Oklahoma voters will decide on Tuesday, June 26, on State Question 788 — a statewide voter-initiated measure that permits doctors to use their discretion to recommend medical cannabis to patients.
Under the proposed plan, licensed medical marijuana patients may cultivate up to six mature plants, and may possess personal use quantities of marijuana flower, edibles, or infused concentrates.
According to polling data released in May, Oklahoma voters support the passage of State Question 788 by a margin of nearly 2 to 1. Public support for the measure has largely held steady, even in the face of growing, organized opposition from members of law enforcement and certain business leaders. State lawmakers also attempted to preempt the initiative by passing legislation to significantly limit its scope and purpose, but that effort was eventually tabled in April.
Under state law, the possession of any amount of cannabis is classified as a criminal offense — punishable by up to a year in prison. Engaging in cannabis sales is punishable by up to life in prison. According to a study released earlier this week, Oklahoma’s incarceration rate is 1,079 per 100,000 people — the highest rate in the United States.
If Oklahoma voters pass SQ 788 in two weeks, it will become the 31st state to legalize the possession and use of cannabis by authorized patients.
More and more my summer road trip from Texas to Canada is looking more like a Farewell to Prohibition Tpur. From Oklahoma to Michigan Republican prohibitionists are bringing out all their greatest hits loke trying to preemptively introduce mj legislation to thwart the voter initiative to revise liberties like home grow or smoking marijuana… but more importantly to reduce Democratic turnout when an mj initiative is on the ballot.
Before I hit the road Canada won’t yet have an active market but the House of Commons might have settled on the Senate version of legalization. Michigan won’t have voted yet, but like Oklahoma, it is too late for the Republicans in the state legislatures to do anything about it.
But Oklahoma will have voted in a milestone… a legally binding medical marijuana initiative in the heart of the red line from North Dakota to Texas, where prohibitionist GOP doners like Koch Industries and corrupt Sheriff Associations have reigned for too long. From Indian Country to state capitols hemp and marijuana seeds will grow to balance or achieve homeostasis not only our cannabinoid deficient bodies but in the bodies of our state and local governments as well.
And here I thought a state had to pass legislatively enacted law to break federal prohibition. Perhaps voter initiatives were the only chance we ever had at direct democracy.
Our Friends: The People
“Public support for the measure has largely held steady (nearly 2 to 1)”
Our Foes: The Man
“growing, organized opposition from members of law enforcement and certain business leaders. State lawmakers also attempted to preempt the initiative”
Participate! Vote!
Amazing that in the face of a majority of Oklahomans who support mmj and will vote this initiative in… including Republican voters… and despite the fact Congress just passed a rider into the Justice Department’s budget to more permanently protect mmj dispensaries from a federal crackdown (formerly known as the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment… thank God we don’t have to spell THAT anymore…)
…And yet this Republican Senator James Lankford-OK s making commercials against the initiative and lamented the mmj rider stating “The FDA still views marijuana as a gateway drug to opioids.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2018/06/12/senators-include-medical-marijuana-protections-in-justice-department-bill/#b64cca06b2de
Marijuana is a gateway OFF deadly opioids! Thats a 4-year longitudinal, peer-reviewed FACT out of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Of course pharmaceutical parasites like the oxycontin producing Sackler family know Lankford isn’t up for reelection until 2022. So they figure the people of Oklahoma will forgive him when he flips sides, right? Or will they?
I am a Republican and I will be voting YES! MMJ is sorely needed in our state. It will help stop the pill addition, no doubt about it.
Hello Jane Merlin, Barry Goldwater was the Republican candidate for President in 1964 and he was perhaps the first mainstream politician to ever be supportive of Cannabis. People from both parties are able by now to see the benefits of such a remarkable plant. Peace be unto you.
Jane, I applaud your support of State Question 788.
Yet you are in conflict.
You self-identify as Republican. Why? The Republican Party opposes marijuana legalization. When you vote Republican, you vote for candidates who will try to sabotage State Question 788.
Why would you do that?
Jane, let me guess why: “immigration” — that is, internment camps. Am I right?
Do you really think Trump and Sessions can’t find room for drug users (medical marijuana patients) in these camps, too? Say… You “do drugs” too, Jane, am I right?