Rep. Josh West (R-Grove) just got House passage of a massive restructuring measure for the state medical marijuana business licensing. HB2272 radically changes how State Question 788 directed the creation of a free enterprise system for growing, processing, and distributing cannabis medicines in Oklahoma.
Current law, passed by the voters; allows all law-abiding residents to seek a business license for $2500 from the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA). The new licenses (if any get issued) will be awarded to lottery winners who purchased a MMB lottery ticket from the OMMA. The most recent version of the bill now leaves it up to unelected agency officials to create the lottery scheme and the ticket prices. the previous bill language put the lottery tickets at $12,500 each. It could be higher, or lower; depending on what the governor dictates to the agency. The legislature is now seeking to take significant funding away from the OMMA and capping the licenses totals this fall. Then a moratorium will block any new licenses and the legislature will revoke licensed Medical Marijuana businesses (MMBs) if they fail to meet certain commerce quotas. No safeguards are included to make sure remote locations have access to legal medicines, should their in-county dispensary be shut down for underproducing taxable sales quotas. |
Tulsa restaurant owners presented Frank Urbanic's team a 5-figure monetary 'thank you'.
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Sooner Politics
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