Oklahoma's Rampant Gray Cannabis Market, Some Officials Worry About Upcoming Legalization Vote

Although cannabis cultivation sites are easy to find in Oklahoma, figuring out if they are legal or not can be difficult.

“It’s not always clear what we should be looking for,” Logan County Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Tillman said. The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (OBN) estimated that the state has become the biggest source of illegal market marijuana in the country.

According to state officials, unlicensed or improperly licensed grey market operations are rampant. “You don’t even have enough dispensaries in the state of Oklahoma to dispense as much marijuana as we’re producing,” said Donnie Anderson, director of the OBN.

Cheap Land, Affordable Licenses, And Light Regulations

As it turns out, ever since Oklahoma legalized medical cannabis in 2018, allowing for commercial cultivation, hundreds of growers have been lured by cheap land, affordable licenses and light regulatory oversight reported The Wall Street Journal Market.

The state has already issued active licenses to about 7,000 growers and 2,600 dispensaries. However, Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a measure putting the issuing of new medical marijuana cultivation, dispensary and processing licenses on a two-year hold. The moratorium began on August 1, 2022 year and runs until August 2024.

In addition, the OBN said the agency is currently investigating about 2,000 farms on suspicion of having obtained their grow license through fraudulent means.

According to the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA), which regulates the industry and allows the public to check if a business has an online license, so far this year the industry has brought in $116 million. However, grey-market sales are bringing in much more money, but the state doesn’t capture that revenue in taxes, officials said.

Gov. Stitt recently announced that Oklahomans will be able to vote on legalizing adult-use cannabis on March 7, 2023.

However, OBN's Anderson said he worries that if voters approve recreational marijuana, state authorities will lose all ability to rein in the industry. “We can’t even abide by the liberal laws we have now.”

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Photo: Courtesy Of Alan Villegas On Unsplash