{"id":30350,"date":"2018-06-25T10:03:48","date_gmt":"2018-06-25T15:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=30350"},"modified":"2018-06-25T10:03:48","modified_gmt":"2018-06-25T15:03:48","slug":"groups-weigh-in-on-health-departments-plan-to-regulate-marijuana-if-state-question-788-passes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2018\/06\/25\/groups-weigh-in-on-health-departments-plan-to-regulate-marijuana-if-state-question-788-passes\/","title":{"rendered":"Groups weigh in on health department\u2019s plan to regulate marijuana if State Question 788 passes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dank Depot \/ Flickr\/CC BY-NC 2.0<\/p>\n

Medical marijuana would be legal for people 18 and over with a state issued license if SQ 788 passes.<\/p>\n<\/div>

State Question 788 would allow Oklahomans over 18 to keep, use and grow medical marijuana, after they get a physician-approved license from the state. Draft rules obtained by StateImpact\u00a0<\/a>shed light on how state officials may regulate medical marijuana if voters pass the ballot initiative on Tuesday.<\/p>

The 63 pages of proposed rules, written by state health officials are subject to change. Under a draft of the proposed rules dated June 19, pregnant women would be barred from obtaining a medical marijuana license, medical marijuana research licenses would be available and a new regulatory group called the Medical Marijuana Industry Expert Board would be formed.<\/p>

Bud Scott, Executive Director of New Health Solutions Oklahoma, a trade association representing the medical marijuana industry called the initial draft regulations a \u2018promising step\u2019 and said they were proof that the Oklahoma State Department of Health is capable of overseeing a regulatory medical marijuana program.<\/p>

\u201cIt is important to note that nearly every issue cited by opponents of medical cannabis legalization has been addressed through these regulations, including smoking in public places, clarification of qualifying medical professionals, and providing more structure to this law, as has been the case in every jurisdiction with a functional medical marijuana program,\u201d Scott said in an email to StateImpact. \u201cOur members are committed to continuing to work with policymakers to ensure that appropriate statutory and regulatory measures are put in place to fulfill the will of the people and implement this program in a timely manner.”<\/p>

The marijuana initiative has come under fire by an organization called State Question 788 is Not Medical, which is comprised of law enforcement, business, political, medical and faith leaders who launched a campaign to defeat the ballot initiative, saying it’s too loosely written.<\/p>

The group\u2019s co-chairman, Dr. Kevin Taubman, who is also immediate past president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association said he was \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d the draft rules address some of the organization\u2019s concerns about the state\u2019s response in the event SQ 788 passes but said health officials and state lawmakers would still have a lot more work to do.<\/p>

\u201cThere are still many questions that need to be addressed and we look forward to working with policymakers to ensure a plan is implemented that reduces public safety risks while allowing Oklahoma patients to have access to the treatments they and their physicians think best,\u201d Taubman said.<\/p>

Last week Gov. Mary Fallin said she\u2019d convene a special legislative session so lawmakers could write new regulations if voters approve SQ 788. In response to questions about the proposed rules, a spokesperson for Fallin\u2019s office said, \u201cthe governor will discuss all options with legislative leaders if State Question 788 passes.\u201d<\/p>

An estimated budget sent to the Legislature by the health department suggests enacting the new regulations could cost the state at least $3.6 million during the first year. A 7 percent sales tax on medical marijuana and licensing fees would be collected to pay for the state\u2019s oversight, but no data on projected sales exists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State Question 788 would allow Oklahomans over 18 to keep, use and grow medical marijuana, after they get a physician-approved license from the state. Draft rules obtained by StateImpact\u00a0shed light on how state officials may regulate medical marijuana if voters pass the ballot initiative on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":29885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[245,833],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30350"}],"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=30350"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30353,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30350\/revisions\/30353"}],"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=30350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}