New medical cannabis rules are now in effect in Oklahoma, including seed-to-sale tracking requirements, clarifications for gun-owning patients, and rules prohibiting physicians from making recommendations in a dispensary and preventing municipalities from barring medical cannabis businesses, according to a Tulsa World report.
The new rules, part of HB 2612, were struck over three months of meetings between industry stakeholders, advocates, and a bi-partisian and bi-cameral legislative committee. Under the reforms, cannabusinesses must obtain a certificate of compliance, use a seed-to-sale tracking system and include product information — such as potency and testing results — on all packaging. The laboratory testing requirements could lead to market disruption, according to the report, as the state has not yet opened applications for testing labs.
The bill also requires cultivators and processors to split harvests and products into 10-pound batches and test each one which head of the Oklahoma Cannabis Industry Association, Bud Scott, said could be cost-prohibitive.
“We specifically asked for firm language saying there would be a grace period, which was not included. There’s some pretty serious issues with testing that still have to be addressed.” – Scott, in an interview with Tulsa World
The measure includes language to explicitly allow medical cannabis patients to possess firearms — a provision included as federal law prohibits registered patients from using “illegal drugs.” The law also allows employers to consider a patient’s status if they work in “safety sensitive” positions such as firefighting, heavy machinery operation, or handling hazardous materials.
The bill also gives all rulemaking authority to the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority. Agency executive director Adrienne Rollins estimated it would cost about $15.6 million to oversee the program for this fiscal year; the state has collected about $45 million in taxes and fees related to medical cannabis since Aug. 2018.
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