About 2,000 medical marijuana licenses have been recognized by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs as potentially illegal, an agency spokesman says.
Mark Woodward of the OBNDD mentioned these licenses are suspected of both having been obtained fraudulently or are getting used to masks unlawful operations promoting most or all of their hashish on the black market.
“We’ve got close to 2,000 under investigation,” mentioned Woodward. “We’re working with our partners to identify the criminal networks involved.”
Woodward mentioned the latest murders of four people on a marijuana farm in Kingfisher County can’t be thought-about an remoted incident.
“We are aware of other homicides that haven’t gotten the attention,” he mentioned.
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Woodward mentioned he didn’t not know a precise quantity however that OBNDD has heard of such circumstances from different regulation enforcement businesses.
“What’s concerning is that we’ll never know the extent of them because nobody is missing them,” he mentioned, a reference to the truth that these working at unlawful grows, together with the four in Kingfisher County, are usually international nationals.
Woodward mentioned the homicides and a focus surrounding them have probably not opened any new investigative avenues.
“The only thing it did was it shined a light on something we’ve been saying for the last four years,” he mentioned. “It’s the same violent criminal organizations.”
Feb. 22, 2022 video. An estimated 100,000 marijuana vegetation and hundreds of kilos of bulk-processed marijuana have been seized from 9 Oklahoma farms throughout a Tuesday operation, in accordance with authorities.
Woodward mentioned about 200 grow operations have been closed by regulation enforcement. Meanwhile, the agency and its companions are attempting to hint the felony enterprises behind them to their supply.
“Something not talked about much is that the legitimate (medical marijuana) industry is bleeding to death” due to the criminal activity, Woodward mentioned.
The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority’s Dec. 7 licensing report included 7,086 growers, down from about 9,400 grow licenses reported in December 2021. A moratorium on new licenses is at the moment in impact.
Low prices and minimal regulation turned the state into a middle for marijuana exercise shortly after voters legalized medicinal use in 2018. Many regulation enforcement agency officers say many of the marijuana being produced within the state is bought illegally, even whether it is grown by licensed operators.
Criminal enterprises’ most typical dodge is utilizing Oklahoma residents as fronts to bypass state possession necessities for medical marijuana companies. Two Oklahoma law firms have been charged with helping out-of-state pursuits in establishing such operations.
10 issues which might be nonetheless unlawful beneath Oklahoma’s medical marijuana legal guidelines
Can’t get a prescription for marijuana
Marijuana is listed as a schedule 1 managed substance in federal regulation, so it can’t be prescribed, solely “recommended.”
A Ninth Circuit Court ruling ensures safety for medical doctors who concern suggestions to sufferers who might profit from cannabis-based therapies, however federal regulation precludes medical doctors from “aiding and abetting” sufferers acquiring marijuana. This means medical doctors and sufferers can not focus on dosages, strains or particular hashish merchandise for treating a selected ailment. Doctors as a substitute fill out a type indicating they’ve mentioned the dangers of marijuana use with the affected person and really feel the advantages are well worth the therapy.
Some sufferers who see physicians for pain and are treated with opioids also may not be able to do so and use medical marijuana as a licensed affected person.
Can’t use marijuana within the office or be impaired on the job
State Question 788 says solely that an employer might not discriminate towards an worker merely due to their standing as a medical marijuana affected person. This signifies that merely having a license can’t be grounds for termination or self-discipline. That employer can nonetheless, nevertheless, write and implement guidelines that prohibit using marijuana by workers similar to every other managed substance. No sufferers could be protected if they arrive to work excessive, use marijuana within the office or try to do their job whereas impaired.
Can’t transport marijuana throughout state strains
Patients who receive medical marijuana playing cards in different states might buy from dispensaries there, however the merchandise will not be introduced again to Oklahoma. Nor might a affected person journey to a state with a leisure marijuana regulation and produce any legally obtained merchandise again to Oklahoma. Those sufferers who plan to domesticate marijuana at their very own houses would additionally not be permitted to acquire seeds from one other state.
Can’t get a physician’s suggestion inside a dispensary
A change to the regulation made it unlawful to put up a doctor inside a medical marijuana dispensary, as this one did, for purchasers to enroll as sufferers contained in the retail enterprise operation.
Can’t strive the product whereas purchasing
The use of any hashish product is prohibited inside a licensed medical marijuana enterprise, so sufferers shouldn’t anticipate samples like what some CBD outlets have been capable of provide.
Can’t smoke marijuana the place tobacco additionally prohibited
The regulation makes hashish like tobacco with regards to public consumption by falling beneath the Smoking in Public Places and Indoor Workplaces Act.
Can’t give marijuana away
Nothing within the regulation permits for sufferers to switch possession of marijuana. Patients can not donate or promote marijuana, even to different sufferers. Licensed sufferers might domesticate marijuana on their very own residential property or, with written permission, on rented property. They can not grow open air until the vegetation are surrounded by a locked 6-foot fence. If the yield of the vegetation at harvest surpasses the authorized quantity that could be in a affected person’s possession, the marijuana have to be both processed or destroyed. Patients might course of their very own marijuana for concentrates or edibles however wouldn’t be permitted to carry out extractions utilizing butane.
Can’t drive whereas impaired on marijuana
Although it’s authorized for sufferers to have a specific amount of marijuana on their individual, if that affected person is behind the wheel, a regulation enforcement officer will consider whether or not the individual is in any respect impaired. Driving whereas beneath the affect stays unlawful even for medical marijuana sufferers.
Can’t possess an extreme quantity of marijuana
A affected person stays throughout the authorized pointers in the event that they possess not more than 3 ounces of marijuana on their individual and eight ounces at their residence, 1 ounce of concentrated marijuana, and 72 ounces of edible marijuana. If caught exceeding these limitations, a affected person would lose their license and will face felony prices together with intent to distribute or trafficking.
Can’t smoke the place you are advised to not
Renters haven’t any authorized proper to smoke medical marijuana, even with a affected person card, if the owner/proprietor points guidelines for residents that prohibit smoking.
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