Cannabis

[jerrywall]

Reports that SQ806 has been withdrawn after backlash

Yeah. https://www.newson6.com/story/414954...-by-supporters

[Bill Robertson]

Reports that SQ806 has been withdrawn after backlash

Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!

[gopokes88]

Just FaceTime one of the weed doctors and get your card. It’s basically the same as rev given there’s no restrictions on why you need a medical card. Marijuana tourism won’t be a thing in 10 years. So why exactly do we need rec?

[GoGators]

Just FaceTime one of the weed doctors and get your card. It’s basically the same as rev given there’s no restrictions on why you need a medical card. Marijuana tourism won’t be a thing in 10 years. So why exactly do we need rec?

You are right that in 10 years it’s going to be legal recreationally everywhere anyway. So why not do it now and be ahead of the curve for once. The state can collect 8-10 years of out of state tax revenue. You know, actually run the state like a business. Or we can wait 15 years, miss out on millions upon millions of out of state tax revenue and eventually end up with recreational anyway.

Right now, There’s approximately 10 million people who live within 120 miles of the Oklahoma border in states with no access to legal marijuana. That’s quite the opportunity for a state with a total population of less than 4 million.

Oklahoma already has some of the most relaxed medical regulations in the country. It basically amounts to recreational for Oklahoma residents only. I want that potential out of state money to come here.

[EBAH]

Just FaceTime one of the weed doctors and get your card. It’s basically the same as rev given there’s no restrictions on why you need a medical card. Marijuana tourism won’t be a thing in 10 years. So why exactly do we need rec?

My main argument for rec is just that it should have never been illegal in the first place. To me allowing for all this complications in laws is to just validate an absolutely terrible legal policy to begin with. It just needs to be blanket legalized. It is a plant.

[jerrywall]

My main argument for rec is just that it should have never been illegal in the first place. To me allowing for all this complications in laws is to just validate an absolutely terrible legal policy to begin with. It just needs to be blanket legalized. It is a plant.

People have been arguing that case for 60 years. It's not gonna suddenly flip to legal overnight. It would be great if the federal government suddenly legalized it, but not sure how soon that's going to happen (and what the potential consequences might be). Oklahoma's current situation is pretty close to rec, and the card is there merely as a revenue source for the state. Otherwise, why not just let patients use a doctor's recommendation? I'm hoping it will go away before too many people are having to pay for renewals but I know that's not likely.

Not surprised this SQ got pulled. It had very little industry support, and I couldn't see them getting the machine mobilized to drive signatures. All that being said, as fast as the industry is growing here, and the fact that the patient sign ups don't appear to be slowing down, tells me that widespread acceptance in this state is close, so we may only be a few years off.

[Bill Robertson]

Just FaceTime one of the weed doctors and get your card. It’s basically the same as rev given there’s no restrictions on why you need a medical card. Marijuana tourism won’t be a thing in 10 years. So why exactly do we need rec?

I can’t get on a database showing I have a card.

[bchris02]

Just FaceTime one of the weed doctors and get your card. It’s basically the same as rev given there’s no restrictions on why you need a medical card. Marijuana tourism won’t be a thing in 10 years. So why exactly do we need rec?

Well Oklahoma does border a massive state that will also likely be one of the last in the country to legalize cannabis. The state could capitalize on that by legalizing rec and drawing tourists up from south of the Red River. However you are right that when it's legal everywhere, there will no longer be cannabis tourism. I also think the current situation with medical in Oklahoma is a pretty good thing and the state should be careful to not mess it up. I think we are farther than 10 years away from it being legal in all 50 states though.

[Plutonic Panda]

Petition changed and re-filed:

https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/recr...4bec009f1.html

[king183]

Petition changed and re-filed:

https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/recr...4bec009f1.html

If they had been more organized, they could have started this early enough to get on the March ballot during the OK Democratic Presidential Primary. Now, assuming they get the signatures, it would most likely be on the November ballot when Oklahomans turn out for Trump, so they will have to hope for a big crossover vote.

[bchris02]

If they had been more organized, they could have started this early enough to get on the March ballot during the OK Democratic Presidential Primary. Now, assuming they get the signatures, it would most likely be on the November ballot when Oklahomans turn out for Trump, so they will have to hope for a big crossover vote.

That would have been a good idea. Most Democrats support legal marijuana so having it on the Democratic Primary ballot would ensure its passage, since Republicans who would oppose it would have to turn out to vote specifically on this issue. I get the feeling that this issue is a lot more important to people who are for legalizing than those who are against it.

[Plutonic Panda]

Nancy Pelosi is against marijuana reform and President Obama had a Democrat senate and house at some point, IIRC, and virtually no movement on any national legislation for marijuana legalization. Why are we to believe to republicans are so much more hostile to MJ than dems. I have plenty of conservative friends and family who support legalization and coincidentally enough a few democratic friends whom are fine with current laws around weed.

I’m not buying the logic that Democratic leadership will bring upon national legalization. I also just read reform was just killed in the house or senate.

[bchris02]

^^^ Obama did the best he could by allowing Colorado and Washington to legalize without sending in the feds to shut them down. If Romney would have won the 2012 election, he probably wouldn't have allowed states to legalize and it probably would still be illegal everywhere.

One thing about Obama is that on social issues, he went with popular opinion and the public had not yet come around on legal weed back then. There has been a huge surge in support in recent years and now 65% of the entire population supports it. Opposition is highest among Republicans, specifically the religious right. Younger Republicans are more pro-legalization, but right now the GOP is still a boomers' party. Currently, the Senate has blocked numerous marijuana reform bills that have been passed by the house. Right now, the Republican Party is the top thing standing in the way of legalization. When red states start legalizing recreational marijuana en masse, then I think the tide will have turned but we aren't there yet.

[Plutonic Panda]

So then Bush did the best he could by allowing California to legalize. I’ll stop you or anyone else trying to make an argument about medicinal vs. recreational as it is highly irrelevant given federal laws bans both. There is no proof Obama ‘allowed’ marijuana to be legalized in recreational states simply because he didn’t send feds in the enforce the ban. That is a ridiculous notion.

[GoGators]

Nancy Pelosi is against marijuana reform and President Obama had a Democrat senate and house at some point, IIRC, and virtually no movement on any national legislation for marijuana legalization. Why are we to believe to republicans are so much more hostile to MJ than dems. I have plenty of conservative friends and family who support legalization and coincidentally enough a few democratic friends whom are fine with current laws around weed.

I’m not buying the logic that Democratic leadership will bring upon national legalization. I also just read reform was just killed in the house or senate.

This currently isn’t a battle at the National level it’s being fought state by state. A quick look at the map of legalized states gives a pretty clear picture of how each party tends to fall on this issue. I don’t believe a single republican controlled state legislature has ever passed medical laws through actual legislation. All progress conservative leaning states have made have had to come through ballot initiative. I definitely think the right will be drug to the correct side of this issue eventually, but it will be out of necessity. I don’t see our Republican controlled legislature or governor doing anything proactive on this issue ever. Any further positive outcome on legalization will have to come from ballot initiative.

[Plutonic Panda]

^^^ I guess my point is that many act like the democrats are some key to marijuana legalization and I don’t buy that. They have plenty of time to enact national legislation and have not done so.

Furthermore, by technicality, marijuana is still illegal on the federal level. So is it a good precedent to set for states to defy federal law?

[jerrywall]

I think the divide is more generational than political. It's just going to take time. I think the majority of folks under 50 probably support various forms of legalization, regardless of political alignment. But yeah, conservatives, by their nature, tend to take change slower.

[bchris02]

Furthermore, by technicality, marijuana is still illegal on the federal level. So is it a good precedent to set for states to defy federal law?

The only alternative right now is going back to 50-state prohibition and killing a billion dollar, fast-growing industry.

And I do think marijuana would be legalized federally pretty quickly if we had a Democratic house, senate, and Presidency.

I think the divide is more generational than political. It's just going to take time. I think the majority of folks under 50 probably support various forms of legalization, regardless of political alignment. But yeah, conservatives, by their nature, tend to take change slower.

I agree with this. For whatever reason, people over a certain age have a hard time with the arguments for legalizing marijuana, even if they take a more libertarian stance on other issues. I wasn't around for the 1970s and 80s, but looking at the culture of the time from Merle Haggard singing "we don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee" to Ronald Reagan saying that it's the most dangerous substance known to man, it's pretty clear that in the post-Vietnam era, marijuana was demonized and blamed heavily for society's ills.

[Plutonic Panda]

The only alternative right now is going back to 50-state prohibition and killing a billion dollar, fast-growing industry.

Why does that have to be the only alternative? No one is suggesting that. As for your last sentence, I disagree as they have many chances to do so and haven't. Perhaps with a new wave of democrats things might change; I agree with Jerrywall. You attempted to make it into a partisan issue rather than a generational one and I lean towards the latter being the bigger reason we haven't seen national legalization.

To further clarify, I also don't think taking that position gives an ultimatum of having to go back to prohibition or not.

[David]

Why does that have to be the only alternative? No one is suggesting that. As for your last sentence, I disagree as they have many chances to do so and haven't. Perhaps with a new wave of democrats things might change; I agree with Jerrywall. You attempted to make it into a partisan issue rather than a generational one and I lean towards the latter being the bigger reason we haven't seen national legalization.

To further clarify, I also don't think taking that position gives an ultimatum of having to go back to prohibition or not.

The last time we had a full Democratic congress and presidency was a decade ago, and at that time public opinion on cannabis was not even remotely where it is now.

[soonerguru]

Does anyone have a copy of the new language? The first bill was atrocious -- and I support adult recreational use.

It's so rare to say this, but Oklahoma did everything right with 788. Like literally everything. But, the recreational bill that was first filed seemed to open the door to major corporations taking over our nascent cannabis industry. And worse, it seemed to take away freedoms we already have, like public smoking. It had the feel of a Trojan horse.

I know one of the original signatories, and she is a good person, but I think she may have been mislead. I'm all in favor of a well-written recreational bill, but 806 was a horror story.

It says a lot about the grassroots power of Oklahoma's cannabis movement that they pulled the petition. I just have yet to see anything substantive about the rewrite.

The person I know involved in the first draft has completely withdrawn from the effort.

As stated upthread, Oklahoma has a highly functioning cannabis delivery system that is practically recreational now. Oklahoma is the number one cannabis medical state per capita by patients and sales volume, and among the top 10 cannabis states in the union now. Let's not mess up a good thing until we have the right bill.

[soonerguru]

Why does that have to be the only alternative? No one is suggesting that. As for your last sentence, I disagree as they have many chances to do so and haven't. Perhaps with a new wave of democrats things might change; I agree with Jerrywall. You attempted to make it into a partisan issue rather than a generational one and I lean towards the latter being the bigger reason we haven't seen national legalization.

To further clarify, I also don't think taking that position gives an ultimatum of having to go back to prohibition or not.

It may not be completely partisan, but the Democratic House of Representatives passed the cannabis banking bill by a huge margin (with Oklahoma City's Kendra Horn voting "Yes"), but it is wasting away in a pile on McConnell's desk, unable to reach the floor of the Republican US Senate. So basically people who own dispensaries in OKC are getting robbed at gunpoint (three or four in the last two weeks) because they have all this cash stashed in a safe. And people in the industry cannot do basic banking.

So, yeah, it's ****ing partisan at the moment. If Trump gave a hooey he could call up Mitch and get it done. Do you see Inhofe and Lankford fighting to get this bill on the floor of the Senate? I don't.

[bchris02]

It may not be completely partisan, but the Democratic House of Representatives passed the cannabis banking bill by a huge margin (with Oklahoma City's Kendra Horn voting "Yes"), but it is wasting away in a pile on McConnell's desk, unable to reach the floor of the Republican US Senate. So basically people who own dispensaries in OKC are getting robbed at gunpoint (three or four in the last two weeks) because they have all this cash stashed in a safe. And people in the industry cannot do basic banking.

So, yeah, it's ****ing partisan at the moment. If Trump gave a hooey he could call up Mitch and get it done. Do you see Inhofe and Lankford fighting to get this bill on the floor of the Senate? I don't.

Great points. It very much is partisan at the time since our country is still run by conservative boomers still living in the Nancy Reagan "Just Say NO" era. Even if younger Republicans are more open to legalization, they don't run the party yet. Every time there's a vote dealing with marijuana among lawmakers, it's always pretty much right down partisan lines with Democrats voting in favor and Republicans voting against.

[David]

Does anyone have a copy of the new language? The first bill was atrocious -- and I support adult recreational use.

It's so rare to say this, but Oklahoma did everything right with 788. Like literally everything. But, the recreational bill that was first filed seemed to open the door to major corporations taking over our nascent cannabis industry. And worse, it seemed to take away freedoms we already have, like public smoking. It had the feel of a Trojan horse.

I know one of the original signatories, and she is a good person, but I think she may have been mislead. I'm all in favor of a well-written recreational bill, but 806 was a horror story.

It says a lot about the grassroots power of Oklahoma's cannabis movement that they pulled the petition. I just have yet to see anything substantive about the rewrite.

The person I know involved in the first draft has completely withdrawn from the effort.

As stated upthread, Oklahoma has a highly functioning cannabis delivery system that is practically recreational now. Oklahoma is the number one cannabis medical state per capita by patients and sales volume, and among the top 10 cannabis states in the union now. Let's not mess up a good thing until we have the right bill.

Great points. It really is kind of amazing how well SQ 788 has worked out for Oklahoma, from public support to how the legislature has responded.

[TheTravellers]

Great points. It really is kind of amazing how well SQ 788 has worked out for Oklahoma, from public support to how the legislature has responded.

Well, it really hasn't worked out as intended for people needing to use marijuana for actual medical purposes, here's a great article explaining why:

http://readextract.com/2019/12/23/medical-program/