A group of medical marijuana businesses and an advocate for the industry have sued the state over fee increases they argue violate the Oklahoma Constitution.
A new fee structure that went into effect June 1 raises licensing fees for dispensaries, processors, laboratories and grow operations. Before the law, the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority charged a flat $2,500 for every licensed business.
But now those fees have increased, with some businesses now having to fork over thousands more each year. For example, the largest grow operations must pay $50,000 a year to stay in business.
The lawsuit filed Friday argues that the legislation raising fees was equivalent to a “revenue-raising” measure. Under Oklahoma law, a revenue bill needs more votes to pass than traditional legislation. Because the bill that raised fees didn’t get a supermajority vote in the Legislature and was passed in the final days of the 2022 session, the petitioners said it could not become law.
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The distinction in the law making it a revenue-raising measure instead of a simple fee increase, according to the lawsuit, is that the bill didn’t add any regulations that the additional fees would have paid for.
“In other words, the thrust of the legislation is not regulatory in nature but is designed to raise revenue instead,” the lawsuit states. “Even if licensing fees provide some financial support to the OMMA, those fees are not closely tied to the cost of service for which they are imposed.”
Change to licensing fees could cost medical marijuana businesses nearly $30 million a year, lawsuit says
The petitioners estimate that the authority’s licensing fee revenue could increase by at least $28,580,000 each year. The true number could be higher than that because some businesses would be categorized into different tiers based on the size of the business.
“Our challenge to (the law) is about more than cannabis. This is a constitutional question that affects every Oklahoma taxpayer. We are respectfully requesting that the court consider our plea,” said Jed Green, founder of Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action and one of the petitioners in the lawsuit. “Our medical marijuana program has been revenue-positive since Day One. It has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue the last five years. The license fee increases on our industry are not needed to support regulation.”
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Along with claiming the fees are an unconstitutional revenue-raising scheme, the lawsuit argues that House Bill 2179 created a discriminatory “special law” because it includes a tiered fee system for some businesses but not others.
The other parties in the case include Pharside, a medical marijuana grower; Oklahoma Natural Cures, a dispensary; and marijuana processor Bingo 101.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma medical marijuana dispensaries sue state over fee increase
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