OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled two marijuana initiative petitions were valid.
Both seek to gather 178,000 signatures to ask voters to change the constitution.
State Question 819 seeks to legalize, regulate and tax the recreational use of marijuana by adults ages 21 and older.
But the court severed section 5 that allowed a person with a marijuana conviction to apply for resentencing, reversal of the conviction and dismissal of the case, or modification of judgement and sentence had the conduct been lawful if the state question passed.
Under the stricken portion of the gist, a person with a completed expungement would have been able to vote and possess and use a firearm.
The court said the gist did not address whether a petitioner had other non-marijuana-related felony convictions.
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SQ 818 seeks to remove the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. A new free-standing agency would be called the Oklahoma Cannabis Commission.
SQ 788, passed in 2018, legalized medical marijuana. SQ 818 seeks to expand the statutory framework regarding the regulation and taxation of medical marijuana.
Tulsan Paul Tay had challenged SQ 818 and 819 for a variety of reasons.
The court ruled against him, saying both measures were legally sufficient for submission to Oklahomans for voting.
Jed Green, director of Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action, said supporters could receive a challenge to the validity of the signatures once they are gathered.
In addition, the Oklahoma attorney general’s office will review the ballot title and either approve it or propose an alternative ballot title.
Green said State Question 818 is needed to decrease bureaucracy.
“One of our problems is being under the OSDH (Oklahoma State Department of Health), our program has bureaucratic overburden,” Green said.
The OMMA director does not make the final decision, he said, and those in the industry do not get to talk to those in the executive branch who make final decisions.
Legal recreational marijuana is needed to position the state as having the most business-friendly environment, Green said.
The medical marijuana program was set up without tax incentives and with a higher tax burden on the industry, he said.
“We want to set Oklahoma up to continue to be a leader in cannabis,” Green said.
In addition, supporters want to protect individuals’ rights and freedoms to use marijuana recreationally, Green said.
