To his credit, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has earned a stellar reputation for prioritizing children’s health and well-being during his seven years in office. Across his two terms, DeWine has launched or promoted such children’s health initiatives as expanding mental health services, increasing the quantity and quality of school health clinics and championing programs to improve early childhood care.

It’s not surprising then that he grew impatient with Ohio lawmakers who turned a deaf ear to his repeated appeals over the past two years to protect children from the many documented adverse effects of intoxicating hemp products. As a result, earlier this month, DeWine issued his own emergency executive order banning the sale of intoxicating hemp products throughout the state. It took effect Tuesday but was temporarily blocked that same day by a judge hearing a lawsuit challenging its legality.

“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,” said DeWine.

What’s more, the governor’s order announcement came complete with show-and-tell samples of hemp products packaged to resemble candies such as Sour Patch, Nerds and Gushers, the better to appeal to impressionable young minds.

The dangers the governor cites are real.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, hemp products with even low levels of THC can cause impairing and psychotropic effects, such as slowed reaction times, impaired decision-making abilities, dizziness, disorientation and impaired motor coordination. Hospitals across the country have reported significant hikes in accidental childhood poisonings from the products as well.

When and if DeWine’s order is reinstated, Ohio will join about two dozen other states to effectively ban their sale. That order has drawn support from such diverse groups as the Ohio Manufacturers Association and the Ohio Cannabis Council.

“Manufacturers across Ohio are deeply concerned about the spread of intoxicating hemp products and their impact on workplace safety,” Ohio OMA President Ryan Augsburger said.

David Bowling, executive director of the OCC, likewise supports the order: “Adult Ohioans deserve safe, regulated and test products they can trust.”

Nonetheless opposition to the ban has surfaced from likely sources such as owners of convenience stores, gas stations and vape shops that have profited from their sale and from unlikely sources, such as Republican legislators in the Ohio General Assembly.

Leading the charge has been state Rep. Tex Fischer, R-Boardman, a longtime advocate of access to cannabis-related products to Ohioans. Fischer argues DeWine’s order oversteps the power of his office and as of early this week, was planning a General Assembly resolution to repeal it as early as next month.

Other more moderate legislators said they would hope the governor’s action would jettison lawmakers to act as DeWine had been pushing them to do before the ban expires early next year (or later if its blockage is lifted). Clearly, that course would be much more appropriate than antagonizing the governor needlessly over this clear public health threat.

To succeed, however, time is of the essence. Perhaps the easiest path to more stringently regulate the candies, the gummies and the beverages laced with small amounts of THC would be to regulate them in the same manner that adult cannabis products are controlled in Ohio.

A vehicle for such action already lies at their doorstep in the form of Ohio Senate Bill 86, which unanimously passed the state Senate in April. That legislation, which has languished in a House committee since, aims to regulate intoxicating hemp products by restricting their sale to licensed cannabis dispensaries already operating in the state. It also would regulate THC beverages by permitting their sale only at bars, craft breweries and dispensaries.

Further, all such products would be subject to state-mandated testing, packaging and labeling requirements, and sales would be prohibited to anyone under 21.

For those who argue that such a measure also is too extreme, we’d direct legislators to review the laws in other states. Some states ban beverages, but not gummies. Others impose restrictions such as forbidding sales at gas stations and convenience stores. Still others set maximum limits on the potency of the products.

Regardless of the route chosen, any solution must guarantee the one common denominator of keeping such products under lock and key and far from the hands and minds of minors. That’s a point that even Fischer acknowledges as needed.

If the governor’s stand pushes legislators to demonstrate the will to craft a bipartisan solution that rigidly regulates the products for the health and safety of all Ohioans while making them illegal for children to purchase and use, then his draconian measure will have had clear merit.

So instead of aggravating yet another needless fight with our state’s chief executive, legislators should instead get to work on a compromise to ensure the proud legacy of safeguarding children’s health during the DeWine years can be strengthened even more in the waning months of his governorship.