A group of activists in Oklahoma wants to put a pair of cannabis initiatives on the state ballot in 2022, one that would overhaul the state\u2019s massive medical marijuana system and another to legalize cannabis for all adults 21 and older.<\/p>\n
While the medical and adult-use measures would appear on the ballot separately, they\u2019re designed to work together and even overlap to some degree, said Lawrence Pasternack, an advocate and Oklahoma State University professor who helped write the draft initiatives. \u201cThere\u2019s a robust statewide, grassroots effort to develop both a constitutional medical petition and a constitutional full-access petition,\u201d he told Marijuana Moment. \u201cThey\u2019re designed, if they both pass, to function in parallel to one another.\u201d<\/p>\n
The medical proposal<\/a> would create a new state agency to regulate all types of legal cannabis, including hemp and high-THC marijuana, and would establish funding for programs including research, environmental remediation and mental health services.\u00a0The adult-use proposal<\/a>, meanwhile, would allow any adult 21 and older to purchase marijuana products from existing dispensaries. Individuals could also grow up to 12 cannabis plants at home and keep or give away the marijuana it produces.<\/p>\n The adult-use proposal would also make changes to the medical program and the state\u2019s criminal justice system. If passed, it would establish a 15 percent tax on nonmedical sales to adults but reduce taxes on medical products from the current 7 percent tax down to zero. It would also provide for the expungement of past cannabis-related criminal convictions.<\/p>\n Advocates don\u2019t envision the creation of a separate adult-use cannabis market, even if both measures become law. Instead they want to transform the state\u2019s medical marijuana program\u2014under which nearly 10 percent of all state residents are already registered\u2014to allow adults to make purchases.<\/p>\n \u201cUnlike states that have a small medical program, we have a program that effectively is like a full-access program already,\u201d Pasternack said, noting that by some estimates, Oklahoma has more operating dispensaries than any other U.S. state\u2014and more than double the number in California.<\/p>\n Voters passed the existing medical marijuana law in 2018<\/a> on a 57\u201343 margin, in a midterm primary election. Unlike many state medical marijuana programs, it does not require patients have any specific qualifying conditions; doctors can recommend cannabis for any condition they see fit.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the perspective of many people in the state, they see it as a full-access program with a hoop to jump through,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Even with such a permissive program, however, thousands of Oklahomans nevertheless face the risk of criminal prosecution for cannabis. \u201cDespite the fact that anybody can get a card,\u201d Pasternack argued, \u201cbetween 4,000 and 6,000 people continue to be charged with simple possession\u201d in the state each year.<\/p>\n Drafts of both ballot measures are available at the website of nonprofit advocacy group Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action<\/a> (ORCA), although language is currently being revised based on ongoing feedback from community members and legal advisors, Pasternack said. He and others recently spoke in a YouTube video about recent changes to the draft legislation.<\/p>\n\n Other groups, including the Oklahoma Cannabis Liberty Alliance<\/a> (OCLA) and the nonprofit trade group OK4U Approved<\/a>, are doing outreach and working to build support in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, respectively.<\/p>\n Chris Moe, an advocate and YouTuber, recently spoke on video about the petition drives and upcoming community meetings to solicit feedback and build support.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody is trying to step up and do something, I guess,\u201d he told Marijuana Moment during a phone interview on Friday. While others formed ORCA and got the ball rolling, he said, \u201cthe community gatherings that are going to start this weekend are being organized by me.\u201d<\/p>\n Pasternack said the groups hope to file the petitions with the state \u201cin a few weeks,\u201d then gather signatures to put both measures on the state ballot in 2022. While they intend to run both as constitutional amendments, he said it\u2019s possible the adult-use measure would instead be a statutory change. He added that it wouldn\u2019t be surprising to see legal challenges to the proposal.<\/p>\n Oklahoma activists had previously attempted to qualify a legalization measure for the 2020 ballot.\u00a0They\u00a0filed a petition to legalize cannabis for adult use<\/a> in December 2019, but signature gathering fell short due in part to procedural delays and the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n Looking ahead to 2022, Oklahoma isn\u2019t the only state where voters could see cannabis reform on the ballot.<\/p>\n A pair of Wyoming reform initiatives\u2014one to decriminalize marijuana possession and another to legalize medical cannabis\u2014recently cleared an initial hurdle<\/a>\u00a0on the path to qualifying for the state\u2019s 2022 ballot.<\/p>\n Idaho officials have recently\u00a0cleared activists to begin collecting signatures<\/a>\u00a0for a revised initiative to legalize possession of marijuana that they hope to place before voters on the 2022 ballot. Advocates in the state are also working to qualify a\u00a0separate measure to legalize medical cannabis<\/a>\u00a0for ballot access.<\/p>\n In South Dakota, activists last month filed\u00a0four separate cannabis ballot measures<\/a>\u00a0for 2022.<\/p>\n North Dakota activists are formulating\u00a0plans for a marijuana legalization measure<\/a>\u00a0after lawmakers failed to enact the reform this session.<\/p>\n A group of Missouri marijuana activists recently filed several separate initiatives to\u00a0put marijuana reform on the state\u2019s 2022 ballot<\/a>, a move that comes as other advocacy groups are preparing additional efforts to collect signatures for cannabis ballot petitions of their own. Meanwhile, still other activists are focusing on getting the legislature to pass a resolution to place the question of legalization before voters next year.<\/p>\n Arkansas activists are currently collecting signatures for a marijuana legalization measure<\/a> they want to put before voters next November.<\/p>\n In Maryland, the House speaker has pledged to pass legislation to\u00a0place a marijuana legalization referendum<\/a>\u00a0on the 2022 ballot.<\/p>\n Nebraska marijuana activists have announced plans for a \u201cmass scale\u201d campaign to\u00a0put medical cannabis legalization on the state\u2019s 2022 ballot<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ohio activists awaiting official clearance to\u00a0collect signatures for a statewide ballot measure<\/a>\u00a0that would effectively force the legislature to consider cannabis reform. Meanwhile, other groups also recently\u00a0qualified several measure to decriminalize cannabis<\/a>\u00a0to appear on local 2021 ballots.<\/p>\n A newly established Texas progressive group unveiled a campaign last month to\u00a0put an initiative to decriminalize marijuana possession<\/a>\u00a0and ban no-knock warrants on this November\u2019s ballot in Austin.<\/p>\n Advocates are also working to put marijuana initiatives on\u00a0local ballots in South Carolina and West Virginia<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Florida Supreme Court has\u00a0blocked two cannabis legalization initiatives<\/a>\u00a0for which activists had already collected thousands of signatures.<\/p>\n Texas Ruling Means Smokable Hemp Can Be Sold In State But Must Be Manufactured Elsewhere<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Oklahoma Activists Prepare 2022 Ballot Measures to Legalize Marijuana And Overhaul State\u2019s Medical Cannabis System<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A group of activists in Oklahoma wants to put a pair of cannabis initiatives on the state ballot in 2022, one that would overhaul the state\u2019s massive medical marijuana system and another to legalize cannabis for all adults 21 and older. While the medical and adult-use measures would appear onContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49303"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49304,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49303\/revisions\/49304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Oklahoma Activists Prepare 2022 Ballot Measures to Legalize Marijuana And Overhaul State\u2019s Medical Cannabis System<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"