushers that were infused with what he called “diet-weed.”

“Intoxicating hemp products are known to have significant impacts on young, developing brains, yet these products are legally marketed to kids, sold to kids and ingested by kids in Ohio,” DeWine said.

The original executive order, while officially signed on Oct. 8, gave retailers six days to take all hemp products off the shelf. However, Judge Carl Aveni, a Common Pleas judge in Franklin County, issued a temporary restraining order against the ban nearly a day after it was passed, issuing a hearing date for it on Nov. 28th. He then extended the order to Dec. 2.

The lawsuit alleges that Dewine’s ban is too broad because it could apply to all marijuana related products allowed under the 2018 farm bill. The plaintiffs, several businesses under the Ohio Healthy Alternatives Association, are not only worried about the broadness of the ban, but also the possibility of these products being sold illegally and therefore unable to be regulated.

The decision to push back the order to December has given house republicans the ability to write a bill that would impose some of the bans the executive order attempted to make. While the ban would block almost all forms of hemp and THC infused products, it would allow breweries and stores to sell drinks. While this is not the first time a bill was written to limit general hemp products, this one is the most sweeping in terms of regulation. Ohio Republicans have often been split on the issue of marijuana, but this bill has shown there may be a common stance being formed. 

While the Governor’s main concern of children’s safety has struggled to gain hard evidence, a recent study came out showing increasingly unsafe use of THC and hemp-related products. The American College of Surgeons has found that over 40% of fatal car accidents that occurred in Montgomery County had some kind of marijuana-based influence. The average level of active THC in driver’s blood was 30.7 nanograms per milliliter, far above Ohio’s legal limit for driving of two nanograms per milliliter. 

Closer to campus, Cappy’s has been impacted by the legislation.

 “So we saw a mad rush leading up (to the ban) … I mean, we kind of did like, a month’s worth of sales and four day span of THC averages,” Communications Director Kira Hinkle said.

The legislation means places like Cappy’s need to change a lot of their inventory. “But then Monday night, when we closed, we had a team of people who stayed after, and we had to remove everything from the shelves, remove it from the floor. Could not be on the floor. We had to take all any signage down that had to do with marketing those products, that kind of thing, yeah,” Hinkle said.

The governor’s office has stated on multiple occasions that while they hope for this ban to be enforced, they only want it to be temporary. Gov. DeWine would rather see this be put into law long term.