{"id":34599,"date":"2022-02-17T16:49:23","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T22:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=34599"},"modified":"2022-02-17T16:49:23","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T22:49:23","slug":"where-does-medical-marijuana-stand-in-the-oklahoma-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2022\/02\/17\/where-does-medical-marijuana-stand-in-the-oklahoma-legislature\/","title":{"rendered":"Where does medical marijuana stand in the Oklahoma Legislature?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it comes to marijuana policy, Oklahoma has been dubbed a \u201cWild West.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the relatively low cost of starting a business, few regulations on facility placement and the ease of obtaining a medical card, the Sooner State has become a prime destination for businesses looking to cash in on the Green Rush. Compared to Colorado \u2014 a state with legal medical and recreational marijuana \u2014 Oklahoma has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/sbg.colorado.gov\/med\/licensee-information\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nearly seven times<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the number of grow licensees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While Oklahoma\u2019s booming free market of medical marijuana is good for the weed business, lawmakers this session are trying to reign in the budding industry, citing <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oklahoman.com\/story\/news\/2021\/06\/24\/oklahoma-now-source-state-black-market-cannabis-officials-say\/5310241001\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">entanglement with the black market<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tspr.org\/harvest-public-media\/2021-10-11\/rural-utilities-feel-growing-pains-as-marijuana-industry-booms\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">strains on rural utility systems<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oklahoman.com\/story\/news\/2022\/02\/11\/oklahomas-marijuana-program-exploding-but-enforcement-lagging-report-says\/6705489001\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">major problems with enforcement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are some bills that passed committees this week at the Oklahoma State Legislature:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf_pdf\/2021-22%20INT\/SB\/SB1718%20INT.PDF\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">SB1718<\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; Would address problems with managing the booming commercial grow market by freezing OMMA\u2019s ability to approve commercial grow license applications until it can conduct inspections and audits of all current licensed operations. Headed to the Appropriations Committee.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf_pdf\/2021-22%20INT\/SB\/SB1726%20INT.PDF\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">SB1726<\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; Would add technology centers to the list of school buildings that dispensaries and grows must be at least 1,000 feet from. Headed to the Senate Floor.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf_pdf\/2021-22%20INT\/SB\/SB1543%20INT.PDF\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">SB1543<\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; Would make OMMA a separate agency from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. Headed to the Appropriations Committee.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf_pdf\/2021-22%20INT\/SB\/SB1779%20INT.PDF\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SB1779<\/span><\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; Would require medical marijuana businesses to post signage outside of their facilities listing their license and phone numbers. Headed to the Senate Floor.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Medical marijuana will continue to be a major focus of this year\u2019s legislative session, with over 80 marijuana-related bills filed. Some bills to keep an eye on as the session progresses: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf_pdf\/2021-22%20INT\/hB\/HB2987%20INT.PDF\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HB2987<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf_pdf\/2021-22%20INT\/hB\/HB2989%20INT.PDF\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HB2989<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which may present significant hurdles in setting up new facilities; <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf_pdf\/2021-22%20INT\/hB\/HB3754%20INT.PDF\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HB3754<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which would legalize recreational marijuana \u2014 termed \u201cadult access\u201d in the bill; and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf_pdf\/2021-22%20INT\/hB\/HB3208%20INT.PDF\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">several<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf_pdf\/2021-22%20INT\/hB\/HB3727%20INT.PDF\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bills<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that would establish an outright moratorium on issuing new business licenses.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When it comes to marijuana policy, Oklahoma has been dubbed a \u201cWild West.\u201dWith the relatively low cost of starting a business, few regulations on facility placement and the ease of obtaining a medical card, the Sooner State has become a prime destination for businesses looking to cash in on the Green Rush. Compared to Colorado [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":29885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,16],"tags":[1383,751,833],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34599"}],"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\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34599"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34603,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34599\/revisions\/34603"}],"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=34599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}