Oklahoma City, OK: Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt is reiterating demands that the state’s voter-approved medical cannabis access program be “shut down.”
In a March 3rd post on X, the Governor wrote: “Oklahoma’s marijuana ‘experiment’ has failed. … It’s time to shut this broken system down.”
The governor made similar remarks in February during his State of the State address. Following those remarks, Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton said that he disagrees with the governor’s stance, adding that he believes the program should be better regulated but not abolished.
In his latest post, the governor claimed that marijuana use by teens has risen following medicalization. However, state data provided by the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavioral Survey shows that youth cannabis use is largely unchanged since 2019 and that it has declined over the past two decades.
Fifty-seven percent of Oklahomans approved a ballot initiative in 2018 legalizing the production and dispensing of cannabis for authorized patients. Approximately 315,000 Oklahomans are registered with the state to access medical cannabis products.
NORML has an action alert directing Gov. Stitt to preserve Oklahoma’s medical marijuana program in the Take Action Center.