OKLAHOMA CITY — Plans to fully legalize marijuana can proceed to the signature-gathering stage, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled, paving the way for two more cannabis plans seeking voter approval.
The high court’s ruling April 19 comes amid a marijuana boom in the Sooner State after voters in 2018 approved the most liberal medical marijuana program in the U.S. Nearly 10% of Oklahoma’s four million residents have qualified for a medical-use card, by far the highest percentage in the country; the state Health Department had issued 382,599 patient licenses by April 10.
Supporters of the two separate proposals still need to gather enough signatures to put the plans on the ballot for voters. The plans approved by the Supreme Court, State Question 819 and companion State Question 818, would amend the Oklahoma Constitution to protect the right of residents age 21 and older to use marijuana. It’s part of a nationwide push to legalize the recreational use of cannabis for adults, which 18 states and the District of Columbia have already approved.
Because the two proposals seek to amend the state Constitution, supporters will have to gather more signatures, about 178,000 in 90 days, for them to qualify for the ballot.
“Whether we’ll get on the November ballot this year remains to be seen,” said Jed Green, a longtime Oklahoma cannabis activist behind the plans. “We’re going to push, push and push to get it done, and hopefully we do, but ... we’ll get our signatures.”
A separate adult-use proposal, State Question 820, already has been cleared by the high court, and because it would only amend state statute, requires approximately 95,000 signatures. Supporters of that plan can begin gathering signatures on May 3.
Supporters of both proposals say growers in Oklahoma’s booming cannabis industry have an eye toward Texas, the nation’s largest prohibition state with 29 million residents. New Mexico, which borders both Oklahoma and Texas, already legalized adult use and topped $2 million in sales during its first day of sales earlier this month.
“We’ve seen success that the tribes have had with casinos along the Texas border,” said Michelle Tilley, an organizer behind SQ 820. “There’s a national market already.”
Paul Tay of Tulsa challenged the validity of the initiative petitions that propose SQs 818 and 819.
He argued that both are pre-empted by federal law, the “gist” of both is “insufficient;” and signatures gathered on, and elections held on, tribal land would be invalid.
Supreme Court justices noted that twice already they have held that the federal Controlled Substances Act and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act do not pre-empt either proposed state constitutional amendment.
Further, the jurists wrote, “because the federal government cannot force States to criminalize recreational marijuana possession or use, it cannot prevent States from decriminalizing recreational marijuana possession or use.”
The justices wrote that the U.S. Supreme Court decision almost two years ago in the criminal case of McGirt vs. Oklahoma “does not disenfranchise Oklahoma citizens residing in ‘Indian country’ from the right to participate in state elections, which includes the right to sign an initiative petition.”
Tay also argued that SQ 819 would violate the doctrine of non-retroactivity in post-conviction proceedings; the Court agreed and struck that section of the proposal.
Vice Chief Justice John Kane IV dissented from both decisions on the grounds that state authorization of marijuana “violates federal law … specifically the Federal Controlled Substances Act.”
And Justice Dustin Rowe asserted that State Questions 818 and 819, just like SQ 788 in which Oklahoma voters approved medical marijuana in 2018, “clearly present a substantial obstacle to Congress’s objectives expressed in the Controlled Substances Act to control the production, sale, and use of controlled substances.” Rowe contended that 818 and 819 both are “pre-empted by federal law and thus fail to comply with the Oklahoma Constitution.”