(EDITOR’S NOTE: This section was passed by Initiative Petition at the November 6, 2018 General Election, was certified by the Hamilton County Board of Elections on November 21, 2018, and became effective on November 26, 2018.)
(a) No person shall knowingly obtain, possess, or use marihuana or a compound, mixture, preparation, or substance containing marihuana other than hashish, whoever violates this Section is guilty of possession of marihuana. The penalty for the offense shall be determined as follows:
(1) If the amount of the drug involved is less than two hundred grams, possession of marihuana is a minor misdemeanor drug abuse offense. Persons convicted of violating this section shall be fined $0.00.
(b) No person shall knowingly obtain, possess, or use hashish or a compound, mixture, preparation, or substance containing hashish, whoever violates this section is guilty of possession of hashish. The penalty for the offense shall be determined as follows:
(1) If the amount of the drug involved is less than ten grams of solid hashish or less than two grams of liquid hashish, possession of hashish is a minor misdemeanor drug abuse offense. Persons convicted of violating this section shall be fined $0.00.
(c) No person shall knowingly cultivate or manufacture marihuana. The penalty for the offense shall be as follows:
(1) If the amount of the drug involved is less than two hundred grams, illegal cultivation of marihuana is a minor misdemeanor drug abuse offense. Persons convicted of violating this section shall be fined $0.00.
(d) No person shall knowingly give or offer to make a gift of twenty grams or less of marihuana. The penalty for the offense shall be determined as follows:
(1) Whoever violates this section, anywhere inside City limits, is guilty of trafficking in marihuana, a minor misdemeanor drug abuse offense. Persons convicted of violating this section shall be fined $0.00.
(e) No person shall possess, sell, manufacture or use marihuana or hashish paraphernalia. The penalty for the offense shall be as follows:
(1) Whoever violates this section shall be guilty of a minor misdemeanor drug abuse offense. Persons convicted of violating this section shall be fined $0.00.
(f) Arrest or conviction for a minor misdemeanor violation of this section does not constitute a criminal record and need not be reported by the person so arrested or convicted in response to any inquiries about the person's criminal record, including any inquiries contained in any application for employment, license, or other right or privilege, or made in collection with the person's appearance as a witness.
(ORC 2925.11)
(g) All court costs shall be $0.00 for violations of these sections herein.
(h) Severability. The subsections of this section are severable. The invalidity of a subsection shall not affect the validity of the remaining section. Invalid subsections shall be revised to the minimum extent necessary to maintain validity and enforceability.
(i) Definitions.
(1) "Marihuana" means all parts of a plant of the genus cannabis, whether growing or not; the seeds of a plant of that type; the resin extracted from a part of a plant of that type; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of a plant of that type or of its seeds or resin. "Marihuana" does not include the mature stalks of the plant, fiber produced from the stalks, oils or cake made from the seeds of the plant, or any other compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the mature stalks, except the resin extracted from the mature stalks, fiber, oil or cake, or the sterilized seed of the plant that is incapable of germination; except that it does not include hashish.
(2) "Hashish" means the resin or a preparation of the resin contained in marihuana, whether in solid form or in a liquid concentrate, liquid extract, or liquid distillate form.