Oklahoma voters rejected a state question Tuesday to allow for the recreational use of marijuana, following a late blitz of opposition from faith leaders, law enforcement and prosecutors.
Oklahoma would have become the 22nd state to legalize adult use of cannabis and join conservative states like Montana and Missouri that have approved similar proposals in recent years. Many conservative states have also rejected the idea, including Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota last year.
Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and many of the state’s GOP legislators, including nearly every Republican senator, opposed the idea. Former Republican Gov. Frank Keating, an ex-FBI agent, and Terri White, the former head of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, led the “no” campaign.
Tag: States' Rights
Governor Stitt Signs New Cannabis Industry Regulations With More On The Way
More than 90 cannabis-related bills were filed at the beginning of the session, but as lawmakers wind down their time at the Capitol, only 20 remain. Four bills have been signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt, while others are waiting to be heard on the floor or are working through conference committees.
Several of the bills are aimed at cracking down on the cannabis black market — an issue heightened by multiple large-scale illegal marijuana busts. A few bills target standardizing operations, and others add more regulations and fees to the licensing process. Overall, bolstering the OMMA’s authority, increasing penalties for violations and implementing measures to mitigate impacts on natural resources were key areas of focus during this legislative session.
Two Groups Gathering Signatures For Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Proposals
KUAR:
Two groups are hoping to place proposals on the November ballot in Arkansas that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana. This comes six years after voters approved the use of marijuana for people in the state with certain medical conditions.
Backers of the separate proposed state constitutional amendments are working to gather enough valid petition signatures before a July deadline.
Oklahoma Marijuana Legalization Questions Heading To Ballot
Plans to fully legalize marijuana can proceed to the signature-gathering stage, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled, paving the way for two more cannabis plans seeking voter approval.
The high court’s ruling late Tuesday comes amid a marijuana boom in the Sooner State after voters in 2018 approved the most liberal medical marijuana program in the U.S. Nearly 10% of Oklahoma’s 4 million residents have qualified for a medical-use card, by far the highest percentage in the country.
Oklahoma On Verge Of Legalizing Recreational Marijuana
The state is on the verge of having legal recreational marijuana.
Right now there are two state questions that aim to make the legalization of recreational marijuana happen: State Question 820 and State Question 819.
State Question 820 would be a statutory amendment and it’s already been passed by the state supreme court.
And then there’s State Question 819 a constitutional amendment currently being held-up by the state supreme court.
Both of the groups behind these state questions want recreational marijuana but can’t agree on how to do it.
“We believe that peoples right and freedoms are not rights and freedoms unless they’re guaranteed in the constitution,” said Jed Green, the Director of Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action (ORCA).
Rights are inalienable and their existence does not depend upon their codification. However, it would be nice if the Oklahoma constitution respected our right to consume a flower that God made.
Oklahoma House Republicans Announce Medical Marijuana Policy Package To Increase Industry Regulations
KFOR:
The Oklahoma House of Representatives Republican Caucus addressed the media Monday afternoon stating how they plan to address the ongoing issues within the state’s medical marijuana industry.
“When the citizens of the state of Oklahoma voted for 788, they voted for a legal medical marijuana free market program. The black market is not the free market,” said House Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City.
Rep. Echols, referencing the state’s largest ever drug bust that happened on February 22, 2022. More than 150,000 marijuana plants were seized- law enforcement agents estimated the bust to total over $500 million in assets.
“We have seen black market elements competing with legitimate Oklahoma businesses. They are putting our citizens at risk. They’re doing things in an illegal, unethical manner,” said Rep. Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City. Lawmakers react to largest single-day drug bust in Oklahoma history
Oklahoma Bill To Allow Research On Chemical In “Magic Mushrooms” To Help Veterans Cope With PTSD
KFOR:
House Bill 3414 is striving to save the lives of veterans suffering with PTSD by allowing Oklahoma research centers to study the therapeutic effects of psilocybin, which is the active ingredient in “magic mushrooms.”
“It’s a game changer,” said Rep. Logan Philips of district 24, and a coauthor of the bill. “We’re talking waking up going to bed with ideas of wanting to kill yourself, waking up with them being gone. It is a light switch.”
The bill would allow Oklahoma universities to conduct clinical trials on the drug, and would “provide certain exemptions from criminal and civil penalties.”
Rep. Phillips said the bill is of the “utmost importance” because according to him, the suicide rate in Oklahoma’s veteran community is “astronomical.”
He believes psilocybin could be the answer to significantly decreasing that rate. A veteran himself, Rep. Phillips said he can relate to the struggles veterans face and wants to do all he can to help them.
Industry-Backed Proposal Would Legalize Adult-Use Marijuana
As expected, a third separate plan to change Arkansas Constitution and legalize recreational cannabis advanced Tuesday with the backing of growers in the state’s existing medical marijuana market.
The proposal, the Arkansas Adult Use Cannabis Amendment, was put forward as a petition from voters filed with the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office. The group behind the ballot question, Responsible Growth Arkansas, is chaired by former Arkansas House Democratic Leader Eddie Armstrong III.
Armstrong told Arkansas Business that the proposal represents a “responsible and highly regulated” path to legal marijuana use by adults in Arkansas. “We took an approach with this measure to ensure that the medical marijuana industry will be involved, and we hope to expand access without turning this into the wild west,” he said.
Arkansas One Step Closer To Completing Medical Marijuana Program
KTHV:
There are only two licenses left to distribute to complete the medical marijuana program voters passed in 2016.
Voters passed an amendment that would allow 40 dispensaries and 8 growers to do business in the state.
The first dispensary didn’t open until 2019. Right now, there are 37 in operation.
Right now there are 37 in operation in every tiny town of Oklahoma, and the competition is driving prices lower while the quality goes higher. Arkansas’ state medical marijuana model is nothing short of ridiculous.
Arkansas Medical Marijuana Sales Total $264.9 Million In 2021
Eligible Arkansans spent $264.9 million on medical marijuana in 2021 with the state’s 37 licensed dispensaries, and sales recently surpassed $500 million since the first dispensaries were opened in May 2019.
Tax revenue from sales since 2019 totals $57.349 million, with $34.5 million of that collected in 2021. The data was provided by the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, the parent agency of the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission.
Taxes collected are 6.5% of regular state sales tax with each purchase by a patient, and a 4% privilege tax on sales from cultivators to dispensaries. Most of the tax revenue is placed in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences National Cancer Designation Trust Fund.
Second Petition Filed To Legalize Recreational Cannabis In Oklahoma
Oklahomans could see on the ballot this year competing state questions to legalize recreational marijuana.
A second initiative petition to legalize recreational marijuana use in Oklahoma for anyone 21 years or older was filed Tuesday with the secretary of state’s office.
Campaign spokeswoman Michelle Tilley said this measure is a new version of a recreational cannabis initiative petition she helped with two years ago. That petition, State Question 807, didn’t make it on the statewide ballot partly because the start of the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult to collect signatures.
Second Challenge Of Oklahoma Recreational Marijuana Petition To Be Heard In January
Recreational marijuana is slowly becoming more of a possibility in Oklahoma.
The recreational petition would allow anyone 21 years old or older to grow, purchase, transport and consume marijuana.
However, there are still a couple of hurdles to overcome.
How Oklahoma Became A Marijuana Boom State
Across Oklahoma, a staunchly conservative state with a history of drawing people in search of wealth from the land, a new kind of crop is taking over old chicken coops, trailer parks and fields where cattle used to graze.
America.
Arkansas Medical Marijuana Sales Grow Over $250 Million In 2021
KFSM:
With almost 80,000 active patients in Arkansas, medical marijuana sales surpassed $250 million in 2021. A total of $254 million has been spent this year at the state’s 37 dispensaries.
Scott Hardin, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Finance & Administration, says Arkansans have spent $486 million on the drug since it first became available to patients in the summer of 2019.
Wild West Of Weed: Oklahoma Struggles To Regulate Booming Medical Marijuana Industry
Oklahoma state agencies are working to catch up to the medical marijuana industry’s explosive growth since it was legalized in 2018.
As of Nov. 10, the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) has licensed 381,429 patient licenses, which is 9.6% of the state population.
The agency has also issued 13,281 marijuana business licenses. Oklahoma’s 9,227 licensed growers surpasses the 8,474 cultivation licenses in California, where marijuana is legal for recreational use.
First Look Inside River Valley Relief Cultivation Facility In Fort Smith
“We want to grow high-quality medical cannabis and be able to make it affordable for a lot of people. Since insurance doesn’t help cover this cost it can be a challenge for a lot of people. Our family was hit hard by the opioid epidemic like a lot of other Arkansas families. And so this is one reason why we’re so passionate about it because we know this product can help people,” said RVR owner, Storm Nolan.
Nolan told 40/29 News the cultivation facility is focusing on products that are not currently available in Arkansas.
“Which has been one of the complaints, access to product or certain strains that are really popular. But now that we have that additional cultivator coming online that’s only going to help the market. When we talk to patients in the state, there’s a bit of a frustration in that people naturally cross the state line to Oklahoma and say, well, Oklahoma has literally thousands of dispensaries. Arkansas is limited. Even if we wanted to have thousands we’re limited constitutionally to 40 maximum,” said Scott Hardin with the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration and spokesperson for the Medical Marijuana Commission.
Options are limited for medical marijuana patients in the River Valley. Currently, there’s only one medical marijuana dispensary in Fort Smith. Northwest Arkansas has five dispensaries. Hardin told 40/29 News the MMC approved a dispensary that’s set to open near the beginning of the year at 1705 Fayetteville Road in Van Buren.
Oklahoma Group Files Petition Seeking To Legalize Recreational Marijuana
A group of Oklahoma cannabis advocates filed a petition that aims to put recreational marijuana on the ballot.
If voters approve state question 817, everyone 21 and older would be allowed to buy marijuana without a medical card.
The same group also filed a petition to replace the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority with a stand-alone agency.
Both petitions would have to get 178,000 signatures within 90 days to put up for a vote, unless there are successful legal challenges.
Actor Jim Belushi Partners With Tulsa Company For New Line Of Medical Marijuana
KTUL:
When actor Jim Belushi recently visited Tulsa, he got a suggestion from a friend to visit The Emerald Gallery, home to Tulsa’s medical marijuana brand Glazed Edibles.
The marijuana advocate and grower immediately fell in love.
“Their products are through the roof,” he told NewsChannel 8 during a Zoom call. “Their candy, their chocolate… I don’t know where their magic touch comes from but I want to find out.”
And so he did.
Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Ballot Initiative Underway
KUAR:
Under the amendment, residents who are at least 21 could grow up to 12 marijuana plants. Depending on the license acquired, licensees could sell marijuana plants, seeds and products. Also, those in jail for nonviolent, marijuana-related crimes would be released, and anyone convicted of such offenses would have their records expunged. He said the former would affect thousands of people, and the latter would impact tens of thousands who could enter the workforce and reduce the unemployment rate.
Oklahoma Activists Finalize Language For Two 2022 Marijuana Ballot Initiatives
Under the recreational legalization measure, adults 21 and older would be able to possess up to eight ounces of marijuana that they purchase from retailers, as well as whatever cannabis they yield from growing up to 12 plants for personal use.
Marijuana sales would be subject to a 15 percent excise tax, and the initiative outlines a number of programs that would receive partial revenue from those taxes. The money would first cover implementation costs and then would be divided to support water-related infrastructure, people with disabilities, substance misuse treatment, law enforcement training, cannabis research and more.