Thoughts from the void: Cannabis and Oklahoma

Already one of the largest and fastest-growing markets in the country, Oklahoma’s medical marijuana industry broke sales records in both April and May as consumers stocked up on products amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to MJBizDaily.

Oklahoma's medical cannabis program has taken off well and grows rapidly. As of March 11, 2019, state regulators have approved licenses for 1,109 dispensaries, 1,972 growers and 553 processors. In addition, 63,647 patients have qualified to receive medical cannabis products.

According to MJBizDaily, low entry barriers are aiding the rapid growth of the industry. There are no license caps for businesses and a low application/license fee of $2500. Patients have no qualifying medical conditions to meet, just a recommendation from a physician. Patients also are allowed to grow their own cannabis. Efforts to constrain the program, such as by banning smokable cannabis or requiring a licensed pharmacist in each dispensary, were foiled by legal challenges and the state’s attorney general according to the same report.

Four organizations — Oklahomans for Cannabis, New Health Solutions Oklahoma, Green the Vote and Oklahomans for Health got together to create the medial cannabis program with the support of 13 lawmakers from both parties.

The primary driver behind Oklahoma’s quick rollout was a broadly written, citizen-led ballot question that included quick deadlines and required regulators to grant a license to every qualified applicant.

The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority established a call center to answer questions ahead of the implementation of the medical cannabis laws.

At least 35 US states have legalized cannabis for medical use so far. The federal US government however continues to keep cannabis in the Schedule 1 list of banned substances saying that it has no medicinal value. The list of US states that have legalized adult recreational cannabis is available here. All these states have legalized cannabis for adult recreational use, aimed specifically at improving public health, ensuring equity, reducing crime, decreasing the black market, improving law enforcement, reforming criminal justice, improving the economy, agriculture and industry, to name just a few reasons.

Listed below are articles taken from various media related to the above subject. Words in italics are the thoughts of your truly at the time of reading the article.

'It states, "No employer may refuse to hire, discipline, discharge or otherwise penalize an applicant or employee solely on the basis of a positive test for marijuana components or metabolites."

Oklahoma is the fifteenth state to explicitly protect medical cannabis patients from workplace discrimination, according to California NORML.'
https://norml.org/news/2019/08/29/oklahoma-expanded-protections-for-cannabis-patients-take-effect

'Already one of the largest and fastest-growing markets in the country, Oklahoma’s medical marijuana industry broke sales records in both April and May as consumers stocked up on products amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In April, sales in Oklahoma shot up to $61.5 million, a 21% increase from March.

Sales rose again in May to reach nearly $74 million – a monthly figure that far exceeds that of adult-use markets in Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan and Nevada.'
https://mjbizdaily.com/chart-medical-marijuana-sales-in-oklahoma-near-300-million-in-first-five-months-of-2020/

'“In the six states surrounding Colorado—Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming—following Colorado’s legalization, the border counties experienced, on average, a decrease of 393.1 cases of property crime and 277.3 cases of larceny per 100,000 population relative to the nonborder counties.”

“Specifically, we observed that the property crime rate and larceny rate experienced substantial decreases in the border counties in neighboring states relative to nonborder counties following the legalization in Colorado,” the study says. “This is also true for the rate of simple assault…if Utah is not considered (only considering Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming as neighboring states of Colorado).”
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/colorados-marijuana-legalization-law-decreases-crime-in-neighboring-states-study-finds/

'The primary driver behind Oklahoma’s quick rollout was a broadly written, citizen-led ballot question that included quick deadlines and required regulators to grant a license to every qualified applicant. But several political ingredients combined to push the effort along.'
https://apnews.com/a63f8d9daefe4ecbbc80fd657c5138d5

'Four organizations — Oklahomans for Cannabis, New Health Solutions Oklahoma, Green the Vote and Oklahomans for Health — have had the ear of a bipartisan, bicameral set of 13 lawmakers as they work on crafting an effective medical marijuana program. Legislators subsequently asked the groups to meet and draft a single proposal they can use as a baseline, prompting more than a dozen advocates across the four groups and others involved in litigation over emergency rules to meet Aug. 7.'
https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/marijuana/as-lawmakers-ask-medical-marijuana-stakeholders-to-come-together-on/article_39245989-e52f-5aac-a20e-70bfb947c989.html

Oklahoma seems to be getting the medical marijuana bit right.

'Nine months after Oklahoma voters approved one of the most business-friendly medical marijuana initiatives in the country, the number of licenses and patient approvals continue to rise at a feverish pace.

Low barriers to entry for both are driving the growth, namely:

Businesses have no license caps and a low application/license fee of $2,500. The fee is nonrefundable, however.
Patients have no qualifying medical conditions to meet, just a recommendation from a physician. Patients also are allowed to grow their own marijuana.