Attorney Ron Durbin speaks about a lawsuit he filed in Okmulgee County on behalf of plaintiff Beau Zoellner with Dr. Z Leaf, which has a processing facility in the area Zoellner oversees.
A Tulsa-based attorney filed suit Thursday on behalf of an Okmulgee County medical cannabis business in hopes of pausing use of the state’s “seed-to-sale” tracking system, alleging that the state’s chosen vendor charges unreasonable fees that could lead to increased prices for patients.
Ron Durbin II, the attorney, and Beau Zoellner, who operates a processing site in Okmulgee County for the Dr. Z Leaf business chain, allege that the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority allowed a monopoly when it selected Florida-based Metrc as its seed-to-sale tracking provider last year.
Seed-to-sale tracking is a term that generally refers to the practice of electronically documenting progress from the day a cannabis seed is planted to when whatever it yields is sold.
“The OMMA has essentially forced Oklahoma patients and Oklahoma businesses to send $15 million from the state of Oklahoma to this Florida company all because they’ve given Metrc a monopoly,” Durbin said during a press conference.
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The lawsuit in Okmulgee County District Court is a potential class-action on behalf of what Durbin said are more than 10,000 cannabis business owners who could pay up to that amount annually in an effort to comply with Metrc’s rules amid a gap in the OMMA’s compliance enforcement efforts.
Zoellner said he’s already established a good working relationship with another seed-to-sale tracking service provider. He contends that the prices Metrc charges for the same services — plus the company’s requirement of purchasing radio-frequency identification tags — could force Dr. Z Leaf to raise prices by between 10% and 15%.
Metrc provided similar services for more than a dozen other states before signing a contract with Oklahoma, which Durbin alleged gives the company a monopoly in that industry in the state.
“I am trying to give the best product at the best price,” Zoellner said of his decision to be a plaintiff in the case. “And when you start messing with that … and start trying to add all this extra work just to get another pocketbook in another state lined with money that we’re working hard for — that’s what really got me worked up.”
The complaint argues that the Legislature did not mandate that dispensaries use a seed-to-sale tracking system from a specific vendor and did not expressly direct the use of RFID tags to keep track of inventory and sales. It states that businesses are supposed to pay Metrc $40 per month and 45 cents per plant RFID tag, as well as 25 cents per package RFID tag.
“Nothing in Oklahoma law authorizes the OMMA to pass any costs related to the seed-to-sale system selected by (the Oklahoma State Department of Health/Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority) on to any medical marijuana business,” the complaint states.
A copy of the state’s contract with Metrc, which is an exhibit in the lawsuit, indicates that the OMMA is set to pay the company $5,000 for the first year of its 10-year contract and $40,000 annually for subsequent years.
The OMMA generally does not offer comment on pending litigation, and records do not show that the OMMA had been served with the complaint as of Thursday evening.
The OMMA and Metrc hosted a virtual meeting with journalists ahead of the planned implementation and offered training for businesses on how the platform works and what costs could be incurred.
But Durbin referred in the suit to a portion of House Bill 2612, which became law in 2019, that he said gave businesses the choice of using a tracking system the state provides or integrating their own system with whatever the OMMA uses.
Metrc estimated that licensees would pay an average of $705 per year for plant and product RFID tags, according to the complaint. However, Durbin wrote in the lawsuit that he believed that amount was “incredibly conservative” due to the volume of product made and sold in the state’s thousands of dispensaries in business.
Zoellner said the monthly inventory and sale reports businesses are required to submit to the OMMA already contain significant data the agency could use, but Durbin said the OMMA rarely, if ever, provides feedback on those reports to business owners.
The OMMA has said the tracking information Metrc provides will fulfill licensees’ monthly reporting requirements beginning in May.
Both said they support efforts to reduce product diversion, but they said they would prefer that the state work with an Oklahoma-based company on such efforts rather than send money to an out-of-state provider.
The complaint additionally argues that the State Health Department breached administrative procedure obligations by choosing Metrc without adequate community input and seeks more information on how state officials have allocated tax revenue collected from legal cannabis sales.
Durbin said he will seek a hearing in the case within the next 10 days.
“The OMMA has bypassed that entire (administrative) process, and instead of adopting regulations to govern this billion-dollar state industry — that’s billion dollars annually state industry — the OMMA has instead turned to regulation by press release,” Durbin said.
Gallery: Medical marijuana options if you don’t want to smoke it
CBD flower
Although many strains of cannabis flower are bred to maximize potency, or THC percentage, strains that include a decent percentage of CBD can be more beneficial for patients seeking symptom relief rather than a "high." However, most dispensaries are finding that high-CBD flower doesn't sell as well because growers are charging the same wholesale price as those who cultivate high-THC flower. It takes the same amount of time and effort to cultivate it, but it can be hard for patients to buy in when CBD flower costs the same as high-potency marijuana.
Tabletop vaporizer
Some dispensaries sell higher-CBD-content flower: Patients may be able to find strains with as much as 5-10% CBD with anywhere from 10-20% THC. Flower can be vaporized in specially made devices such as the Volcano tabletop vaporizer or the Pax portable personal vaporizer, available at some dispensaries and novelty shops.
RSO
Another kind of extract, known as RSO, has gained a lot of attention among those with cancer. Named for a skin cancer patient who purported to have cured himself, Rick Simpson Oil is an extract that comes out looking like a dark sludge and offers a massive dose of concentrated THC along with other cannabinoids. It will produce strong psychoactive effects depending on the amount consumed, by oral or suppository delivery, so it's not recommended for most patients new to THC. No clinical studies have been allowed on RSO, so nothing has scientifically proven its effectiveness at killing cancer cells.
Transdermal patch
Transdermal patches offer an option for patients who want to be medicated all day but do not desire strong psychoactive effects from THC products. It works through body heat, which activates the product and allows the cannabinoids to dissipate into the skin, through the dermis and into the bloodstream. Transdermal delivery, like smoking or vaping, bypasses the metabolic process. For muscle relaxation and pain from stiffness or arthritis, some patients find relief in topicals.
Topicals
Topicals — which can include transdermal patches in addition to creams, lotions and oils — can be found with THC, CBD or any combination of cannabinoids including CBN (a cannabinoid created as THC ages), CBG (the parent cannabinoid that later turns into THCa and CBDa), and CBDa or THCa (nonintoxicating chemicals that, when heated, turn into CBD and THC respectively).
Topicals - combination of cannabinoids
Some products offer cannabis extracts for topical application. Many topicals offer a combination of CBD and THC; some hemp-based products may say PCR, which stands for phyto-cannabinoid rich, and contain a combination of non-THC cannabinoids including CBG. The effectiveness of cannabinoid pain creams containing THC has not been studied. Research has shown some efficacy from CBD topicals for patients with arthritis and neuropathy. Many people choose topicals because they are easy to use and non-psychoactive, and they cannot create THC metabolites that would show up in a urinalysis. Even if topical cannabinoid products are able to penetrate the skin and muscle enough to produce an effect, they are not truly transdermal, which means the cannabinoids can get into the bloodstream.
Vape cartridges
Cannabis extracts and concentrates can also be vaporized, and a popular delivery method uses cartridges containing THC or CBD oil in conjunction with portable devices called batteries. Rarely do cartridges contain any cannabinoids but THC, though some processors create CBD cartridges for customers who want the medicine without the high. Note: Never vape a street-sold THC cartridge — Chinese companies have flooded West Coast cannabis businesses with a potentially dangerous cutting agent that mimics the quality of THC oil.
Dab rigs
Patients may also "vape" cannabis flower or concentrates in specially made devices that allow patients to load the product for individual vaping or dabbing sessions. In these pieces, a quartz "banger bowl" would be heated via torch to about 400 degrees, and a patient applies a small amount of cannabis concentrates to the hot bowl to be vaporized.
Edibles - CBD gummies
For patients who don't need immediate symptom relief, edibles may be a good option. Baked-goods edibles may be created by extracting THC and or CBD from flower using butter. Some processors use activated THC in liquid form or CBD extract to produce gummies, candy and other edible products. "Active THC" means the cannabis has already been decarboxylated, a process using heat that turns raw, nonpsychoactive THCa into the intoxicating cannabinoid delta-9-THC. (This means a patient cannot just dump a bag of cannabis flower into some brownie batter to make a high-potency edible.)
Edibles and metabolism
More cannabinoids are absorbed when consumed via the digestive system, but it can take hours for patients to feel the effects of cannabis edibles, compared to just seconds when smoking. It's been shown that a large percentage of THC is lost in combustion, so smokers rarely get the full potency effects from cannabis because it goes right to the bloodstream via the lungs. With edibles, a large percentage of THC makes it to the liver, where it becomes 11-hydroxy-THC, a highly psychoactive compound that can cross the blood-brain barrier more easily. The effects from edibles also take longer to fade, as 11-hydroxy-THC stays in the body much longer than other delta-9-THC metabolites.
