Most commercial license holders either are, or will be, renewing their licenses soon. The renewal process is causing numerous issues as the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) is now requiring additional information to be submitted. Let me remind you what you all voted for. You need to show proof of ownership (75% Oklahoma owned), submit $2500, get right with the city per zoning (although cities cannot “unduly” restrict our business per HB2612), comply with fire/building codes (should not unduly single out our business), and pay any permitting fees (again these should not be “more” than a similarly situated business). That is IT. If you are a commercial license holder and are having to go thru additional processes or pay addition fees, then please be loud about this. Our community is active and will work to make changes within City governments. Recently folks in Alva were able to bring enough pressure on the City Council to keep them from adding high fees and also requiring patients to register and pay a fee if they were going to home grow.
So the OMMA is over stepping from what was laid out in HB2612. We have Cities trying to “unduly” restrict, permit, and fee commercial license holders out of the city limits. We see fees and permits being required by Cities for home grows. We are seeing employers classify ALL their jobs as safety sensitive to restrict medial marijuana patients from employment. We are still seeing Sheriffs communicate to their Deputies to arrest anyone holding marijuana, even if they have a card.
So, for the above reasons and many others, we are considering another petitioning effort in the Spring. With this effort we would hope to achieve the following:
- Decriminalize marijuana in all of its forms
- Move the OMMA from the health department to its own stand alone board that is well balanced between stakeholders
- The board for OMMA should be 12 members (3 from government, 3 from health, 3 from patient/non-profit, 3 from commercial license holders/trade)
- Define marijuana zoning explicitly in the law
- Better define employment rules and “safety sensitive” classifications
- Better define testing/labeling standards for hemp and marijuana
- Put hemp licensing and registration under the OMMA in its new board structure per above
We will launch this effort thru Green Country NORML with the full backing and support of Oklahomans For Health. If you wish you could have been a part of the medical marijuana effort here in Oklahoma, THIS will be a perfect opportunity to help. It is critical that we continue to be united as #thewepeople and make our voices heard!