Prescription pot rules may be left to Health Department
Some lawmakers are not for special session to address regulations
A special session to deal with regulating medical marijuana under the terms of State Question 788 appears a diminishing prospect as legislative leaders say they’re content to let the state Department of Health do the work.
“We’re working closely with the Department of Health,” House Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, said in a telephone interview. “If they say they need a special session, I’m OK with that. If we can do it through the Department of Health, I’m fine with that.”
Senate Majority Leader and President Pro Temdesignate Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, in a conference call with reporters, said he doesn’t know if a special session will be necessary.
Ultimately, calling a special session will be up to Gov. Mary Fallin, who Tuesday night said she would be “discussing with legislative leaders and state agencies our options going forward on how best to proceed with adding a medical and proper regulatory framework to make sure marijuana use is truly for valid medical illnesses.”
A spokesman for Fallin said Thursday her position has not changed.
As written, SQ 788 allows physicians to decide whether cannabis treatments are recommended. Opponents of the referendum criticized the lack of “qualifying conditions,” and Fallin said it essentially legalizes recreational use.
Supporters said the measure merely puts cannabis on the same legal footing as other prescription drugs. The primary organizations backing SQ 788 say they want regulation and have been working with lawmakers and the Health Department to come up with rules acceptable to everyone.
The referendum puts the Health Department in charge of administering the medical marijuana program, which is why lawmakers are inclined to let the agency write the rules and regulations.
The department has set up the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Administration to draw up rules for implementing SQ 788. A draft of those rules can be seen at omma.ok.gov. Public comment on the rules is being taken on the website through Tuesday.
Because the referendum proposed statutory rather than constitutional language, the Legislature is free to amend it at will. Legislators, though, are loath to tinker too much with voter-approved initiatives, especially in a difficult election year, and Echols and Treat said they don’t see major changes for SQ 788.
Echols, especially, sounded wary of attempts to “monkey around” with the basic thrust of SQ 788.
He said he opposes delaying implementation or making major changes such as repealing the “home grow” section or adding qualifying conditions for medicinal marijuana use.
“The question is, how do we do it and not mess with the fundamentals of the bill?” he said.
“I don’t think anyone in the Legislature or the governor’s office ... wants to go against the will of the people,” Treat said Wednesday. “Many people in our caucus and many people around the state support medical marijuana, and we have no intention and no desire to unwind the will of the people. But we want to make sure that the will of the people is done, and I think Oklahomans want to make sure it is done successfully but also safely.”
The Senate has consistently been more reluctant to deal with the issue. The House actually passed legislation in the spring that set up a regulatory framework for medical marijuana, but the Senate declined to take up the bill.
In his remarks Wednesday, Treat indicated some Senate members still want to slow-play the regulatory process out of an abundance of caution.
The referendum’s effective date is July 26 — 30 days after passage — but even proponents say setting up the licensing process will take longer, and that cannabis products, which must be grown and processed in Oklahoma, won’t be available for many months.
Given a choice, Echols said he prefers letting the Health Department develop regulations that would go into effect immediately, then put them into statute during the 2019 legislative session.
“This would be our third special session this year,” he said. “Governing by special session is not a good idea. There’s not as much transparency. The rules are different.”
Echols said the prospect of several Republican incumbents facing runoff elections in August will not affect a decision about whether to have a special session.
“The (representatives) who have called me, I’ve told, ‘Just do what the people told you to do . ... Don’t run from the issue. Tell your constituents what you’re going to do and why and do it.’”