New legislation proposes that the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority pause issuing commercial medical marijuana licenses as the agency addresses compliance concerns.
State Rep. Rusty Cornwell, R-Vinita, has filed House Bill 3208, which would allow OMMA to implement a moratorium on licenses as agency officials deem necessary.
Cornwell
“Since 2018, Oklahoma has seen a huge number of commercial medical marijuana grows and facilities flooding into our communities,” Cornwell said. “In the initial rush to roll out a system for granting commercial licenses, we’ve failed to enforce their compliance with state law.
“House Bill 3208 would temporarily pause the issuance of commercial licenses so that we can confirm current operations are complying with the law.”
Currently the OMMA has no legal authority to perform business inspections before issuing a license, something the agency’s director has said she’s asking lawmakers to change.
Cornwell’s bill, as proposed, also would prohibit the transfer of licenses or selling of facilities if the existing license or facility has a current violation.
HB 3208 is available for consideration in the upcoming legislative session, which begins Feb. 7. With several concerns about medical marijuana prompting bills this year, it’s likely that not all proposed legislation will be heard in committee.
Tips about illegal marijuana operations are making their way to lawmakers, as well as news of raids finding grow-operation workers in poor conditions. With more inspections and the implementation of a seed-to-sale tracking system that currently is tied up in district court, those concerns could be alleviated.
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Framed by State Question 788, passed overwhelmingly by state voters three years ago, Oklahoma’s medical marijuana laws tried to favor small, local operators by limiting out-of-state ownership stakes, setting license fees low and putting no cap on the number of business licenses that could be issued.
Tulsa World’s 5 most memorable cannabis stories of 2021
Lawsuit filed over state’s medical marijuana ‘seed-to-sale’ tracking system
Tulsa-based attorney Ron Durbin filed suit April 15, 2021, on behalf of Beau Zoellner, who operates a medical marijuana processing site in Okmulgee County for the Dr. Z Leaf business chain.
The lawsuit effectively paused use of the state’s “seed-to-sale” tracking system, with allegations that the state’s chosen vendor charges unreasonable fees that could lead to increased prices for patients.
The as-yet-unresolved lawsuit alleges the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority allowed a monopoly when it selected Florida-based Metrc as its seed-to-sale tracking provider. Seed-to-sale tracking is a term that generally refers to the practice of electronically documenting progress from the day a cannabis seed is planted to when whatever it yields is sold.
Foreign investors, crime among concerns as cannabis booms in rural Oklahoma
Stories abound of strangers showing up with bundles of cash and paying far above market rates for farmland that’s quickly converted to marijuana production enclosed in fenced compounds.
For the most part, the grows seem to be duly licensed by the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority. But law enforcement officials and some lawmakers contend that a good deal of the product is being illegally shipped out of state for old-fashioned street sales.
And the situation, say rural lawmakers, is creating a lot of tension in their districts. By one estimate, said state Rep. Josh West, R-Grove, 60% or more of the state’s marijuana production is sold illegally.
Legal cannabis industry funds more enforcement efforts as criminals ‘make us look bad’
With a more open cannabis industry in Oklahoma spurring organized crime concerns, state agencies say they need to team up and expand compliance and enforcement efforts with funding provided from the fees paid by medical marijuana businesses operating legally.
An Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority-licensed Garvin County grower told the Tulsa World: “We need to make sure bad actors are not here. For those of us who live and breathe these rules every day, it makes us look bad.”
Officials with OMMA and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics are hopeful a new memorandum of understanding between the two organizations, despite their differing roles, will improve efforts to efficiently block illicit activity — whether from within the state’s medical program or otherwise.
Attention on ‘ghost owner’ investigations as criminal cannabis case has tie to Tulsa law firm
The criminal case against an employee of a Tulsa law firm with hundreds of cannabis-related clients has drawn attention to investigations of “ghost owners.”
Kathleen Windler, charged in Garvin County District Court, is accused along with her employer of knowingly fostering illegal medical marijuana operations. She identified herself as a legal secretary for Jones Brown, a law firm with an office in Tulsa.
“Fraudulent business structures” have reportedly been used to bring out-of-state interests to Oklahoma and circumvent the state’s two-year residency requirement for majority ownership in medical marijuana businesses.
Petition to allow cannabis for recreational adult use filed in Oklahoma
A cannabis advocacy group in October filed two ballot initiatives seeking to amend the Oklahoma Constitution to legalize cannabis use for anyone at least 21 years old and replace the state medical marijuana industry’s current oversight agency.
Nearly 178,000 valid signatures would be required on each of the petitions for it to be placed on a ballot in 2022.
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