Oklahoma voters will resolve Tuesday whether or not to make the state one of the vital conservative to inexperienced gentle hashish use for adults.
State Query 820, the results of a signature gathering drive final yr, is the one merchandise on the statewide poll. Different conservative states have legalized leisure hashish use, together with Montana in 2020 and Missouri final yr, however a number of have rejected it, together with Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota.
The plan faces opposition from leaders of a number of religion teams, together with regulation enforcement and prosecutors, led by former Republican Gov. Frank Keating, an ex-FBI agent, and Terri White, the previous head of the state’s Division of Psychological Well being and Substance Abuse Providers.
“We don’t need a stoned society,” Keating stated Monday, flanked by district attorneys and regulation enforcement officers from throughout the state.
The proposal, if handed, would enable anybody over the age of 21 to buy and possess as much as 1 ounce of marijuana, plus concentrates and marijuana-infused merchandise. Individuals might additionally legally develop as much as 12 marijuana vegetation. Leisure gross sales can be subjected to a 15% excise tax on prime of the usual gross sales tax. The excise tax can be used to assist fund native municipalities, the court docket system, public faculties, substance abuse remedy and the state’s basic income fund.
The proposal additionally outlines a judicial course of for individuals to hunt expungement or dismissal of prior marijuana-related convictions.
Oklahoma voters already accepted medical marijuana in 2018 by 14 share factors and the state has one of the vital liberal packages within the nation, with roughly 10% of the state’s grownup inhabitants having a medical license.
The low limitations for entry into the business has led to a flood of growers, processors and dispensary operators competing for a restricted variety of clients. Supporters additionally say the state’s marijuana business can be buoyed by a rush of out-of-state clients, notably from Texas, which has shut to eight million individuals within the Dallas-Fort Value space just a bit greater than an hour drive from the Oklahoma border.
“We do have one of the vital permissible (medical) packages within the nation, however the concept it’s a must to spend your money and time to go to a physician and principally purchase immunity from felony prosecution is a pay-to-play system that I simply don’t like,” stated Ryan Kiesel, a former state lawmaker and one of many organizers of the Sure on 820 marketing campaign.
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