Oklahoma To Vote On Legalizing Recreational Marijuana

OKLAHOMA CITY – Damon Devereaux, the sheriff of Logan County, north of Oklahoma City, remembers when his deputies stopped a truck carrying 17 pounds of marijuana.

Neither the driver nor the passenger had a driver’s license or a license to transport medical marijuana, but Devereaux said he had a spiral notebook that recorded cash sales. The sheriff said the operation appeared to be “obviously illegal,” and deputies arrested him.

But when the couple went before a judge, their attorney told the district attorney that medical marijuana regulations don’t require licenses for transporters.

“He went, ‘Wow, you’re right,'” Devereaux said. “So we have to return 17 kilograms of marijuana.”

The regulations have since changed. But Devereaux, who is part of the legalization opposition group Protect Our Children No 820, said it is emblematic of some of the problems he and his law enforcement colleagues have faced since Oklahoma approved medical marijuana on a statewide vote in 2018.

The approval led to a boom, and almost 400,000 of the state’s 4 million citizens now have a medical marijuana card. The state is home to nearly three times as many dispensaries as marijuana-legal California, which has 10 times the population of Oklahoma.

Access to marijuana in the state could increase rapidly, as voters will decide on a full legalization referendum on Tuesday. Pollster Pat McFerron, who is affiliated with Protect Our Kids No 820, said opposition to legalization led by a few percentage points, 49% to 46%, in early January, with only a fraction of Oklahomans undecided.

Proponents of legalization say it will bring a tax windfall to the state and a “sensible” regulatory regime. The proposal would set a 15% tax on marijuana sales, with proceeds going to schools, treatment programs, and state and local governments. It would also allow for the elimination of low-level marijuana convictions and require product safety regulations regarding product testing, packaging and labeling.

Yes at 820, a pro-legalization group, assigned to study who found legalization will provide $821 million over five years in revenue from recreational and medical marijuana sales after legalization.

“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to expand economic investment across the state and make major investments in education, health care and other priorities,” said Mike Ervin, Oklahoma Cannabis Industry Association board member.

But critics are skeptical that the benefits of legalization will outweigh the potential problems, especially as access to medical marijuana increases, beyond regulations to keep the industry afloat.

Last year, the state legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill to put in place a two-year moratorium on new dispensaries and farm licenses, and two candidates in the governor’s race cited the need to increase the regulation.

“It’s the wild, wild West with medical marijuana,” said Democratic candidate Joy Hofmeister in the October debate.

The rejection of State Question 820 would mark a clear change for Oklahoma, which in 2018 enthusiastically joined what are now 38 states and the District of Columbia in legalizing marijuana for medical use.

Not only did medical marijuana pass 57% to 43%, but it also won 36 of the 77 counties, not just three cities.

But McFerron’s data shows an erosion of support among all age groups for recreational marijuana compared to medical marijuana efforts at the same stage. Voters ages 45 to 54 and those ages 55 to 64 tied statistically in January after strongly supporting the 2018 initiative.

More potentially worrisome for legalization advocates is the decline in support from older voters, who can tip the scales in low-ballot elections. For those ages 65 to 74, only 39% supported legalization, compared to 58% for medical marijuana in 2018. For voters 75 and older, support dropped to 28%, down from 36% in 2018.

The understanding that the growth of the marijuana industry has been linked to the increase of crime in Oklahoma can contribute to voters worried about legalization, as can concerns over the environmental impact of marijuana as a large cash crop.

Although there is no evidence that the medical marijuana industry has led to a significant increase in crime in Oklahoma, some points to the case in Kingfisher County as an example of what can happen if legalization is passed.

On November 20, sheriff’s deputies were called out to a marijuana farm near Hennessey, about an hour’s drive northwest of Oklahoma City. But instead of the hostage situation he expected, he found four Chinese nationals, three men and one woman, shot dead and others wounded.

The alleged shooter, Wu Chen, 45, was arrested in Miami and has been held without bail since. In an application to keep him in jail, prosecutors claim he demanded $300,000 from farm workers as a return on investment and shot four “within minutes” when they did not comply.

The brutality of the murder of Kingfisher shocked many, and the politics of this case involve some of the problems that the law enforcement department worries will accompany the proliferation of farms – violence, trafficking in illegal immigrants and fraudulent business owners.

The four people who died are believed to have entered the US illegally, according to a report in the South China Morning Post. The license for the farm itself is alleged to have been obtained through the owner of hay, which accused by the Kingfisher County district attorney of has been paid $2,000 per month by other Chinese citizens to meet state ownership requirements.

Oklahoma is an attractive location for the marijuana business because of its low barriers to entry and low operating costs, said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

“It’s because of the combination of our land, our laws, our licenses. All the perfect storms that only make it beneficial not only for legitimate businesses to try, but also for criminals to come and hide,” said Woodward.

A license that can be used to open a dispensary and set up a farm is about $3,000. At neighboring Arkansasthe dispensary license fee is $15,000 and the licensee must have a $100,000 performance bond. In ColoradoMedical marijuana dispensary licenses range from $6,000 to $14,000.

MJBizDaily, an industry website, has called Oklahoma “the most liberal medical marijuana market in the country,” citing low barriers to entry and restrictions on non-use.

In Oklahoma, residents can have up to 3 ounces of marijuana and up to 8 ounces in their home as well as up to six mature plants and six seedling plants, 1 ounce of concentrate, 72 ounces of edibles and also up to 72. ounces of topical marijuana.

“In most countries that have recreation [marijuana]that kind of weight is a crime,” Devereaux said.

To meet demand, Oklahoma has the most dispensaries of any state in the country, according to MJBizDaily. Oklahoma has 2,880 licensed dispensaries as early as February, according to the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority. California listed 398 fully licensed retailers and 701 temporary the license holder.

To supply all these dispensaries, Oklahoma has licensed 7,088 farms, only about 500 less than California. Of those, Woodward said, about 2,000 are being investigated for obtaining licenses fraudulently, with the intent of illegally selling products overseas.

“We’ve got partners in law enforcement on the East Coast who say Oklahoma’s No. 1 supplier is now black market marijuana,” Woodward.

For a country where the landscape still bears the scars of the Dust Bowl, water is a vital resource. And when it comes to water, thirsty grass plants and old rural water systems are a bad mix.

As legal and illegal pot farms have flourished, so has the demand placed on the local water system built mainly for residential use.

A typical household can use anywhere from 4,000 to 14,000 gallons of water per month, but a grow operation can use anywhere from 75,000 to 200,000 gallons per month, depending on the type of irrigation used, said Brandon Bowman, state program director for Oklahoma Rural Water. Association.

“It’s just a massive increase in use and a change from what is used by homes to suddenly high-volume commercial use that infrastructure and water systems are not designed to handle in many situations,” he said.

For systems implemented by new customers, marijuana farming neighbors may see water pressure drop or even fail. Bowman said the western part of the country, where most of the water comes from groundwater instead of natural and man-made lakes, has more worries.

“I haven’t heard of a system that runs out of supply, but everyone thinks so,” he said.

For 24-year-old Talon Hull, medical marijuana means a thriving small business. her medical marijuana outlet, Sage Healthlocated in an artsy Oklahoma City neighborhood, and the interior looks like a cross between an Apple Store and an upscale coffee shop.

But even said the industry could use some additional regulation.

“I think that, just with any business, you have to do it right,” he said.

Hull said he started thinking about the marijuana business even before medical marijuana was legalized in Oklahoma. He studied the issue in high school and saw how Oregon handled it. They started their store with cannabidiol (CBD) products, switching to offering medical marijuana in 2018.

Oklahoma, he said, has become a de facto recreational marijuana state, a “medical-rec” state.

“I mean, you can get 3 ounces a day, 72 ounces of edibles and an ounce of concentrate. So nobody can consume weed in a day, you know?”

Although he said he hoped recreational marijuana would catch on, he wasn’t sure it would make a difference because regulations were still “loose.”

Shops like Hull’s are pro-marijuana advocates as part of the growing marijuana economy that could be possible if legalization wins. And Hull is grateful for what medical marijuana has made available to people.

“We grew up in the same rental property that my mother rented from the landlord for 18 years. She only moved out last year,” he said.

“The marijuana industry changed my family’s life.

Devereaux, the Logan County sheriff, was of two minds. While not happy in the prospect of other businesses related to marijuana, he also said that full legalization could be a practical option to make illegal much less profitable.

“Now we can’t put the cat in the bag. It’s too big. It’s too big to try to control now,” he said.

“It’s like, I think, we were sold a Trojan horse, and now we’re stuck.”