Cannabis industry continues to push for special session

New Health Solutions Oklahoma wants more than three dozen changes to Oklahoma law before its members set up medical marijuana businesses, the group’s director said Thursday.

Aside from just wanting those amendments, Bud Scott said they’re needed.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health is preparing to implement emergency rules to regulate the industry in time for the law’s effective date this month. Scott said it’s not enough.

“If we do not address these through legislation, we’re setting up the State Department of Health for program failure,” Scott said.

He said one of the biggest problems with the department’s efforts is the natural limits on what they can regulate. For example, Scott said lawmakers could write a law to allow more testing labs, which would ease the expected rush of commercial applications over the next few months.

“We believe that legislative authority must be granted to create licenses for third-party laboratories,” said Scott. “Because if we don’t then we’re going to be stuck with two potential laboratories that qualify under the State Department of Health’s proposed rules.

“This will result in incredible delays and backlogs in testing that are required under any reasonable, responsible program.”

Scott was joined at a news conference by members of New Health Solutions Oklahoma, a trade group for medical marijuana businesses. He echoed comments made earlier in the week by his organization, and gave more details about what he would like a special session to cover.

Another proposal is an inventory tracking program, known in other states as seed-to-sale. It would track marijuana from cultivation to the retail sales counter. Scott said its use would prevent black market distribution of products.

“State Question 788 is completely silent on this issue, so the Health Department does not have the authority to actually implement a seed-to-sale tracking inventory system,” he said. “This is critical.”

Both Gov. Mary Fallin and lawmakers have dismissed the idea of a special session, saying it’s not realistic to quickly make wholesale changes in law. Recent special sessions focused on budget issues dragged on for weeks.

If the Legislature were to adopt the industry’s recommendations, they would have to push implementation back 120 days. The proposals also include heightened oversight for both commercial license holders and individuals wanting to grow their own product at home for personal use.

Home operations would be inspected. Businesses would have to prove financial competency and secure a performance bond. The industry’s proposals also suggest that Oklahoma should set higher fees and penalties to help support regulatory oversight.