{"id":29880,"date":"2018-05-03T10:33:55","date_gmt":"2018-05-03T15:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=29880"},"modified":"2018-05-03T11:15:33","modified_gmt":"2018-05-03T16:15:33","slug":"key-questions-and-answers-about-sq-788-oklahomas-vote-on-medical-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2018\/05\/03\/key-questions-and-answers-about-sq-788-oklahomas-vote-on-medical-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Questions And Answers On SQ 788, Oklahoma\u2019s Vote On Medical Marijuana"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"module image right mceTemp\" id=\"attachment_29885\" style=\"width: 620px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/dankdepot\/5377506002\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-29885\" alt=\"mmj-dd\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/05\/mmj-dd-620x410.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"410\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Dank Depot \/ Flickr\/CC BY-NC 2.0<\/p>\n<\/div><p>In June, Oklahomans will vote on State Question 788, a ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana, and many people are asking &#8211; how has this worked in other states?<\/p><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/438823710&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=true&show_comments=false&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=false\" height=\"150\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><!--more-->Who has legalized medical marijuana?<\/h2><p>While <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/research\/health\/state-medical-marijuana-laws.aspx#3\">thirty states<\/a> and Washington, D.C. have broadly legalized marijuana in some form, <a href=\"http:\/\/missoulanews.com\/coverstory\/legit-at-last-montana-s-long-and-winding-road-to\/article_3a44b6a8-174e-11e8-89ac-13c380ff0a00.html\">regulations vary<\/a>. For example: New Hampshire allows just four dispensaries in the entire state, while in Louisiana only cannabis in a non-smokeable form is legal. Oklahoma borders three states that have legalized medical marijuana: Arkansas, Colorado and New Mexico.<\/p>\n<h2>What happens if SQ 788 passes?<\/h2><p>The Oklahoma State Department of Health will create a regulatory office to oversee the program. This office will receive all licensing applications related to medical marijuana and would be funded by medical marijuana sales taxes. To get a medical marijuana license, Oklahomans 18 and older would need to get a physician\u2019s signature attesting that they need medical marijuana.<\/p>\n<h2>How much does a medical marijuana license cost?<\/h2><p>Licenses would cost $100 and need to be renewed every two years. For Oklahomans on Medicaid or Medicare, known in Oklahoma as SoonerCare, medical marijuana licenses would cost $25. Licensed patients could have up to 3 ounces of marijuana on them and up to 8 ounces at their home. They could also legally grow plants \u2014 up to 6 mature plants and 6 seedlings.<\/p>\n<h2>How would selling and growing medical marijuana work?<\/h2><p>A new industry would be created: medical marijuana processing. The licensed industry would ensure that dispensaries could purchase edibles and concentrates in line with state regulations. Only Oklahoma residents may be licensed to operate as a commercial grower, a processor or a dispensary. Each license would cost $2,500.<\/p>\n<h2>How would medical marijuana be taxed in Oklahoma?<\/h2><p>Under SQ 788, medical marijuana patients would pay a 7 percent sales tax \u2014 on top of local and state sales taxes \u2014 which would fund the state\u2019s regulatory activities. If this tax generates a surplus, 75 percent would be directed to education through the general revenue fund. The remaining 25 percent would go to the Oklahoma State Department of Health for drug and alcohol rehab programs.<\/p>\n<h2>Could SQ 788 be changed by the Legislature?<\/h2><p>Yes. SQ 788 is a statutory rather than constitutional measure, meaning the Legislature would be able to amend the law with a simple majority vote. Signatures are being collected to get recreational marijuana on the November 2018 ballot under a constitutional state question, which, if approved by voters, would not be amendable by the lawmakers.<\/p>\n<h2>Has legalizing medical marijuana lead to more impaired driving?<\/h2><p>We don\u2019t know. The Department of Transportation presented a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhtsa.gov\/sites\/nhtsa.dot.gov\/files\/documents\/812440-marijuana-impaired-driving-report-to-congress.pdf\">report<\/a> to Congress in 2017 on marijuana-impaired driving. According to the report, \u201cthe scope and magnitude of the marijuana-impaired driving problem in this country cannot be clearly specified at this time.\u201d<\/p><p>Medical marijuana has been legal in some states for years. Colorado voters approved it in 2000. Colorado Department of Transportation spokesman Sam Cole said that state has not seen an increase in impaired driving, even after recreational marijuana was approved in 2012.<\/p><p>\u201cAs long as there has been marijuana and automobiles people have been driving high, so this isn\u2019t something that has started since legalization,\u201d Cole said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve had the opportunity since legalization to raise public awareness and educate and address the issue.\u201d<\/p><p>After medical marijuana was legalized, Colorado did not see traffic fatalities rise, Cole said. Although the state doesn\u2019t have specific data related to marijuana, there was no obvious indication that legalization affected traffic safety overall.<\/p><p>\u201cReally when it comes to impaired driving in Colorado, alcohol dominates. We see close to a third of fatalities in Colorado involve a drunk driver. That compares to about 8 percent for marijuana,\u201d Cole said.\u00a0 \u201cAlcohol is a much bigger problem, but that doesn\u2019t mean we aren\u2019t going to address marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Do more underage kids use marijuana in states that have legalized it?<\/h2><p>It\u2019s hard to say, because there isn\u2019t comprehensive data on marijuana usage in all of those states during time periods before it was legalized. Colorado is one of the few states that does have that data. State health officials there conduct a random, anonymous <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colorado.gov\/pacific\/sites\/default\/files\/PF_Youth_HKCS_datainaction.pdf\">survey<\/a> every year of middle and high school students that asks them about their drug and alcohol use.<\/p><p>\u201cWe are pretty confident in our findings, because we\u2019ve had the same methodology for so many years before and after legalization,\u201d said Dr. Daniel Vigil, who manages the marijuana health monitoring and research program for the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment. \u201cBased on our largest youth survey, marijuana use did not increase from before to after legalization,\u201d he said.<\/p><p>Vigil said they have found that about 20 percent of Colorado teenagers report using marijuana in the past 30 days, which is about the national average. Marijuana use also did not go up in young adults aged 18-25.<\/p><p>\u201cIt hasn\u2019t gone up, but that is the group with the highest use frequency,\u201d Vigil said. \u201cAbout 25 percent of 18-25 year olds use in the past 30 days, so about 1 in 4. About 1 in 8 use daily or near daily.\u201d<\/p>\n<h5>StateImpact Oklahoma will continue update this page with additional questions and answers about medical marijuana. If you have a question you\u2019d like answered: Email jackie [at] stateimpactoklahoma [dot] org.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dank Depot \/ Flickr\/CC BY-NC 2.0 In June, Oklahomans will vote on State Question 788, a ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana, and many people are asking &#8211; how has this worked in other states?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":29885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[833,834],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29880"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29880"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29909,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29880\/revisions\/29909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}