OKLAHOMA CITY. Tens of thousands of Texans from the vibrant Dallas-Fort Worth area regularly move across the Red River to play at Las Vegas-style luxury tribal casinos, lounge in lodges, or swim and ski in the lakes scattered across southern Oklahoma.

They may soon head north for another prank: recreational Marijuana.

On Tuesday, Oklahoma voters will decide whether to approve a ballot measure that would legalize the consumption of the plant by adults 21 and older. The conservative state already has one of the nation’s most effective medical marijuana programs, and industry advocates are hoping the influx of consumers from Texas will be a boon to a saturated market.

“Thousands and thousands of Texans are increasingly coming to Oklahoma as a tourist destination,” said Ryan Kiesel, a former state legislator and co-organizer of State Issue 820. “I want to be able to sell legal, regulated, and taxed marijuana to those Texans over the age of 21.” took their tax dollars and invested them in Oklahoma schools and health care in Oklahoma.”

The booming Dallas-Fort Worth mega-plex alone, approaching 8 million, has nearly double the population of the entire state of Oklahoma.

In Oklahoma, recreational sales are expected to grow by $1.8 billion, generating about $434 million in excise tax alone from 2024 to 2028 if the measure is passed, according to an economic impact study sponsored by the cannabis industry. The report shows that by far the largest number of out-of-state consumers will be from Texas, followed by Arkansas and Kansas.

Oklahoma already has one of the most liberal medical marijuana programs in the country, with approximately 10% of the state’s adult population being medically licensed. Unlike most other states, Oklahoma does not have a list of eligible medical conditions, patients can get a doctor’s recommendation online, and licenses are issued that are valid for two years.

Supporters of SQ 820 initially tried to put the issue on the ballot in November, but a delay in verifying signatures resulted in Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt calling for a special election just for the proposal.

People in the industry say Oklahoma’s low barrier to entry has left thousands of licensed manufacturers, processors and dispensary operators vying for a limited number of patients. While inflation is pushing up the cost of many products, pharmacy marijuana prices have plummeted and many operators are going out of business. A website dedicated to cannabis sales shows that there are thousands of growers and dispensaries up for sale in Oklahoma.

“They allowed a free-market cannabis industry and everyone wanted it, but now we need more customers,” said Chip Baker, a farmer who also owns a marijuana gardening store in Oklahoma City. “There must be an influx. people here to buy this product. It’s just math.”

Kevin Patta, a Michigan native who came to Oklahoma to get into the cannabis business, now runs six Mango Cannabis retail stores across the state. He said 1-gram cartridges of marijuana concentrate, which retailed for $60-$70 in 2019, are now $20. Prices for marijuana flowers and other commodities also fell.

“There are so many products on the market, and demand is limited. It hurts everyone,” said Patta, whose pharmacy is equipped with a prominent digital countdown screen to vote Tuesday. “We also felt the heat.

“At one point, our average ticket was $130. Now they spend an average of $60. So it’s less than half now.”

Patta said the expansion of legal sales in Michigan in 2018 was a huge boon for that state’s healthcare workers, especially those with dispensaries near its border with Ohio and Indiana.

While many in the Oklahoma cannabis industry are looking to recreational sales, opponents include a group of clergy, law enforcement and prosecutors led by former Republican Gov. Frank Keating, a former FBI agent. Current Governor Kevin Stitt and nearly every Republican in the Oklahoma Senate have also declared their opposition.

Opponents cite an increase in the amount of marijuana from Oklahoma being exported out of state and sold on the black market, as well as an increase in criminal activity related to certain types of marijuana, including the execution of four Chinese citizens at an illegal marijuana farm in the countryside. Oklahoma.

“The SQ 820 is throwing a match into what has already become a powder keg in rural Oklahoma,” said Logan County Sheriff Damon Devereux, president of the Oklahoma Sheriffs Association.

Not everyone in law enforcement is overly concerned about marijuana legalization. Sheriff Ray Supington in Cook County, Texas, which borders Oklahoma and includes the main Interstate I-35, said that while his deputies may end up arresting more people for bringing marijuana into Texas from Oklahoma, this is not is his top priority.

“Our problems are not marijuana, to be honest with you,” said Supington, who said that most people caught with less than 2 ounces of cannabis receive a fine and are released. “Fentanyl is so deadly and we are facing it all over the country. This is a battle. It’s not marijuana.”

However, marijuana legalization is not a start in the Texas Capitol and is poised to remain so while Republican Gov. Greg Abbott moves to a new four-year term. This has forced marijuana supporters in Texas to look elsewhere, including with ballot measures in some cities. In November, five Texas cities approved referendums to decriminalize marijuana possession. One of them was Denton, less than an hour from the Oklahoma border.

If approved, Oklahoma would become the 22nd state to legalize cannabis, and likely the most conservative after similar proposals failed in Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota last year. Under Oklahoma’s plan, anyone over the age of 21 will be able to buy and possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana, as well as marijuana concentrates and products. People could also legally grow up to 12 marijuana plants. Recreational sales will be subject to a 15% excise tax on top of the standard sales tax. The excise tax will be used to fund local municipalities, the judiciary, public schools, drug treatment, and the state’s general revenue fund.

The proposal also describes a litigation process by which people can seek the exclusion or removal of previous marijuana-related convictions.

___

Associated Press writer Paul J. Weber of Austin, Texas contributed to this report.

___

Follow Shaun Murphy on Twitter: @apseanmurphy

Content Source