The Supreme Court will decide whether cannabis users can legally own firearms, a case that could redefine the intersection of personal freedom, gun rights, and cannabis culture in America.
Category: Politics
Find Your Nearest SQ 837 Petition Location
Find out where to sign the SQ 837 petition in Oklahoma. Use our interactive map to locate petition sites near you and join the movement for cannabis reform.
Oklahoma’s Ballot Battles: What SQ 836 Means for SQ 837 and Cannabis Reform
Oklahoma’s Supreme Court just cleared State Question 836 to begin signature gathering and paused new restrictions on citizen-led petitions. Here’s why that matters, and what it means for SQ 837, the cannabis legalization measure.
Oklahoma SQ 837 Memo – Editorial
Friends, renegades, fellow travelers, and those that are sitting back watching the show, It’s late. I guess it could be early, depending on how twisted your sense of reality has become. The clock screams at me to go back to sleep. Yet, here I am, awake, haunted by visions of what we’ve become and what…
SQ 837: The Long Road to Legalization in Oklahoma
By James Bridges More organized, more refined, and backed by a coalition that knows what it’s up against. On March 31st, 2025, the Oklahoma Responsible Cannabis Action (ORCA) officially filed State Question 837, a bold new petition aimed at bringing adult-use cannabis legalization to a vote in our state. This is a strategic, legally-backed, community-powered…
Cannabis Patients and Guns: Oklahoma Senate Says You Can Have Both—Responsibly
Last week, Oklahoma’s Senate sent a strong, unanimous message—45 to 0—in favor of protecting medical cannabis patients’ rights. Senate Bill 39, now headed to the House of Representatives, aims to make one thing clear: being a medical marijuana patient doesn’t mean you have to give up your Second Amendment rights. Filed by Sen. Julie Daniels,…
Oklahoma Responsible Cannabis Act
Oklahoma Responsible Cannabis Act What’s in this petition? This proposed constitutional amendment allows people 21+ years of age to possess and purchase marijuana in a consumer safe market. Here is a quick overview, by section: Section 1: Protects Patient Rights and Medical Program Section 2: Legalizes marijuana for 21+ adults, with rights like Possession, Privacy,…
Leon Hotchkiss Parole Denied
Life Behind Bars for Pot By James Bridges Now at age 68, Leon Hotchkiss remains behind bars in Alabama, spending decades imprisoned for growing pot. The board extended his next chance for a hearing until 2028. This is the maximum extension that could be given by the system. He’ll be 73-years-old. In the American justice…
We Gotta Take the Power Back
The Killer Whale on the Frontlines with State Questions 818 and 819 by Jessi Lane Patient Advocate Are you ready for the rec, retroactivity, abolishment, and rebirth that is about to be the Oklahoma Cannabis Medical and Right To Use Acts? If ever we needed a call to arms, this is it. Zack De La…
FREE ENTERPRISE REIGNS IN OKLAHOMA’S MMJ SYSTEM!
FREE ENTERPRISE REIGNS IN OKLAHOMA’S MMJ SYSTEM! by Sarah Lee Gossett Parrish, Cannabis Lawyer1 1 Information contained herein provides general information related to the law and does not provide legal advice. It is recommended that readers consult their personal lawyer if they want legal advice. No attorney-client or confidential relationship exists or is formed between…
It’s Time to Heal: Urge President Biden to Grant “Federal Cannabis Clemency”
A LAST PRISONER PROJECT INITIATIVE https://www.lastprisonerproject.org/ A TIME TO HEAL Imagine sitting in a cell for years, decades, or even for life, incarcerated for doing the same thing that’s simultaneously netting others millions of dollars. This is the sad reality for the tens of thousands of people, disproportionately people of color, languishing behind bars due…
THREE CHANGES IN THE WORKS FOR OMMA LICENSED BUSINESSES
THREE CHANGES IN THE WORKS FOR OMMA LICENSED BUSINESSES by Sarah Lee Gossett Parrish Cannabis Lawyer The past several months have seen numerous changes to Oklahoma’s medical marijuana system, including new OMMA Permanent Rules; Amendments to OMMA Permanent Rules by September 16, 2021 Emergency Rules; passage of new bills by the state legislature such as…
DO OMMA’S NEW EMERGENCY RULES IMPACT PATIENTS?
DO OMMA’S NEW EMERGENCY RULES IMPACT PATIENTS? by Sarah Lee Gossett Parrish Cannabis Lawyer The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority enacted a new set of Emergency Rules that became effective on June 28, 2021. These new Rules implement numerous changes, most of which apply to OMMA-licensed commercial medical marijuana businesses. However, some of the Rules…
BRAVO, JUSTICE THOMAS
by Sarah Lee Gossett Parrish Cannabis Lawyer If you are in the cannabis industry, you have a very powerful friend, a man who sits on the United States Supreme Court. The dissenting Statement respecting the denial of certiorari handed down on Monday, June 28, 2021, by United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, one…
From The Front Line
by Chip Paul Efforts are happening behind the scenes which will soon be very public around a repetition of the State for medical marijuana. While we, perhaps, have the best national situation in our program now, it can still be better. We have had a pretty good run with lawmakers who have helped us defend…
Texas – Landlocked and Surrounded by Legalization
by Veronica Castillo Texas, the second-largest state in the United States, largest city Houston, largest metro Dallas- Fort Worth, and surrounded by legal/decriminalized states on all sides- refuses to legalize cannabis for medicine. Present day, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana are medicinally legal and/or decriminalized cannabis states. Meanwhile, Texas doesn’t want smokable hemp legal,…
Harborside Decision
by Sarah Lee Gossett Parrish, Cannabis Lawyer Harborside was brilliantly briefed and argued before the Tax Court by my International Cannabis Bar Association colleague, Henry Wykowski, an exceptionally talented cannabis attorney headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you are in the cannabis industry in Oklahoma or, for that matter, anywhere in the United…
Oklahoma’s Medical Marijuana Program – 2021 Legislation Still In Play
by Sarah Lee Gossett Parrish | Cannabis Lawyer Earlier this year I provided an introduction to some of the more substantive bills filed in the Oklahoma House and Senate pertaining to Oklahoma’s Medical Marijuana Program. What follows are highlights concerning the more important bills that now have been passed by the legislative body in which…
Found Myself in Texas
by Brittiany Ralls Visiting family and friends in Texas quickly reminds me of the days of the past. At least for a lot of the country at this point. Texas is still one of the few states that does not have a cannabis program in place that allows for a majority of their citizens to…
From the Front Lines
by Chip Paul | Gnupharma/OK4U What is up with the OMMA? Has your commercial cannabis business been inspected? Did you know every other license the OMMA issues, you MUST be inspected BEFORE you are awarded your license? A marijuana commercial business license is the only Oklahoma State Department of Health issued license you can get…
Changes In the Wind
by Sarah Lee Gossett Parrish | Cannabis Lawyer Has the pandemic given Oklahoma legislators too much time to ponder what changes they would like to see in Oklahoma’s medical marijuana program? Perhaps. As of January 22, 2021, they have filed a combined number of approximately 38 bills (some are only one-page titles and several are…
Congress Boards the MJ Research Train
by Sarah Lee Gossett Parrish, Cannabis Lawyer In the wake of passing the MORE Act, which I wrote about in my December 2020 column, two other Acts related to marijuana were passed by Congress at the end of 2020. The U.S. House of Representatives approved the Medical Marijuana Research Act (“MMRA”) on December 9, 2020….
From the Front Lines
by Chip Paul At this writing 2020 is coming to an end. Perhaps the craziest year of my lifetime. In addition to not knowing the truth about a mask, we cannot even conclude a Presidential election. We are beginning to learn about numerous foreign influences in our politics and major institutions. I would wager there…
More Act
WILL THE MORE ACT LEGALIZE MARIJUANA ACROSS THE COUNTRY? by Sarah Lee Gossett Parrish, Cannabis Lawyer One of the questions I often am asked is whether, or when, Congress will legalize marijuana. Federal legislation has been introduced to accomplish this—either for medicinal purposes (CARERS Act of 2019) or for whatever purposes each particular state has…
Cannabis is Medicine- Like It or Not, A Letter to the Government
by Veronica Castillo Dear United States Government, Many of us grew up in a time where weed/ marijuana/ cannabis was taught to be negative; a bad drug. Remember the fried egg commercial: “this is your brain (whole egg), this is your brain on drugs (cracked egg frying), any questions”? Such loads of buffalo crap when…
From the Front Lines
by Chip Paul | Chief Innovator GnuPharma At this writing it is just a little over 2 years since commercial medical marijuana licenses began being is-sued in Oklahoma. When writing SQ788, a timer was installed to ensure that the State was efficient in rolling out the program. In just two years we are now the…
We Shouldn’t Turn Our Noses up at Those Convicted of Cannabis, Part 3
by Veronica Castillo Probably Wasn’t Cannabis Anyway Society Judges but the System is Designed to Win So many times, people are released from prison but not really released from the impact. A lot of people that haven’t been impacted by jail/prison, assume that those released aren’t living to their full potential for of all…
We Shouldn’t Turn Our Noses up at Those Convicted of Cannabis Part 2
by Veronica Castillo The Substance Probably Wasn’t Cannabis Anyway Crimes tied to illegal substances ; what should happen when someone is arrested for Cannabis, or any substance. Imagine a system that tells people that their baby powder is cocaine, throws them in jail, and then at trial- lie about the test results. Or a system…
We shouldn’t Turn our Noses Up at Those Convicted of Cannabis
by Veronica Castillo the Substance Probably Wasn’t Cannabis Anyway Part 1 of 3 because, we need the whole truth The truth is, many turn their nose up at those that have been convicted of Cannabis related crimes. Noses are usually not turned up at the jacked-up system that wrongfully framed many. Many can’t fathom…
Each Presidential Candidates Stance on Cannabis
Just in time for Super Tuesday, here’s an overview of the presidential candidate’s stances on federal Cannabis legalization. After all, this green plant holds a very dear place in our hearts and the hearts of over 30 other states. So, before you hit the polls tomorrow make sure you check out our list below! …