Following Ohio's Cannabis Money

Licensed marijuana companies backed the state's rewrite of the voter-passed legalization law and have spent big on a federal Trump-aligned PAC, but public reporting shows no cannabis money in Ohio's 2026 races so far.

By Richthrax · Oct. 25, 2026

Three years after Ohio voters legalized adult-use marijuana, the licensed cannabis industry's most visible political money in 2026 has gone to a federal super PAC that, according to national reporting, is not running ads in any Ohio race.

In June, four multistate marijuana operators that hold Ohio licenses, Trulieve, Curaleaf, Verano and a Green Thumb subsidiary called Vision Management Services, each gave $2.5 million to America First Agriculture Action, a PAC aligned with President Donald Trump, Newsweek reported Oct. 5. Arboretum Bidco, an AYR entity, gave $1 million and Ascend Wellness gave $500,000, bringing the total to $11.5 million, according to Newsweek and Marijuana Moment.

The PAC gave $2.05 million to MAGA Inc. and spent about $1.8 million on ads for 11 U.S. House Republicans, none of them from Ohio, according to the same reports.

At the Statehouse

Closer to home, the licensed industry put its weight behind Senate Bill 56, the 2025 rewrite of the voter-approved Issue 2. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City. It caps dispensaries at 400, ends unregulated sales of intoxicating hemp and limits those products to licensed dispensaries, according to the Ohio Senate. Gov. Mike DeWine line-item vetoed a provision that would have allowed THC beverage sales outside dispensaries through 2026, the Senate said.

David Bowling, executive director of the Ohio Cannabis Coalition, said SB 56 "upholds the will of Ohio voters," and the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, the committee behind Issue 2, called the bill a "common-sense refinement," the Ohio Capital Journal reported in February.

A repeal referendum led by Ohioans for Cannabis Choice, a group made up mainly of hemp and beverage interests, failed to collect the 248,092 signatures it needed to reach the Nov. 3 ballot, the Ohio Capital Journal reported in March. A petition consultant estimated the campaign spent no more than about $100,000, and some petitioners said they were never paid, the Capital Journal reported in May. No marijuana measure is on this year's ballot.

A Dayton example

The industry's earlier spending is better documented. In 2023, Certified Cultivators Corp. of Dayton gave $25,000 to the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol during the June 30 to Oct. 18 reporting period, the Dayton Daily News reported at the time.

Certified's president is Dayton native Zach Weprin, according to the Dayton Daily News. The company opened a store at 951 Patterson Road in Dayton in January, its fourth, the newspaper reported. Cincinnati CityBeat describes Certified as Ohio's largest seller of adult-use cannabis.

Where the candidates stand

In the governor's race, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy said on CNN on Nov. 7, 2023, of Issue 2: "I voted no on that one," according to Marijuana Moment. He called state legalization under federal prohibition "an abandonment of the rule of law" and objected that tax proceeds were directed to "equity programs or otherwise." He told NBC the same day he was "open to a rational discussion" about veterans with pain or PTSD, Marijuana Moment reported.

As of August, Ramaswamy's campaign had not given cleveland.com detailed answers on marijuana and hemp policy, according to a summary of that reporting by Ohio Cannabis Live.

His running mate, Senate President Rob McColley, "personally pushed back on the House's more marijuana-friendly legislation on numerous occasions," News 5 Cleveland reported in January.

Democrat Amy Acton's campaign told cleveland.com she "intends to respect the decision Ohio voters made in 2023," according to the Ohio Cannabis Live summary. She would keep adult-use marijuana legal, keep the 10% excise tax and favor testing, safety standards and age limits over a broad ban on intoxicating hemp, according to that summary.

Ramaswamy has raised more than $55 million and Acton more than $30 million, WCMH-TV reported Oct. 12. That report named no individual donors.

What we couldn't find

The Despoiler found no published reporting of cannabis-company contributions to Ramaswamy, Acton, Huffman, McColley or other 2026 statehouse candidates. That does not mean none exist. The Ohio Secretary of State's campaign finance database and other contribution search tools were unavailable to us while reporting this story, so we could not search state filings directly. Readers can search contributions by donor or candidate themselves at the Secretary of State's campaign finance site, ohiosos.gov.