Oklahoma State Question 818, Cannabis Commission and Medical Marijuana Regulation Initiative (2022)

Oklahoma State Question 818
Election date November 8, 2022
Topic Marijuana
Status Not on the ballot
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin Citizens

Oklahoma State Question 818, the Cannabis Commission and Medical Marijuana Regulation Initiative, was not on the ballot in Oklahoma as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022.

The initiative would have created the State Cannabis Commission to replace the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority and to regulate medical marijuana, cannabis, and hemp.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title was as follows:

“

The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Enforcement and Anti-Corruption Act This constitutional amendment: regulates cannabis, hemp, marijuana and plant based medicine; creates a state agency, the Oklahoma State Cannabis Commission; audits the current medical marijuana program; delegates powers to the Governor, Legislature and the Commission; establishes the Commission Board, its membership and meeting requirements, and its relationships with state agencies; has a fiscal impact and pays for itself with taxes on marijuana sales and fees on businesses and individuals; establishes those taxes, licenses, license requirements and fees; directs surplus revenue to pay for education, local and military veterans mental health programs, law enforcement, research, marijuana waste clean-up, and agricultural insurance; provides licensed marijuana businesses with tax deductions, and some hemp businesses with limited tax credits; adapts to federal legalization of marijuana; provides guidelines for consumer protection and establishes individual patient, professional, privacy, employment, medical, parental, student, firearm ownership, state-licensure, and due process rights; provides for judicial review, severability; and becomes effective upon passage with time for implementation.

”

Full text

The full text of the measure is available here.

Sponsors

Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action (ORCA) filed State Question 818, as well as State Question 819, an initiative designed to legalize recreational marijuana.

Background

Medical marijuana in the United States

See also: Medical marijuana and History of marijuana ballot measures and laws

As of May 2021, 36 states and Washington, D.C., had passed laws legalizing or decriminalizing medical marijuana. Additionally, 10 states had legalized the use of cannabis oil, or cannabidiol (CBD)—one of the non-psychoactive ingredients found in marijuana—for medical purposes. In one state—Idaho—medical marijuana was illegal, but the use of a specific brand of FDA-approved CDB, Epidiolex, was legal. Based on 2019 population estimates, 67.5 percent of Americans lived in a jurisdiction with access to medical marijuana.

Unique instances

Idaho: In 2015, the Idaho State Legislature passed a bill legalizing certain types of CBD oil that was later vetoed by Governor Butch Otter (R). In response, Otter issued an executive order allowing children with intractable epilepsy to use Epidiolex in certain circumstances.

South Dakota: In 2019, the South Dakota State Legislature passed a bill amending one section of law by adding Epidiolex to its list of controlled substances. The bill also exempted CBD from the state's definition of marijuana in that section. Elsewhere in state law, CBD was not exempted from the definition of marijuana. This discrepancy led to confusion that left the legal status of CBD in the state unclear for a year.

After the 2019 changes, Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (R) issued a statement, wherein he argued all forms of CBD oil, apart from Epidiolex, were illegal under state law. Several state's attorneys expressed disagreement with the Attorney General's statements. Aaron McGown and Tom Wollman, state's attorneys for Minnehaha and Lincoln counties, respectively, issued a joint statement where they said the discrepancy left legality open to differing interpretations. Mark Vargo, the Pennington County state's attorney, said his office would not prosecute CBD cases based on his interpretation of the state law.

On March 27, 2020, Gov. Kristi Noem (R) signed House Bill 1008 into law, which legalized industrial hemp and CBD oil in the state.

Oklahoma State Question 788, Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative (June 2018)

See also: Oklahoma State Question 788, Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative (June 2018)

Oklahoma State Question 788, the Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative, was on the ballot in Oklahoma as an initiated state statute on June 26, 2018. It was approved by a vote of 56.86% to 43.14%. The measure provided for the licensing of medical marijuana recipients, dispensaries, commercial growers, and processors. The measure provided for the creation of an office within the Oklahoma State Department of Health, the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, to review applications and issue licenses.

The measure authorized individuals possessing a medical marijuana license to consume marijuana and possess up to three ounces on their persons, six mature and six seedling marijuana plants, up to one ounce of concentrated marijuana, up to 72 ounces of edible marijuana, and up to eight ounces of marijuana in their residences. The measure empowered local governments to enact guidelines allowing recipients to exceed the state-mandated possession limits. Under the measure, possessing up to 1.5 ounces of marijuana without a license but with a medical condition is deemed a misdemeanor.

The initiative provided for a 7% excise tax on marijuana sales. Going into the election, Paula Ross of the Oklahoma Tax Commission said since there was currently no statute exempting medical marijuana from sales tax, the 7% excise tax would be added on to the state's sales tax, coming out to a total of around 16%. Revenue from the tax will finance regulatory costs. Any surplus is to be distributed as follows: 75% to the General Fund to be used for education, and 25% to the Oklahoma State Department of Health to be used for drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

Moratorium on cannabis business licenses, 2022

On May 26, 2022, Governor Kevin Stitt (R) signed House Bill 3208, which created a moratorium on issuing new cannabis business licenses for dispensaries, growers, and processors from August 1, 2022, through August 1, 2024. Under the bill, the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) was required to process applications for licenses received before August 1, 2022, and was authorized to end the moratorium before August 1, 2024, if the executive director of the OMMA determines that all pending license applications have been fully processed. As of June 2022, the OMMA reported 11,312 licensed cannabis businesses.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Oklahoma

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 2022 ballot:

• Signatures: 177,958 valid signatures
• Deadline: Each initiative has its own deadline that is 90 days after it was approved to circulate

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

• The initiative was filed by Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action (ORCA).
• Initiative 818 was challenged in the Oklahoma Supreme Court on October 18, 2021. On April 19, 2022, the Oklahoma Supreme Court rejected the challenges and found that the initiative was legally sufficient.
• The initiative was cleared for signature gathering on May 24, 2022, with signatures due by August 22, 2022.
• Sponsors did not submit signatures by the deadline.

Challenge in the state supreme court

  

Lawsuit overview
Issue: Whether the measure is constitutional; whether signatures collected for it will be valid
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court
Ruling: Denied plaintiff's challenge; ruled that the measure is legally sufficient
Plaintiff(s): Paul Tay	Defendant(s): Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action
Plaintiff argument: All signatures collected in Native American territory would be invalid; the measure is unconstitutional; the gist is insufficient	Defendant argument: The lawsuit is a challenge attempting to try to block the measure by going after multiple points to see if any of them hold up in court

  Source: Oklahoma Secretary of State

Paul Tay, a 2022 gubernatorial candidate and former Tulsa mayoral candidate, filed a challenge against the initiative with the Oklahoma Supreme Court alleging that the initiative was unconstitutional and that signatures collected for it in Native American territory would be invalid due to legal precedent set in the U.S. Supreme Court case McGirt v. Oklahoma. Tay also alleged that the gist of the measure was inaccurate. On April 19, 2022, the Oklahoma Supreme Court denied the challenges brought by Tay and ruled that the measure was legally sufficient for signature collection and submission to voters.

See also

2022 measures

• 2022 ballot measures
• Marijuana on the ballot

Oklahoma

• Oklahoma ballot measures
• Oklahoma ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• State Question 818 information and full text
• Oklahoma Secretary of State: State Questions
• Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action petitions
• State Question 818 full text