Weekly Opinion Editorial
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THE POT!
by
Steve Fair
In June 2016, Oklahoma voters approved
State Question #788 by a 57%-43% margin.
It legalized the licensing, cultivation,
use and possession of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Since
the passage, the legislature has been dealing with the far-reaching effects of
legal pot in the Sooner state. They set
up the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA), a division of the
Department of Health. The OMMA oversees
patient and business licensing for Oklahoma’s medical marijuana program. As of August 1st, there are over 10,000
business licenses in the state- 8,300 are grow licenses and 2,300 dispensaries. Oklahoma has issued far more grow licenses
than any state in the country. According
to Mark Woodward some of the growers are associated with organized crime from
other countries and they are supplying pot to the east coast. Woodward said those growers will struggle to get
their license renewed because they will not be able to reach the 75% resident
ownership threshold.
According to the OMMA, legal pot has
generated over 125 million dollars in tax revenue the first ten months of
2021. Governor Stitt just named Adria
Berry the new director of the OMMA. She
is the fourth director in three years. OMMA
has been criticized for not yet implementing a tracking system for marijuana
plants. The agency is seriously unstaffed
and plans to add 60 more personnel in the next few months.
Because of the growth of the marijuana
industry in Oklahoma, the legislature recently conducted interim studies on the
effect of medical marijuana in the state.
One such study addressed concerns of Oklahoma farmers on how the two
industries could co-exist. Marijuana
growers are concerned about pesticide drift liability from conventional farms. Conventional farmers are concerned with the
impact the pot growers are having on water supply and rural utilities. Three
observations:
First, pot growers have seriously stretched rural infrastructure. Water is a major concern. During a study this week, Brandon
Bowman, programs director with the Oklahoma Rural Water Association, described
communities in the state where residents are left without water because of the
strain caused by new grow facilities. He said some operators even fail to put
in proper sanitation systems, so their fields are running with open sewage. Bowman
said if this was not addressed, the state's supply of drinking water will be
challenged. Rural electric providers described
the struggles they have faced from providing industrial service to growers.
Second, the growers have impacted county government. County assessors, who are charged to assess
the property in the county, describe how their personnel are often threatened
or denied legal access to grower’s property.
County sheriffs say they don’t have the money to provide adequate coverage
for their county, which results in higher crime.
Third, county government should be getting a share of the sales
tax. The strain on county government
budgets from the growth of medical marijuana needs to be addressed. Cleveland county Commissioner Rod Cleveland advocates
OMMA partnering with county government to help regulate the industry. “It is going to take more than OMMA to
regulate the cannabis industry. Counties
are a vital asset and government that is closest to the people. There must be revenue share from cannabis
taxes to sheriff’s offices and counties to help promote good and fair-trade practices
in the industry,” Cleveland said.
It has been three years since Oklahoma voters approved SQ#788. The growth of pot growth and sales in the state has been meteoric. The industry flourishes because it operates practically
unregulated due to lack of oversight.
County government could help with that, but they have to share part of
the pot. Sales tax pot that is.
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