Oklahoma voters on Tuesday backed a bid to legalize recreational marijuana, defeating a statewide ballot measure.
The loss comes nearly five years after Oklahomans approved medical marijuana, prompting industry websites to take a hit “the most liberal medical marijuana market in the country” and what critics say is an unregulated lure to illegal activity.
The campaign was a low-key affair, as the vote was postponed from the November 2022 date that marijuana advocates wanted until March, where the initiative was the only item on the ballot in many places.
Proponents mentioned the prospect of additional tax revenue for the state from expanding the marijuana market and justice allowing people with minor convictions in marijuana cases to have people expunged.
Opponents, led by former Republican Governor Frank Keating, a onetime FBI agent, pointed to problems with the medical marijuana regime there as well as fears that legalizing recreational marijuana will bring more crime and environmental problems.
Legalization advocates have significant money for the campaign, raising $3.2 million through the end of 2022 and airing broadcast TV ads in the closing weeks. The anti-legalization side, according to Pat McFerron’s poll, is expected to spend only $250,0000 and concentrate on satellite and cable TV advertising.
But the The background is in many ways unfavorable for marijuana supporters. In November, four Chinese nationals were found shot to death on a farm in rural Kingfisher County in a crime that made headlines across the country and law enforcement officials say points to the potential pitfalls of the larger marijuana industry.
Additionally, there is a growing, bipartisan consensus that medical marijuana regulation, approved in the same statewide vote by a wide margin in 2018, has never kept pace with the industry’s explosive growth. Oklahoma has almost three times as many licensed marijuana dispensaries and almost as many licensed growing facilities as California, although the latter has 10 times the population of Oklahoma and has legalized recreational marijuana last year.
The recreational marijuana measure voted in on Tuesday would allow sales to residents 21 and older and pay a 15% tax. Revenue from the tax will be split between schools, drug treatment programs and state and local governments. It would also allow for the expungement of minor marijuana-related criminal convictions.