Toke-lahoma becomes a target for lawmakers

Oklahoma city

More than 100 marijuana-related bills have been filed, many seeking to restrict Oklahoma’s booming medical program.

Staunchly conservative Oklahoma has emerged as an unlikely weed utopia with more than 12,000 cannabis businesses and the nation’s highest per capita rate of medical marijuana patients.

While other states have embraced tight restrictions on weed businesses, Oklahoma has become the nation’s test case for unfettered cannabis capitalism, placing few limits on licenses.

That could soon change.

Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and state lawmakers in Oklahoma City are trying to rein in the freewheeling market that has proliferated since voter-approved legalization in 2018, introducing dozens of bills that would impose tighter restrictions.

“When Oklahomans voted for medical marijuana, they were sold a bill of goods,” Stitt said, setting the tone during his State of the State speech last month.

“The state question was misleading, and it has tied our hands as we regulate the industry.”

Oklahoma’s experience serves as a cautionary tale for other red states, which have seen unprecedented momentum to legalize pot in recent years. When Mississippi lawmakers passed a medical marijuana bill last month, they repeatedly emphasized that they didn’t want to follow the wild west path blazed by Oklahoma.

“We are not Oklahoma, and this program is not going to be Oklahoma 2.0,” Mississippi GOP state Sen. Kevin Blackwell, who sponsored the medical marijuana bill, said during the floor debate.

Republicans have sounded alarms, but cannabis proponents say states with strict rules aren’t exactly models of success. Early adopter states have experienced massive legal fights and allegations of corruption from entrepreneurs seeking a limited number of potentially highly lucrative licenses.

Oklahoma libertarian legalization advocate Chip Paul argues that the problem isn’t the state’s unlimited licensing structure, but rather the failure of state regulators to establish sound guardrails and adequate enforcement.

“You can pretty much do whatever you want with no fear that you’re going to get inspected,” Paul said.

“Our state is whistling Dixie and letting it all happen.”

The legislative agitation comes as cannabis advocates are pushing to put a recreational legalization referendum on the ballot this year, but two competing petitions have splintered the pro-marijuana forces.

Market retrenchment

There’s some evidence that Oklahoma’s Green Rush has crested. Over the last two months, the number of licensed businesses has dropped from 13,785 to 12,021 — a 15 percent dip. Roughly 40 percent of that decrease came from businesses failing to comply with a new requirement that they disclose any foreign ownership, according to the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority. In addition, businesses with expired licenses lost a grace period to stay in business.

But most close market watchers still believe there’s a market correction on the horizon. The price of marijuana has fallen significantly due to the glut of product on the market, industry officials say, which will almost certainly lead some businesses to shut down.

“The unlucky and incompetent will not make it,” said Chip Baker, a longtime marijuana entrepreneur who moved his business operations from Colorado to Oklahoma after the medical…

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