Law Oklahoma

[Baron23]

Wow....who knew? Must have been some very pent up demand in OK! haha

I used to travel often to Tulsa to meet with a customer...Williams Telco....and always had the impression of OK being a very conservative state...especially wrt to blue laws, vice laws...whatever you want to call it.

But, apparently I have mistaken libertarianism for being simple conservative. OK med program has exploded. With half of the population of MD, and starting well after MD, they have a 1/3 more registered patients than we do here. Outstanding and as far as I can tell OK government moved out quickly and has a good program in place with options for patients.

Oklahoma medical marijuana program’s stunning statistics
Oklahoma’s medical cannabis program continues to grow in leaps and bounds, with a staggering number of the state’s residents now registered.

The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) recently published the following updated statistics, current as at July 1.

• 151,479 patient applications received. 146,381 approved.
• 1,223 caregiver applications received. 958 approved.
• 6,118 business applications received. 3,397 grower, 905 processor and 1,605 dispensary licenses approved.

When we last reported on these figures back in March, 63,647 patients had been approved – so the number has more than doubled in under 4 months. The number of dispensary licenses has increased by close to 400. Again, it’s a phenomenal level of work that’s been carried out by the Authority to process that many applications. It was only in June 2018 that Oklahoma voters legalized medical marijuana – applications started being accepted a couple of months later and sales around a month after that.

Given Oklahoma’s population of an estimated 3,948,950, this means around 3.7% of all residents in the state have been approved for the program.

Driving this uptake are a relatively simple registration and review process and the fact the state doesn’t have the very restrictive qualifying conditions some other states have. Doctors can recommend medical marijuana for patients in any instance where they believe it will be useful in treating or managing a condition.

A wide range of products are permitted in Oklahoma; although smokable, vaporized, vapable and e-cigarette products used by a registered patient are subject to the same restrictions for tobacco in the state.

Single purchases are limited to three ounces of usable marijuana, one ounce of marijuana concentrate, seventy-two ounces of medical marijuana products, six mature plants, and/or six seedlings.

The program has been providing a nice boost for state coffers; close to $10.7 million dollars to June. There is a 7% tax on retail medical marijuana sales by a dispensary, the proceeds of which must be remitted to the Oklahoma Tax Commission each month – so it’s a very regular source of revenue.

Further information on Oklahoma’s program can be found on the OMMA web site.

 

[momofthegoons]

Seized marijuana returned to Enid dispensary after charges dismissed

This is a defense attorney's photo of the marijuana and cash seized June 4 and returned Thursday after criminal charges were dismissed. [Photo provided]

GUTHRIE — After finding 21 pounds of marijuana during a traffic stop early June 4, suspicious Logan County sheriff deputies arrested the driver and passenger despite their repeated protests they were delivering for a dispensary.

Daniel Richard Arthur, 40, and Rebecca J. Davis, 40, were both charged the same day with felonies, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substances with intent to distribute and conspiracy.

On Thursday, though, prosecutors dropped all charges and authorized the release of the seized marijuana, plus $5,400 in cash, to their defense attorney, Tyler Box.

The dismissal of the criminal cases highlights the uncertainty surrounding the law as the medical marijuana industry continues to grow rapidly in Oklahoma.

"Part of me wants to tell my guys, 'Hey, if they got dope, just let them go,'" Sheriff Damon Devereaux said Thursday. "It is frustrating but ... we're always willing to learn something new. ... It's not our intent to violate anybody's rights."

Box said the the defendants were transporting the marijuana in June on Interstate 35 from The House of Cannabis Dispensary in Enid to a dispensary in Edmond. He said the marijuana — valued at $55,000 — was being returned Thursday to the Enid business.

"We would certainly graciously accept an apology from the sheriff, but we have something better than that, and that's the satisfaction of knowing we're getting the medicine back in the hands of the people that need it," Box said.

Box works at a new law firm, the Overman Legal Group, and a new consulting firm, Climb Collective, with J. Blake Johnson, one of the state's leading experts on cannabis industry law. Johnson said legislators still have to make many significant changes to state statutes in upcoming sessions to clear up the uncertainty.

A new law that goes into effect in August will require a dispensary worker to have a medical marijuana transporter license to move product from one cannabis business to another. That new law also will require the transporter to use a vehicle with a GPS tracker and to keep the marijuana in a locked and clearly labeled container in a secured area not accessible during transit.

"It doesn't do much by way of changing how verification would happen or anything like that," Johnson said of the so-called Unity Bill. "I'm not sure that it is a panacea for the concern that we're trying to address right now which is local law enforcement picking folks up and deciding this can't be legal."

 

[Baron23]

These Oklahoma marijuana dispensaries are suing Facebook

Facebook can’t decide if it loves or loathes cannabis. Around this time last year, reports indicated Facebook was “shadow-banning” companies associated with legal cannabis sales and advocacy. Facebook admitted it was wary of illegal cannabis sales occurring on its platform, and in October 2018, announced to MarketWatch it would allow cannabis-related profiles and pages so long as they had a verified blue or gray check mark. Facebook even seemed open to allowing marketing and advertising around legal cannabis products in March of this year.

Give the social media giant some credit. They even tried their hands at a pot joke during its F8 developer conference in May.

But now seven Oklahoma medical marijuana dispensaries are suing Facebook over allegations the platform has placed them in “Facebook jail,” and limited them from posting about their shops. Ye Olde Apothecary Shoppe and its owner Danna Malone first filed a lawsuit against Facebook—as well as CEO Mark Zuckerberg, COO Sheryl Sandberg, and executive team member Peter Thiel—back in May. Six other dispensaries joined as plaintiffs on July 18, reports Tulsa World.

When a page or profile is placed in “Facebook jail,” that page or profile is temporarily disabled due to a perceived violation of the platform’s standards. These dispensaries placed in “Facebook jail” are seeking a court order that would prevent Facebook from promoting their shops on the platform, and $75,000 in damages from “economic harm.” In addition, Facebook would have to pay their lawyer’s fees should the plaintiffs choose to hire one.

“Facebook has an arbitrary, subjective, discriminatory and archaic policy and their policy does not apply to all,” reads the petition. “It is just random. Or at least it appears to be random. There is no way for an individual or a business to contact anyone within Facebook to get assistance. They hide behind their keyboards and mete out whatever punishment they feel if they find that you have committed an infraction to their subjective community standards.”

The lawsuit also alleges that “from the surface,” Facebook does not seem to be censoring cannabis companies in states with legalized recreational marijuana like California, Oregon, and Washington.

“The defendants pick and choose what is against community standards and what is not,” Malone told Tulsa World. “They do not have a set standard.”

 

[Baron23]

Wow, 1600 dispensaries!! In MD, we have about 100K patients and seem to be getting by nicely with about 100 dispensaries. Hard to see how 1,600 stores will be able to stay open...that's just spreads the market pretty dang thin, I think.


‘Wild West’ Days in Oklahoma Get a Little Too Wild

Most people in the cannabis industry know Oklahoma is going through a Wild West phase right now. The state’s loose medical marijuana regulations have sparked a chaotic dispensary boom. As of last week, there were more than 1,600 dispensaries serving 161,000 registered MMJ patients.


One dispensary sued for trademark infringement, another shut down for selling meth. Not a good look, OK.

We’ve seen other states go through this phase. Colorado, Washington, and California went through similar stages in their early dispensary years. Things got a little loose, and eventually state legislators created a regulatory system that offered patients a modicum of quality assurance.


The thing about a Wild West period is that… well, it can get wild. And this week things went a little over the top in Oklahoma.

Treehouse, TreeHouse, House of Tree

On Monday, news broke that a dispensary in Tulsa known as the Treehouse was being sued for trademark infringement by Nelvana Enterprises, a Canadian company that produces a children’s TV show of the same name.


Now, it’s one thing to choose a name like the Treehouse for your dispensary. It’s common enough that an attorney could argue innocence in court. Like you chose the Greenhouse or something. In fact, “treehouse” is so common that there’s a TreeHouse cannabis store in Soquel, California; a TreeHouse Collective in Portland, Oregon; and a TreeHouse Club store in Spokane, Washington, that actually has a treehouse next to the parking lot.

Treehouse is so popular a name, in fact, that the one in Tulsa isn’t even the only one in Tulsa. Yes, there’s Mary Jane’s Treehouse Dispensary, which is about five miles north of the other Treehouse. All of these other treehouses, to their credit, have managed to design logos that do not entail legal risk of trademark infringement.


Still and all: The Treehouse TV show is produced in Toronto, while the dispensary is in Tulsa, whose residents are not exactly staying up late watching Hockey Night in Canada on the CBC. There’s room for an honest mistake.

TV Show? What TV Show?

But then you compare the logo of the TV show to the logo of the dispensary.


Here’s the TV show:

Not the logo of a regulated adult medical product. (Nelvana Enterprises)
And here is the Oklahoma dispensary:

C’mon, it’s a common font. (Treehouse Dispensary/Facebook)
If the bass line from “Ice, Ice, Baby” could talk, the bass line from “Ice, Ice, Baby” would express its umbrage and outrage over the brazen nature of the theft here.


It’s worth noting that Nelvana Productions is not some obscure little Moosejaw outfit. It’s a global powerhouse of children’s programming, having produced such classics as Timothy Goes to School, The Fairly OddParents, and The Magic Schoolbus. These are the people who invented Miss Frizzle, for god’s sake. You cannot just screenshot the show’s opening sequence, Photoshop the logo, and start selling weed.


But that’s apparently what dispensary owner did. And that level of quality assurance seemed to run through the store’s cultural DNA. A few weeks ago, patrons were calling out its product in tweets like this


I’m no cannabis connoisseur, but I do know bad cannabis when I see it. And that’s bad cannabis. I wince even as I honor it with the word “cannabis.” That’s just nasty weed.


Some Oklahomans apparently agreed.


Who’s Minding the Store?

It doesn’t take a copyright attorney to recognize that the Treehouse doesn’t have much of a defense here. The only mystery is how the owner will rebrand the shop: Stick with Treehouse under a new logo, or change the name altogether but keep selling the same skeevy brickweed?


There’s a larger question in all of this, though. How did this Treehouse get licensed? Did nobody at the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority think to check the dispensary’s design scheme? Or maybe they did, and the fun cartoonish letters were A-OK by them.

Nonsense Like This Turns Votes

The legal cannabis industry is still only a few years old, and companies are struggling with over-regulation in some states and under-regulation in others.


The over-regulation risk, as we’re seeing in California, is that the cost of compliance drives up the price of cannabis and allows the illicit market to thrive. Over-regulation also locks legacy growers and sellers out of the legal system.


But under-regulation has its price, too. The Treehouse got away with an (allegedly) stolen, kid-friendly logo, while its competitors had to pay design professionals to invent something new and adult-appropriate.


Even worse, prohibitionists may insert the Treehouse logo into their slide deck when they argue that cannabis companies are trying to turn kids into customers. Those slides turn votes. We saw it just last Tuesday, when one old-school drug warrior sat before a Senate hearing and threw scare stories at the chair of the Senate banking committee. That senator has the power to move a bill that would help the 211,000 workers in the legal cannabis industry get checking accounts, loans, and mortgages. Little stuff like “Treehouse” can have major unintended consequences.

Don’t Be This Guy

Oh, also in Oklahoma last week: The owner of the Left Handed Okies medical marijuana dispensary in Spiro, Oklahoma, was busted for selling meth out of the store.

Don’t do that. It hurts us all. Especially the guy in Shady Point, Oklahoma, who owns a completely different dispensary that is also called, yes, Left Handed Okies.

 

[Baron23]

This should be interesting.....cert is from a doctor, hence your status as a MMJ patient is indeed Personal Patient Information (PPI) which is absolutely protected by HIPAA. While HIPAA is a Federal law, it does govern patient information requirements for all medical patients and I believe that this will apply whether the PPI is MMJ related or now. I believe that once this goes through state courts, if not successful in their suit, they will take it to Federal Court as a violation of HIPAA.

Attorney suing OMMA, DPS says potential of police accessing medical marijuana patient data 'brands' cardholders with a 'scarlet letter'


The owners of a Tulsa medical cannabis clinic are among the plaintiffs in a newly filed lawsuit that seeks to block information on patient licenses from appearing in a law enforcement database.
A petition filed Monday in Tulsa County District Court states there is “an ambiguity” within the language of Senate Bill 1030 that puts licensed medical cannabis patients at risk of having their cardholder status wrongly disclosed to police.
Tulsa attorney Ron Durbin filed suit on behalf of Tulsa Higher Care Clinic Inc., a medical cannabis health care facility, as well as 11 people including Norma Sapp, who helped form the Oklahoma Cannabis Liberty Alliance nonprofit patient advocacy group.


SB 1030, which will become law Aug. 29, has a clause directing the Oklahoma State Department of Health to make available “all information” shown on marijuana licenses through the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, or OLETS. The OSDH oversees the OMMA.
That provision, according to Durbin, does not make an adequate distinction between business licenses and patient licenses, which creates a privacy concern for the more than 170,000 licensed patients in Oklahoma. Nor, Durbin said, is the requirement consistent with other sections of SB 1030 that stress the importance of privacy.
“Patient information is not part of what was supposed to be disclosed to OLETS and law enforcement,” Durbin said. “What they intended to be disclosed was business license information. What this bill does, by allowing patient information to be released, is it essentially brands every medical marijuana patient license holder with a scarlet letter in the state of Oklahoma.”
He argued cardholder status could single patients out for what he called “disparate treatment” and asks for all licensed patients to be legally declared a class for litigation purposes. The lawsuit also requests a legal interpretation regarding which types of licenses fall under the requirement for disclosure in OLETS and an injunction preventing the OMMA and OSDH from sharing patient license information without a court order.
“I’m asking that when I get pulled over, the police don’t already know that I’m a medical marijuana patient,” said Whitney Wehmeyer, a co-owner of the Tulsa Higher Care Clinic. “Not that I have shame for it, but there aren’t people that get tagged for using opiates.”

Oklahoma law considers motorists to be in the commission of driving under the influence of drugs if they have any amount of a schedule 1 substance or its metabolites in their system. Despite hemp recently becoming federally legal, state law continues to define “marihuana” and metabolites such as THC as a schedule 1 drug, which Sapp said Friday means to her that patients could be targeted for DUI arrests based on prior knowledge of cardholder status.
House Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, said Friday that the bill was supposed to give officers a method of verifying the validity of patient IDs in person when they see a card and 24-digit ID code. He said although the current wording of SB 1030 was “very confusing,” “nothing in the law requires” the transfer of cannabis patient data into OLETS.


Echols told the Tulsa World that he and Rep. Scott Fetgatter, R-Okmulgee, asked the OMMA and DPS to delay a data transfer at least until the next legislative session, during which Echols expected the clause to be repealed. But the OMMA’s website as of Monday afternoon lists SB 1030 as being among upcoming legislation that affects patients, with the agency writing it was “currently evaluating implementation timelines” for making information available in the OLETS system.
The OMMA released a statement Friday indicating it was working with DPS “to balance privacy concerns regarding patient information as outlined in State Question 788” with its “statutory obligation under SB 1030” to make the data available to police.
Durbin said the data in OLETS can be accessed by agencies inside and outside of Oklahoma, which he also believes constitutes a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, if patient statuses are released.
He wrote that SB 1030 amended House Bill 2612, a medical cannabis regulatory framework that also takes effect Aug. 29, to say that the handling of records in the OMMA’s patient and caregiver registry shall comply with HIPAA and other relevant laws.
“It’s not something they do in any other state in the United States,” Wehmeyer said of the proposal. “I don’t think necessarily that this (sharing patient data) was the intention. I think it’s poor writing and poor language, but either way, that still affects me as a patient. Right? The fact that you all got it wrong still affects me.”

 

[Baron23]

So, who knew that OK would become a national hotspot for MMJ!! Seems to be a very libertarian strain of conservatism out there. Good for them.


Oklahoma's young marijuana industry's growth exceeds expectations




Related content
Ongoing coverage: Marijuana in Oklahoma Side effects: In Oklahoma, cannabis billboards irk some Side effects: City to inspect marijuana businesses under state law Side effects: Pot coloring the kettle corn green in budding culinary industry Side effects: Medical community dealing with benefits, issues surrounding cannabis Side effects: Politicians and marijuana activists look ahead to future changes Side effects: Medical marijuana may be legal across Oklahoma, but on state colleges it's been denied admission


A weed is a wild plant growing where it is not wanted and in competition with cultivated plants.
Literally, marijuana no longer fits the definition as it is one of the highest-demanded and most lucrative cash crops in Oklahoma.
The boom is recognizable in almost every major economic measurable. Numbers of growers, processors, dispensers, tax revenues, patients and consumers all are spiking since the substance was legalized with the passage of State Question 788 last year.
But metaphorically, the industry is outgrowing its own bounds and influencing other, more well-established industries. Higher education, the food service industry and Oklahoma's state politicians, in addition to those in the medical field, all are working to adapt to the changes brought with such a rapidly expanding industry.

This story is the first in a series exploring some of those "side effects" to Oklahoma's medical marijuana.
Scope

Oklahoma approved more than 6,500 medical marijuana business licenses by Aug. 1. That nearly meets or exceeds the number of churches in this Bible-belt state.


Dispensaries seem to be positioned on every corner, fighting for a share of a still-increasing market. There are now nearly 1,700 approved dispensary licenses in Oklahoma. Comparatively, there are only about twice that many places you could walk into today and order a glass of beer.
But these dispensaries are only part of the story, accounting for less than a third of commercial marijuana operations in the state.

Processors and growers often operate in nondescript buildings for security purposes and can even set up in residential areas or neighborhoods. Some commercial growers are working out of their homes, whether or not their neighbors know about it.
In Oklahoma County, with far less traditional agricultural activity than many counties in the state, growers outnumber dispensary licenses 595 to 549.
Tax revenue is another metric that continues to grow exponentially.


Oklahoma collected nearly $1,300 in sales tax in November, the first month of collections since legalization, according to the Oklahoma Tax Commission. That amount has seen a 63% median percent increase month-over-month since, and in June, the state collected more than $2.1 million.
The demand created by an unexpected surge of patient applications is fueling these spikes. The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority anticipated the state would see about 80,000 patients apply for a medical marijuana license within the first year after legalization.
That estimate was smashed as Oklahoma surpassed 162,000 patients before the end of July, about a year after SQ 788 passed June 26, 2018.
All the approved license holders would be enough to form the third-largest city in Oklahoma, and it likely won’t be long before that number is larger than the populations of Norman and Stillwater — combined.


This number is not yet as much as was anticipated within Oklahoma, but it is all occurring at a much faster rate. Medical Marijuana Authority Director Adrienne Rollins said the authority originally estimated about 5% of the state’s population, close to 200,000, eventually would be licensed patients. This estimate is based off license rates in other states with similar medical marijuana legislation.
The business numbers have exceeded expectations as well, though original estimates so far are closer to actual numbers.
“On the business side, I think we were around 5,000 max,” Rollins said. “There are a lot of growers. That was interesting to us to see how many growers and how they’re really everywhere in Oklahoma. It’s really widespread.”
There are some signs the state is nearing an equilibrium. Patient license applications and business license applications are slowing.

“We’re about 3,000 to 4,000 (patient applications) a week that we get in,” Rollins said. “At the height, one week we even got close to 9,000.”
With more than 6,500 commercial business licenses issued, it’s safe to say jobs have been added to the labor force, but it is still to be determined just how many.
The way jobs are tracked through the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission is limited when it comes to brand new job sectors, according to Lynn Gray, the agency's director of research and analysis.
“These are for the most part new companies that didn’t exist a year ago,” Gray said. “We weren’t seeing many come through our system until February.

"I have no idea what the employment will be."

More than one industry
The medical marijuana business has grown so large the economic ripples are being felt in other Oklahoma industries. The food Oklahomans eat, where they send their kids to school, work performed by their civil servants and medical practices all are feeling the effects.

Restaurateurs are exploring the possibility of entering the market, using their culinary skills to cook up higher-quality, better-tasting ways to consume THC or CBD. The same chic restaurant you love in one of Oklahoma City’s trendiest districts might also soon have a marijuana venture as part of its portfolio.
Restrictions were placed on the location of dispensaries in regard to distances from K-12 schools. However, this does not include colleges or universities, which has led to the opening of several medical marijuana dispensaries opening within a stoner’s throw from the university property.
This proximity is fantastic for the business owners, who benefit from a demographic known for partaking in the substance long before legalization in this state was anywhere close to fruition. But the universities and colleges are stuck in a precarious situation with fears for the risk of lost federal funding if medical marijuana — even carried by licensed card-holding students — were allowed on campus.
Medically, doctors are going back to school in some sense, attempting to learn best practices for a new treatment option for some patients. This poses a challenge and causes mixed levels of enthusiasm and concern for best practices with the product.

This entire industry could be disrupted should recreational use be legalized. Despite the booming growth for medical marijuana, Oklahomans may have to wait for any legal recreational use.
Many politicians and advocates alike seem content with the current state of the industry. Oklahoma has very low barriers of entry for patients and businesses, and full legalization might not have the same explosive growth seen right now. Because of that, many are taking a wait-and-see approach for the near future.
These are only some of the “side effects” to a newly legal industry growing at an incredible rate.

 

[Baron23]

Co-founders of PAC that got medical marijuana on Oklahoma ballots close their dispensary, FlowerCraft

Co-founders of a political action committee that got medical marijuana on Oklahoma voters’ ballots announced this week that they will close their dispensary.
Lauren Jenkins, co-owner of FlowerCraft dispensaries in Tulsa and Coweta, announced Wednesday that the business will close. Saturday was the last day for the Tulsa store, at 2606 S. Sheridan Road. The Coweta store has already closed.
“It’s difficult. It’s a very difficult industry to be in,” Jenkins said in a Facebook video pinned to the FlowerCraft business page. “Having a cannabis business is unlike any other thing we’ve ever experienced.”


In the video Jenkins referenced regulatory hurdles, treatment of the medicine by federal authorities and banking woes for those in the industry.

Her husband, Shawn Jenkins, was a co-founder of the Yes On 788 Political Action Committee. He regularly traveled from Broken Arrow to Oklahoma City to advocate for State Question 788, particularly when state officials were slow to place the measure on the ballot after a successful petition drive.
The Jenkinses began exploring medicinal cannabis, in the form of CBD, as early as 2012 after learning their son has a brain abnormality that causes seizures. Later, their daughter faced similar seizures due to a similar condition, the Tulsa World reported previously.


The Jenkinses initially wanted to grow cannabis privately at their home and didn’t see themselves as spokespeople on the issue. But once other activists learned about their children, they said they kept hearing from people who wanted to support them if they chose to get into the commercial industry.
“At the end of the day, Shawn and I have talked, and it really breaks my heart to say, but it’s probably best for FlowerCraft to just go ahead and bow out of this industry and tip our hat to all the people that are still standing, because it is a difficult road home,” Lauren Jenkins says in the video.

 

[Baron23]

Wow, OK seems to be....well, not liberal but perhaps the most libertarian of states in the way that they are addressing MMJ. What a pleasant surprise from what is often considered a very conservative bible belt state. By all accounts, they seemed to have set up a very good MMJ program.

Medical marijuana ‘Unity Bill’ set to go into effect this month

OKLAHOMA CITY – A bill that creates the framework for medical marijuana patients in the workplace is about to go into effect.

House Bill 2612, which has been called the “Unity Bill,” includes sections specifically related to packaging and labeling guidelines or restrictions, along with “safety-sensitive jobs.”

According to the legislation, no employer may refuse to hire or penalize an applicant or employee “solely on the basis of a positive test for marijuana components or metabolites.” Employers also cannot discipline or discharge a current employee solely because they have a valid patient license.

An exception, however, would apply to positions involving “safety-sensitive job duties” such as driving or operating machinery and power tools. Safety-sensitive jobs are considered “any job that includes tasks or duties that the employer reasonably believes could affect the safety and health of the employee performing the task or others.”

Employers are not required to allow the use or possession of marijuana in any business during work hours.

Businesses can still conduct drug tests that include screening for marijuana. However, if a test comes back as positive for marijuana and the individual has a valid patient license, then an employer cannot refuse to hire, discipline, or discharge them solely because of that positive test.

If someone qualifies as a federal contractor or employer, they need to know that the bill does address employers who are required by federal law to maintain a drug-free workplace.

The measure goes into effect on Aug. 30.

 

[Baron23]

Must have been written by a millenial used to twitter character count limit. Please note below that EVERY paragraph is just one sentence. sigh

Mandatory testing now required for medical marijuana sales in Oklahoma

The content of your weed could be a lot more than just THC.

News 4 went to the labs responsible for testing medical marijuana in Oklahoma and found out some distributors in the industry are skimping on their safety procedures.
Just drive down North May Avenue and you can't look left or right without seeing a medical marijuana dispensary.
Some are even calling it "The Green Mile."

But are the products you're buying safe?

The industry was unregulated in Oklahoma until the Unity Bill went into effect recently, making safety testing at licensed labs mandatory.

"We're talking about $40 a pound," Wendy Hampton, CEO at Express Toxicology Services, said.

Their Edmond facility mostly tests marijuana sent to them by growers and processors.

"This is medicine, and lots of people with compromised immune systems are using this as a true form of medicine," Hampton said.
That's why it'd be dangerous if the products are not tested for everything, such as metals and pesticides.

And according to some labs licensed to test everything, some in the industry are doing the bare minimum.

"The heavy metals, the pesticides, the microtoxins, all can be lethal things if not looked at properly, and that's the one testing that's not going on right now," William Webb said.

Webb owns Quality Cannabis Laboratories in Edmond.

With a limited number of state agents enforcing the new laws, Webb started going to dispensaries himself.

"Out of approximately 55 dispensaries I went to, only one of them had the correct testing, the full panel," Webb said.
Dispensaries should be able to provide you test results.

Labs are required to keep results for two years and allow the Oklahoma Department of Health access to them.

 

[momofthegoons]

Blackwell mayor forced to surrender medical marijuana commercial license following Unity Bill

BLACKWELL, Okla. (KFOR) - The mayor of Blackwell was called to action after it was discovered he had a medical marijuana license he’s no longer allowed to have.

The Unity Bill that went into effect on Aug. 30 included a new list of people who are prohibited from having a commercial grower’s license. On that list are elected officials.

“House Bill 2612, sometimes called the Unity Bill, says that anyone who is an officer of a municipality is prohibited from having a commercial license,” said Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority Assistant Director Melissa Miller.

Earlier this week, it was brought to the attention of Blackwell city officials that the mayor, T.J. Greenfield, had a license he acquired in June associated with medical marijuana business Synergy Genetics.

“One of my officers advised me that he had been informed that the mayor had a grow license,” said City Manager Janet Smith.

She alerted the city attorney, who sent a letter to Greenfield saying in part, “Holding the position of mayor may adversely affect your ability to hold this license.”

It’s the first time the situation has been brought to the attention of the OMMA since the law passed. Miller said failure to comply could result in a revocation of the license.

Mayor Greenfield told the Blackwell Journal Tribune he was grandfathered in, but on Friday, told News 4 he had applied to be removed from the license. The OMMA confirmed he applied for the removal Thursday afternoon.

“As soon as I got the information on it yesterday, I submitted the change to remove myself from the license,” Greenfield told News 4 on the phone. He said the only money he’ll make off the business is from the rent the company pays to lease his building. “I won’t own anything to do with that.”

But since being elected into office, Greenfield’s businesses have already come under investigation in the county after allegations surfaced he was benefiting from construction work his company did in the county. The city council conducted an internal investigation, the results of which have not yet been released.

The district attorney also requested a state audit. In a letter to state auditor Gary Jones, District Attorney Brian Hermanson wrote the requested audit is “regarding contracts entered with the existing Mayor without following the proper bidding laws.”

“One of the reasons that I believe that people don`t trust government is because they know that officials and sometimes employees take advantage of their role and their position and their access,” Smith said.

Greenfield insists the focus of the audit is simply a misunderstanding, and that he looks forward to speaking to state auditors.

“I had no idea about it,” Greenfield said. “That was all up to our city manager, and that will come out when the state auditors do their investigation."

 

[momofthegoons]

TALE OF THE TAPE: When it Comes to Cannabis, Oklahoma Continues to Sock it to California

California and Oklahoma – two very different states with very few things in common. One quality of life feature that they share, however, is that they each have a legal, state-sanctioned cannabis market.
In any fair fight, a Tale of the Tape is used to highlight each opponent’s base attributes and relevant statistics. The regulated cannabis markets in both states have been making plenty of headlines lately, not always for the right reasons, but despite the glaring differences between these two cannabis markets we wanted to match them up, head-to-head, to see which one is swinging hardest these days.

ROUND 1 - IF YOU BUILD IT…
Oklahoma instituted their medical marijuana laws roughly a year and a half ago in mid-2018, they currently do not have any provisions in place protecting or allowing recreational production, sale, possession, or use of the cannabis plant.
California operated in the quasi-legal grey area of Prop 215/SB 420 for nearly two decades beginning in 1996, forming the largest and most lucrative medical marijuana market that the world had ever seen. In November of 2016, though, that all changed with the passage of Prop 64, the voter initiative that established the state’s adult-use recreational cannabis laws and created a new taxed and regulated legal market for marijuana.
California’s new legal market has, so far, failed to meet anyone’s expectations. Legacy operators cannot afford to or qualify to enter the legal side and then struggle mightily to stay afloat if they do get in; savvy cannabis consumers are wary of supporting a new legal market full of brands they don’t recognize selling overtaxed weed they don’t want to smoke; and local and state officials banking on legal weed to boost their budgets are watching the street market rake in roughly triple the revenue… tax-free.
Perhaps the main difference between the approaches taken by the two states is the barrier to entry for those looking to enter the supply side of their legal market. From cultivators to manufacturers, to extractors, to retailers, California has failed to make these opportunities reasonably attainable.

For example, Mendocino County in the heart of the famed Emerald Triangle in Northern California boasted over 10,000 permitted cannabis growers just a few short years ago. Today, under Prop 64, that number hovers in the mid-600’s and the story is the same statewide where only 4,079 cultivation licenses have been granted in total.
In Oklahoma, in just a year and a half, 4,931 cultivation licenses have been issued along with 2,169 dispensary licenses to slang that cannabis through to the public. Compare that to just 591 licensed dispensaries in Cali as of September of this year. This translates into one legal dispensary for every 2,356 people in Oklahoma versus one legal dispensary for every 67,972 Californians.
Prop 64 in California left way too much power in the hands of the individual municipalities (cities & towns) that make up the fabric of the state. Because of this, 75% of those municipalities now have explicit bans on any and all commercial cannabis activity within their jurisdiction despite the fact that nearly that same number of municipalities voted in favor of safe access to legal weed back in 2016.





Under State Question 788 in Oklahoma, no such local authority is granted so that no individual city, town, or county can enact zoning restrictions to prevent dispensaries from opening.

ROUND 2 - …THEY WILL COME
There are currently about 3.95 million residents in the state of Oklahoma. By contrast, there are over 4 million people in the city of Los Angeles alone, there are well over 10 million that call Los Angeles County their home, and more than 40 million residents in the state of California.
Industry insiders estimate that as few as 1 in 5 adult cannabis consumers in Cali get their bud from the regulated/legal market. We estimate that number is probably, finally, somewhat accurate. Why? Well there are allegedly 30 million adults in Cali. We have to shave that number down a bit since the state won’t let you buy legal weed until you are 21, but even 20% of 25 million is 5 million people allegedly hitting up legal, licensed dispensaries and delivery services for their cannabis. Remember that number…
In Oklahoma, on the other hand, a full 5% of the states TOTAL POPULATION are now registered as medical marijuana patients – the highest such percentage in the nation. They use that term ‘patients’ pretty loosely in the Sooner State, as there is no restrictive list of “qualifying conditions” so doctors can issue a recommendation for any reason they see fit. As a result, 210,000 Oklahomans and counting have signed up for legal weed, up from 25,000 this time last year.

So, we have an estimate that California has 5 million+ active cannabis consumers in their legal market, and Oklahoma has the easily trackable number of 210,000+. Let’s check the receipts.

ROUND 3 – MONEY FIGHT
Original estimates for California’s annual cannabis tax revenues flirted with the word Billion, with a B, but the bean counters got refried when the state had to revise its 2019 estimate downward to around $300 million, a number it still will not reach this year. That is based on disappointing total sales revenues that have yet to match the roughly $3 billion annually that the state was seeing under the banner of Prop 215/SB 420.
In Oklahoma, the state is expecting to see total sales revenues of $350 million this year of which the state itself could pocket as much as $50 million.
So, Cali appears to be bringing in roughly 10x the sales of Oklahoma which matches up relatively close to the disparity in the states’ populations.

JUDGES’ DECISION
So, is it fair to compare the two markets and, if so, which one comes out on top?
Well, for starters, Californians do not have to go to a doctor anymore to qualify to get cannabis. Secondly, it’s CALIFORNIA VERSUS OKLAHOMA for fuck’s sake! For these two reasons, this should be an easy knockout but Oklahoma stands its ground.
Clearly, the unregulated market in California is draining the potential of the regulated one, but it is the very taxes and regulations that differentiate them that provide that unregulated market with such a distinct advantage. We have no doubt that if we could get accurate totals on the unregulated cannabis sales in each state, Cali would shine as it should, but instead those stats stay in the shadows.
Financially, this one appears to be a draw, but the mere fact that David is taking Goliath to the judges’ scorecards just might be the upset of the year.

 

[momofthegoons]

Cherokee Nation Will No Longer Demand THC Abstinence From Employees

The tribal association is in the midst of reconsidering its relationship to cannabis.

“Landscapes are changing, and the Cherokee Nation needed to modernize its HR policies to reflect those changes,” said Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. in a January 15 press release. The communication was meant to inform the public that Hoskin’s tribal association would be leaving space for its employees to undergo medicinal cannabis treatment. No longer will the group’s 4,000 workers in its Talequah, Oklahoma government offices need to fear the results of on the job testing — or exams administered during the employment application process — for THC.

“I am pleased to announce this change in policy, and I am committed to ensuring that we support all valid (physician-supported treatments),” Hoskin continued.

Due to tribal sovereignty regulations, Native governments set their own laws when it comes to cannabis and marijuana production, consumption, and distribution. When Oklahoma legalized medicinal cannabis in 2018, Cherokee Nation officials made it clear that the drug would not enjoy a similar recognition on their land.

Many Native governments have resisted the call to regulate cannabis, holding that legalizing the drug would only worsen grave addiction problems that already exist within Native communities.


But the relationship between cannabis usage and other drug addictions requires more study — some investigations even point to the drug’s utility in busting dependence to other substances.

Across the country, some tribal governments have found the opportunity to diversify their revenue streams with the addition of cannabis enterprise too good to pass up. Many have made the decision to allow cannabis within their communities. Michigan’s Bay Mills Indian Community. New Mexico’s Acoma Pueblo Tribe, Nevada’s Paiute, Washington’s Puyallup Tribe, and Oregon’s Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs are among the groups that have already entered the cannabis industry in one form or another.

Elsewhere, tribes have made early steps into getting involved themselves in the cannabis industry, only to be faced with the untenable request that they “submit a written waiver of sovereign immunity” in order to be licensed by state regulatory agencies, as in California. The USDA recently approved an application from the Santa Rosa Band of Cahuilla Indians to cultivate hemp on its reservation.


Washington, Oregon, and Nevada governments have passed regulations that allow tribes to forgo the invasive requirement of ceding sovereignty for cannabis industry participation.

Cannabis and Cherokee Nation
It remains illegal to consume or possess cannabis on Cherokee Nation land. But the HR decision to stop penalizing workers for medical THC consumption comes at a time when the organization is otherwise reconsidering its relationship to the drug.

Yesterday, Hoskin announced that the tribal government would be forming a seven member workgroup tasked with examining the tribes’ involvement with cannabis commerce, health care and agriculture.


“I believe there are opportunities for Cherokee Nation, our businesses and our citizens to benefit from this emerging industry,” said Hoskin in a press statement. “But, we need to move forward carefully and responsibly and in absolute strict adherence to the law in order to ensure success and sustainability.”

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has gone even further, and despite healthy debate over the matter among tribal leaders, has announced its intentions to apply for a hemp business license from the USDA.

 

[Baron23]

Protesters Descend Upon Oklahoma Capitol in Response to Rigid Medical Cannabis Bills

The bills would make medical cannabis more difficult to access.


Facing multiple bills that they say would undermine their rights to medical marijuana, hundreds of protesters swarmed Oklahoma’s state capitol on Thursday.
The legislation that provoked the demonstration could have myriad effects: one proposal would ban billboards advertising medical cannabis; another would prohibit dispensaries from being built near churches.
Oklahoma voters approved a measure legalizing medical marijuana in 2018, and the new law took effect last August.
Linda Jerchau, a grower at Hypnotic Farms in Claremore, Oklahoma, said she showed up to protest in the capital of Oklahoma City this week so that her business can maintain the rights enshrined in the new law.

“We’re not asking for anything except just let us be a business,” said Jerchau, as quoted by The Oklahoman. “We’re legal. Let us stay legal. Let us be.”
The Oklahoman reported that Jerchau attended the rally with her father, John Blackwell, who said he uses medical marijuana to help him sleep.
“It doesn’t knock you out,” he said. “It helps you relax and sleep.”

“We’re not going to let them get away with it,” Blackwell added. “The public wanted it passed as a law, it got passed as a law, then why are they trying to nibble away at it?”
A bill introduced this month by Republican state Sen. Mark Allen would ban medical marijuana businesses from advertising on billboards.
Republican state House Rep. Jim Olsen, meanwhile, offered up a proposal that would prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries from being located within 1000 feet of any place of worship.

“We don’t really want children to think that marijuana is the answer to their problems,” Olsen said, as quoted by The Oklahoman. “Now, that’s not to dispute what many people, older people say that it has helped their pain. I wouldn’t dispute that for a minute.”
Oklahoma’s medical marijuana program has, by all accounts, been embraced by residents in the deeply conservative state.
The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) reported last summer that it had approved nearly 150,000 license for patients to receive medical cannabis, placing it near the top among the 33 states in the country that have legalized medical cannabis.
That number vastly exceeded what state officials expected for the first year of enrollment. After the measure passed on the ballot in 2018, officials said they anticipated roughly 80,000 patients enrolling in the opening year.

 

[Baron23]

New Guidelines For Medical Marijuana Set To Take Effect

TULSA, Oklahoma - New marijuana testing requirements are set to take effect in a couple of months.

It's part of a slew of rules and guidelines finalized late last year. Starting April first all marijuana sold by a grower or processor will need to be tested by an Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority licensed lab. These requirements took effect last year, but aren't being enforced until April 1st.

That's because Oklahoma's leaders needed to make sure labs were properly licensed.

Until last year, labs were licensed by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. The new changes give that power over to the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority - or OMMA.

"These rules were technically in effect August 29th, but you can't test with an OMMA license laboratory if those don't exist," Tulsa Attorney Ron Durbin said.

Now, the OMMA has ten fully licensed labs. They say there are many more in different stages of the licensing process. Durbin says the industry will see drastic changes.

"Right now you have a lot of dispensaries, and really growers and processors that have been trying to skirt the system, and are not testing their products," Durbin said.

Durbin says most growers and processors follow the rules, but these new guidelines will stop those who purposefully try to break the law.

"Additionally it'll allow patients to have information related to the marijuana products they're buying, the terpene levels, making sure it's not full of heavy metals, pesticides," Durbin said.

He says there are some negatives though. The testing sample amount is high, and the labs have to collect the samples themselves which could allow cross-contamination. There are also logistic hurdles, which could drive up the cost for patients, especially in rural areas.

But, Durbin says overall the new law is positive for the industry.

"Most businesses are extremely happy about the testing requirements and that OMMA is going to start enforcing that," Durbin said.

He says lawmakers still need to iron out some of the problems with the new rules. He hopes they'll do that this session.

 

[momofthegoons]

Dispensary Wars: Oklahoma Cannabis Prices Gutted by 50-75%

Last Friday, Marijuana Business Daily, a national business journal that tracks market trends in cannabis, published an article about the state of medical marijuana in Oklahoma. There are a lot of dispensaries, have you heard? We’re in the middle of a price war, and it’s getting bloody.

via mjbizdaily.com:

“So many medical marijuana dispensaries have opened in Oklahoma that many stores are slashing prices to stay competitive.
The downward pressure on cannabis pricing has some dispensaries fearing for their future even as they brace for yet more possible business challenges that could result if the state enacts more cannabis regulations related to testing and labeling.”

Incredibly lenient policies and inexpensive business licencing have led to an incredibly full, competitive market. To keep the doors open and MMJ patients coming back, dispensaries are clawing to outdo each other — dropping all those sweet green deals that keep your phone vibrating nonstop with alerts. Oklahoma is still the Wild West of Weed, and our marijuana is only getting better and cheaper. By a lot.

“At its height, the wholesale price of marijuana flower was about $4,000 a pound on average, which has dropped to between $1,000 and $2,800 a pound today, according to Oklahoma industry insiders.”

Now, we’re not sure who these “industry insiders” are, but given the prices I’m seeing and the precedent set in other states like Oregon, where the supply outweighs the demand, it absolutely makes sense that our cannabis prices are dropping by 50-75%. Poor Oregon. Good thing they have Idaho right next door to help prop them up.

It’s a fact: Oklahoma has the most dispensary licenses in the nation. My fellow Okies! Put your pipe, joint, or crudely constructed water bottle contraption down, and just let that sink in for a second. Us. Oklahoma. In the spirit of cannabis, whoah dude…

Marijuana Business Daily breaks it down like this:

“Under Oklahoma’s liberal licensing policy, the state has issued more than 2,000 dispensary business permits. The retailers serve nearly 240,000 patients across the state.”

Think about that! If each of us committed to a single dispensary, each shop would have only 120 customers to keep them afloat. That, my friends, is not sustainable. While not all of those licenses represent a fully functioning dispensary, it’s a good snapshot of our cannabis market as a whole.

What’s next for Oklahoma?

“It’s going to be survival of the fittest,” said Jay Czarkowski, founding partner of Canna Advisors, a Boulder, Colorado-based cannabis consulting firm.”

In the fight to survive, prices will continue to drop. Who knows how low they will go, but I can tell you this: Today, I can get four grams of quality concentrates for $100 bucks. Two years ago, that price was nearly $300.

 

[momofthegoons]

Pot entrepreneurs flocking to the Bible Belt for low taxes
When voters in conservative Oklahoma approved medical marijuana in 2018, many thought the rollout would be slow and burdened with bureaucracy

OKLAHOMA CITY -- From their keen taste for sun-ripened pot to their first meeting at a pro-marijuana rally in college in the 1990s, everything about Chip and Jessica Baker fits the stereotype of cannabis country in Northern California, where they lived for 20 years.

Jessica, with wavy hair that falls halfway down her back, is a practicing herbalist, acupuncturist and aromatherapist who teaches classes on the health benefits of cannabis. Scruffy-bearded Chip wears a jacket with a prominent “grower" patch and hosts a marijuana podcast called “The Real Dirt.” They started their pot business in rugged Humboldt County when it was the thriving epicenter of marijuana cultivation.


But the couple bid goodbye to the weed-friendly West and moved somewhere that might seem like the last place they would end up — Oklahoma.

They’re part of a green rush into the Bible Belt that no one anticipated when Oklahoma voters approved medical marijuana less than two years ago. Since then, a combination of factors — including a remarkably open-ended law and a red state's aversion to government regulation — have created such ideal conditions for the cannabis industry that entrepreneurs are pouring in from states where legal weed has been established for years.

Though 11 states have fully legalized marijuana for recreational use, Oklahoma's medical law is the closest thing to it: Anyone with any ailment, real or imagined, who can get a doctor's approval can get a license to buy. It's not hard to do. Already, nearly 6% of the state's 4 million residents have obtained their prescription cards. And people who want to sell pot can do it as easily as opening a taco stand.

“Oklahoma is really allowing for normal people to get into the cannabis industry, as opposed to other places where you need $20 million up front,” said Jessica Baker.

The Bakers have a marijuana farm about 40 miles (65 kilometers) from Oklahoma City, along with a dispensary, nursery and gardening shop in a working-class part of town where virtually every vacant shop and building has been snapped up by weed entrepreneurs in the last year.

When he leased his place, which had been vacant for 10 years, Chip Baker said, “to celebrate, the owner went to Hawaii for a month."

Unlike other states, Oklahoma did not limit the number of business licenses for dispensaries, growers or processors.

In less than two years, Oklahoma has more than 2,300 pot stores, or the second most per capita in the U.S. behind only Oregon, which has had recreational marijuana sales for five years. Oklahoma has four times more retail outlets than more populous Colorado, which pioneered full legalization.

“Some of these states are regulating cannabis like plutonium,” said Morgan Fox, a spokesman for the National Cannabis Industry Association, the national trade group for marijuana businesses. “And the financial burdens that are placed on licensed businesses are so onerous, that not only is it very difficult to stay in business, but it’s also very difficult for the legal, state-regulated systems to compete with the illicit market.”

Marijuana taxes approach 50% in some California communities and are a factor in some business closings.

California requires a $1,000 application fee, a $5,000 surety bond and an annual license fee ranging from $2,500 to $96,000, depending on a dispensary's projected revenue, along with a lengthy application process. Licenses can cost $300,000 annually.

In Oklahoma, a dispensary license costs $2,500, can be filled out online and is approved within two weeks.

Arkansas, next door to Oklahoma, also has medical marijuana, but like most such states, it allows purchase only for treatment of certain diseases, such as glaucoma or post-traumatic stress disorder. It also requires a $100,000 surety bond. Louisiana, which also tightly restricts prescriptions, has only nine licensed dispensaries.

Ford Austin and his sister opened the APCO Medical Marijuana Dispensary in a gentrifying part of Oklahoma City after he gave up on plans for a California weed store. “There’s way more opportunity here," he said.

Sarah Lee Gossett Parrish, an Oklahoma attorney specializing in cannabis law, said about 15% of her cannabis clients are coming from out of state.

“I frequently receive calls from people in the cannabis industry in California," Gossett Parrish said.

People in some rural towns are worried about the Wild West atmosphere of the boom, particularly where shops with funny weed-pun names, waving banners and blinking signs have opened near schools and churches.

A Republican state legislator, Jim Olsen, has proposed a bill banning dispensaries within 1000 feet (305 meters) of a church. “While I recognize that some people do find pain relief from medical marijuana, with children we really don't want them to think that when they reach problems in life, that marijuana is a good answer to that."

But Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and the GOP-controlled Legislature have shown no interest in reining in the industry since the ballot measure authorizing it passed overwhelmingly. The industry has mostly fought off local attempts at zoning.

Many communities are welcoming cannabis shops because of the sales tax revenue. In college-town Norman and in Oklahoma City, at least a half dozen businesses have joined the chambers of commerce.

“In our community, I think most businesses view them as equals," said Scott Martin, president of the Norman Chamber of Commerce. “We've even had a handful of ribbon cutting ceremonies."

Marijuana sales generated $54 million in tax revenue last year, accounted for the sharpest ever annual decline in empty mid-sized industrial properties in Oklahoma City, and booked up electricians around Tulsa outfitting new grow rooms with lights and temperature controls.

Even some longtime opponents of marijuana legalization have softened their tone.

Sheriff Chris West in Canadian County, one of many law enforcement officers who decried the 2018 legalization ballot measure, says a number of farmers he knows have decided to switch crops.

“I've had them call me and tell me, ‘Sheriff, we're going to venture into this business and we'd like for you to come out and see our facility, because we want you to know what we're doing.' And these are longtime, good, godly, Christian families that see it as an income opportunity."

 

[Baron23]

Those Okies just continue to amaze me....its the last place I thought would embrace MJ....well, and Kansas. haha


Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Sales Hit New Monthly Record

Tax data shows that April was by far the liveliest month for legal sales of the drug in the state's history.

Oklahoma medical marijuana patients are confined mostly to their homes as are most of us, but it seems they're not letting that get in the way of buying their green medicine.


According to state tax data obtained by The Oklahoman, in April, dispensaries remitted nearly $9.8 million in taxes to Oklahoma, shattering the previous monthly record of $7.8 million. The latter high, incidentally, was set in March.


That $9.8 million is over half of the total collected by the state for all of 2019.


The newspaper extrapolated the tax data to arrive at a total figure of $61.4 million for sales. This works out to nearly $217 per licensed patient.


As with numerous other states that permit the sale and use of marijuana, the many dispensaries that serve Oklahomans have been classified as "essential" businesses through the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus outbreak. They are therefore allowed to continue to operate, while many other types of commerce have been temporarily halted.


Typical for a state in the South-Central U.S., Oklahoma permits only medical cannabis. Of the six states bordering Oklahoma, only Colorado has legalized recreational marijuana.


While there are a comparatively high number of dispensaries operating in Oklahoma, many are small operations; large multi-state operators (MSOs) do not have a dominant presence.


One marijuana company that has a bit of a network is Grassroots, which has agreed to be acquired by Curaleaf (OTC:CURLF) in an acquisition that is taking some time to close. If and when it does, Curaleaf will likely take over the four Oklahoma Herbology stores operated by Grassroots and scattered through the state.


Curaleaf's shares fell by 2.3% on Wednesday, a drop that was steeper than that of the broader stock market.

 

[momofthegoons]

Oklahoma Legislature Votes To Let Out-Of-State Residents Get Medical Marijuana, And To Allow Delivery

The Oklahoma legislature sent a bill to the governor’s desk on Friday that allows out-of-state residents to obtain temporary medical marijuana licenses that last for up to three months and also provides for legal cannabis delivery services.

The legislation, HB 3228, is a comprehensive package containing various policy changes to the state’s medical marijuana program. It would further remove a provision that requires people who aren’t registered cannabis patients to state a valid medical condition if caught possessing marijuana in order to receive a reduced misdemeanor penalty.

If the new bill becomes law, any person, regardless of whether they have a medical condition, will face a misdemeanor punishable by up to $400 and no jail time for first-time possession without a medical cannabis card.

Out-of-state individuals could apply for temporary, 90-day medical cannabis patient licenses under the bill—even if they’re not a registered patient in their home state. Those licenses would be renewable.

Another provision celebrated by reform advocates makes it so that medical marijuana patient and caregiver records cannot be “shared with any other state agency or political subdivision without a warrant issued by a court of competent jurisdiction.”

The bill makes several other changes such as allowing patients to pay a late fee to get their registration renewed if they missed the deadline by more than 30 days but fewer than 90 days.

For the delivery section, the legislation states that licensed dispensaries can transport cannabis products to patients’ private residences as long as they are located within a 10-mile radius. If there aren’t any dispensaries in that range, a dispensary more than 10 miles away can still deliver products if they’re based in the same country as the residence.

An initial version of the bill passed 90-6 in the House of Representatives in March. On Friday, the Senate approved an amended version in a 38-5 vote, with the House signing off on the other chamber’s changes later in the evening. It now heads to Gov. Kevin Stitt’s (R) desk. The governor signed a bill establishing a regulatory framework for Oklahoma’s medical cannabis program last year after voters approved a legalization ballot measure in 2018.

Separate legislation that would prohibit the state’s firearms department from denying applications to purchase handguns due to a person’s participation in the state medical cannabis program is also set to be taken up by the House after unanimously passing the Senate in February. That bill stipulates that people can’t possess firearms while under the influence of marijuana.

Oklahoma activists filed a proposed ballot measure to legalize cannabis for adult use in December. Last month, a campaign staffer said they’re awaiting state Supreme Court approval to gather signatures but tempered expectations that it would be feasible to collect enough in the allotted timeframe due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A state lawmaker also said he would be introducing a bill to legalize recreational marijuana and argued it would “potentially be a revenue funder” to fill coffers diminished by the health crisis.

 

[Baron23]

Legislation To Reform Medical Marijuana Program In Oklahoma Fails To Pass

The governor of Oklahoma vetoed the legislation and state lawmakers aren’t fighting him on it.

An effort to reform Oklahoma’s medical marijuana program—including adding a provision allowing cannabis deliveries to patients—has apparently gone up in smoke.
The Tulsa World reported that state lawmakers decided on Friday not to override Gov. Kevin Stitt’s veto of the legislation that had overwhelming bipartisan support in both legislative chambers.
The bill, brought by state House Rep. Jon Echols, “would have allowed medical cannabis patients to receive deliveries from dispensaries within a 10-mile radius or—for rural residents—a dispensary in their county,” while also barring “the Oklahoma State Department of Health from sharing patient and caregiver records with other state agencies or political subdivisions, including law enforcement, without a court order” and permitting “dispensaries to stay in the same location if a school is built within 1,000 feet after it opens,” the Tulsa World reported.
But Stitt vetoed the measure, which had easily passed the Oklahoma Senate and the House, and legislative leaders ultimately balked at trying to override the governor—despite Echols’ apparent confidence that he could muster the votes in his chamber.
Oklahoma’s Medical Cannabis Space During COVID-19
Dispensaries in Oklahoma have been permitted to conduct curbside pickup during the COVID-19 outbreak, though—unlike in other states—deliveries have not been allowed.
The pandemic has not slowed down the state’s medical marijuana industry, however, with officials reporting that sales for medical cannabis last month hit another new record. In April, dispensaries remitted $9.8 million in state taxes, breaking the previous record set a month earlier in March.
“With the stay-home order in place, and medical marijuana dispensaries being categorized as essential health services, Oklahoma patients were afforded the ability to take their medicine on a more regular basis and sample a broader range of available medicines,” Bud Scott, executive director of the Oklahoma Cannabis Industry Association, told the Oklahoman.
The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) reported last summer that it had approved nearly 150,000 licenses for patients to receive medical cannabis, placing it near the top among the 33 states in the country that have legalized medical cannabis.
That number vastly exceeded what state officials expected for the first year of enrollment. After the measure passed on the ballot in 2018, officials said they anticipated roughly 80,000 patients enrolling in the opening year.

 

[Bcbud]

Why 7-Eleven Is Waging War Against Oklahoma Marijuana Dispensaries - The Fresh Toast

The Fresh Toast - Oklahoma permits a free-market system for medical cannabis, or as close to one as possible. - Cannabusiness

thefreshtoast.com