![]() Oklahoma could have been the 22nd state in the country to legalize cannabis for recreational use, but those dreams have come crashing down. On Tuesday, March 7th, citizens in the state rejected a measure to legalize adult use within the state, with nearly 62% voting against it, and only 38% voting in favor. Going into the vote, it looked like things could really go either way, but for advocates, the loss was a huge dissapointment considering how much support they felt there is, and the many positive benefits that could happen with legalization. Legalizing recreational use now could have given the state nearly half a billion dollars in excise tax revenue over the first five years of retail sales, as shown by an independant analysis by Vicente Sederberg LLP and the Oklahoma Cannabis Industry Association. Legalization could have also drastically reduced costs within the criminal justice system for the state as well, with law enforcement and courts being alleviated of the 4,500 people who are annually arrested for cannabis posession in Oklahoma. Oklahoma already has the most popular medical marijuana program in the country per capita, with nearly 10% of the state residents aquiring a valid med card since it was legalized by voters in 2018. However, despite this popularity and potential revenue increase, the opponents pushed hard, and obviously won this time. One very key reason why it didn’t pass could have to do with timing. The measure was supposed to have appeared on the November 2022 ballot, when voter turnout would have been high, due to the fact that there were many issues for citizens to vote on. But thanks to some creative political opposition, the measure was forced off that November ballot, when it likely would have had a far higher turnout of people voting in favor of legalizing. Once that happened, the Governor, Kevin Stitt, set the measure up for doom by relegating it to a highly unusal special election in March, which ensured that far fewer voters would turn up. A professor of political science at the University of Oklahoma, Michael Crespin, told MJBizDaily, “It was a direct attempt: ‘Let’s make this the least likely to pass, and a time when it’s not going to hurt any other elections at the ballot.” In addition to timing the election for the least likelihood of positive voter turnout, Oklahoma’s Governor Stitt, along with state Republican Party leaders, have been urging voters to reject the recreational marijuana legalization measure. The Governor, along with other conservative legislatures in control of the state government, have been promoting the idea that voters were misled into approving an earlier medical cannabis legalization initiative in 2018. Pat McFerron who is the Republican leader of the opposition’s campaign told MJBizDaily that if voters reject adult use legalization, then the existing legal medical program should subsequently be reigned in and restricted. He said, “There is an element of our coalition that’s saying … if we defeat this, this gives the Legislature impetus to go in and clean up the medical situation we have." Industry insiders are fearful of what the Governor and Conservative legislatures have in mind for the states existing medical marijuana program. Joanna Hamrick, who is Director of Operations and Sales at cultivation company Primal Cannabis, as well as also being a board member of the Oklahoma Cannabis Industry Association, told MJBizDaily that she is, “… afraid that legislators and government officials … will create more restrictions.” She said they’re, “… going to put the hammer down.” Comments are closed.
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