Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.
Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Constitutional Amendment Initiative (2018)
| Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Constitutional Amendment Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 6, 2018 | |
| Topic Marijuana | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Constitutional Amendment Initiative (#796) was not on the ballot in Oklahoma as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 6, 2018.
Proponents of the measure failed to submit the required number of valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.[1]
Measure design
This measure would have added a new article to the Oklahoma Constitution to allow for the classification or marijuana as an herbal drug to be regulated by the Oklahoma Cannabis Commission. The measure would permit the use of marijuana under the recommendation of a physician. It would have allowed the sale of marijuana to licensed patients by licensed dispensaries and allows the sale of marijuana to licensed dispensaries by licensed growers. Revenue from taxes and fees from the marijuana sales would have been used to fund the regulatory processes for the marijuana program, with excess revenue being split with 75 percent going to the Oklahoma State Department of Education and 25 percent to the Oklahoma State Department of Health. The measure would have allowed local municipalities to impose an additional tax to be used solely for the construction and repair of roads. The measure would have also allowed marijuana with less than 0.3 percent THC to be reclassified as industrial hemp and allows for the growth and commerce of industrial hemp when registered with the Oklahoma State Department of Agriculture.[2][3]
Text of measure
Full text
The full text of the measure is available here.
Sponsors
- Green the Vote sponsored this initiative as well as a related measure they filed, the Oklahoma Marijuana Legalization Constitutional Amendment Initiative, State Question 797.[4]
Arguments
- Isaac Caviness of Green the Vote said, "We look at 796 and 797 as an insurance policy to make sure (State Question) 788 does not get over-regulated. Nobody in Oklahoma right now is happy that their tax dollars are being spent to incarcerate people and their tax dollars aren’t being spent on education.”[5]
Path to the ballot
The state process
In Oklahoma, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated constitutional amendment for the ballot is equal to 15 percent of the votes cast for governor in the previous gubernatorial election. Signatures must be submitted 90 days after the initiative is cleared for circulation by the secretary of state. Measures are generally placed on the next general election ballot following signature verification, but the governor may call a special election or place the measure on the primary ballot. If petitioners are targeting a specific election, the secretary of state recommends that signatures be submitted eight months prior to the election; however, they must be submitted a minimum of 60 days before the election to make the ballot.
The requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment certified for the 2018 ballot:
- Signatures: 123,725 valid signatures were required.
- Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures was September 8, 2018; each initiative has a specific deadline as well.
The secretary of state verifies signatures and submits the totals and the vote totals that determine the requirement to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which makes the final determination of sufficiency.
Details about this initiative
- This initiative was filed with the Oklahoma Secretary of State on April 3, 2018.[2]
- Signature collection for this initiative began on May 11, 2018. Signatures were due on August 8, 2018.[3]
- As of July 16, 2018, proponents of the initiative said they had gathered around 100,000 signatures. To qualify for the November 2018 ballot, 123,725 valid signatures were required by August 8, 2018.[6]
- On August 7, 2018, Tulsa World reported that Green the Vote leaders inflated the number of signatures they had collected as a way to boost morale among supporters. Tulsa World wrote, "Dody Sullivan and longtime Green the Vote leader Isaac Caviness had seen several petition drives fail over the past years as they and others tried to win a vote that would let Oklahomans decide on legalizing marijuana. So toward the beginning of the petition drive for signatures, when numbers appeared to be on the low side, Sullivan and Caviness agreed on a plan unbeknownst to the rest of the board. They would release a signature count weekly, but the numbers would not be accurate. Instead, they would be for the purpose of keeping people in the movement motivated."[7] Green the Vote board member Ashley Mullin-Lowry said the group had actually collected 73,000 as of August 5, 2018.[8] *Signatures were submitted with the Oklahoma Secretary of State's office on August 8, 2018.[3]
- Proponents of the measure failed to submit the required number of valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.[9]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ US News, "Recreational Marijuana Effort Falls Short in Oklahoma," accessed August 21, 2018
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Oklahoma Secretary of State, "State Question 796 full text," accessed April 4, 2018
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Oklahoma Secretary of State, "State questions," April 4, 2018
- ↑ KJRH, "Tulsa group cleared to gather signatures to put medical, recreational pot on November ballot," accessed May 1, 2018
- ↑ New petition tries for recreational marijuana as Oklahoma works to implement medical; it's 'an insurance policy,' supporters say," accessed July 5, 2018
- ↑ Enid News, "Anger over medical marijuana rules fueling surge in recreational pot signatures," accessed July 16, 2018
- ↑ Tulsa World, "I have let you down': Green the Vote leaders inflated signature counts for recreational marijuana petition," accessed August 8, 2018
- ↑ Enid News, "Marijuana advocates admit to inflating initiative’s success," accessed August 8, 2018
- ↑ US News, "Recreational Marijuana Effort Falls Short in Oklahoma," accessed August 21, 2018
 |
State of Oklahoma Oklahoma City (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
