Medical marijuana one step closer to Oklahoma ballot

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has tossed former Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s rewrite of the title on a ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana.

Voters in Oklahoma now could get the chance to vote on State Question 788. The measure most likely would appear on the November 2018 gubernatorial ballot, but a special election also could be held. Gov. Mary Fallin will have to set an election date.

The group Oklahomans For Health, which led a successful petition drive to put a state question on medical marijuana on an upcoming ballot, sued over Pruitt’s rewrite in September 2016, with help of the American Civil Liberties Union. The group claimed Pruitt’s rewrite was aimed at misleading voters into thinking they were voting in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana, said Ryan Kiesel, executive director for the ACLU of Oklahoma.

“Whether it’s the folks that signed this initiative petition or all of the voters who will ultimately have the chance to weigh in on whether or not Oklahoma will have medical marijuana, they should be able to do that without the attorney general injecting his personal political position into the ballot campaign by misrepresenting what the petitioners seek to accomplish,” Kiesel said.

In a conference ruling handed down Monday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ordered that Pruitt’s ballot title be stricken and the original language of the measure restored. The court gave no reasoning behind its decision in the one-page order.

Supreme Court Justice James Winchester cast the lone dissenting vote against restoring the original ballot title. Newly appointed Justice Patrick Wyrick recused himself from the matter.

Pruitt became thea dministrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in February.

Mike Hunter, who succeeded Pruitt as Oklahoma Attorney General, said he disagreed with the Supreme Court’s decision.

“The Office of the Attorney General discharged its responsibilities in rewriting the ballot title for State Question 788,” Hunter said in a statement. “The ballot title was reviewed by the Oklahoma Supreme Court and the Court opted to substitute the original ballot title language. We disagree with that result, but respect the decision of the state’s highest court.”

William Jones, an organizer for Oklahomans for Health, said the group had been planning a rally at the Oklahoma Capitol on April 20 to protest what they viewed as an effort at stalling by the attorney general’s office to keep the measure off the ballot. The group now is considering holding a victory rally instead.

“The people of Oklahoma deserve to know exactly what they are voting on and our former attorney general’s rewrite was misleading,” he said. “I’m very happy that people are going to know what they are voting on now.”