OKLAHOMA CITY — An initiative petition proposing a state question to legalize adult recreational marijuana use was filed with the Secretary of State earlier this month.
Initiative Petition #434, proposing the Adult Use Marijuana Regulation Act, was filed on Jan. 4 by Melani Wilson Rughani on behalf of proponents Michelle Tilley Nichols of Edmond and Michelle Anne Jones of Broken Arrow. Ms. Rughani is an attorney with the Crowe & Dunlevy law firm in Oklahoma City.
Protests can be filed within 10 business days after publication of notice of the petition. The legal notice appeared in The Oklahoman, the Tulsa World and the OKC Journal Record on Jan. 7. Any challenges will be referred to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
If the petition survives any challenge(s) and passes judicial muster, promoters will have 90 days to circulate the petition to secure enough signatures to get the petition on a statewide ballot. According to Ms. Rughani, the petition would require signatures of 94,911 registered voters, equivalent to 8% of the total votes cast for Governor in the 2018 general election.
The gist of the proposition is that State Question 820 would “generally legalize, regulate and tax adult-use marijuana” but would not affect the state’s medical marijuana program. If SQ 820 were adopted, anyone 21 or older could buy marijuana products in Oklahoma.
State voters authorized medical marijuana when they approved State Question 788, by a margin of 56.86% to 43.14%, in a statewide election three and a half years ago, on June 26, 2018.
SQ 788 legalized medical marijuana by amending state statutes, not the Oklahoma Constitution. SQ 820 also proposes to amend the statutes but not the Constitution.
Under the proposed new law, an adult 21 or older could possess, purchase, use, ingest, inhale, process, transport, deliver or distribute one ounce or less of marijuana, or eight grams or less of marijuana in a concentrated form.
An adult would be allowed to possess, plant, cultivate, harvest, dry, process or manufacture up to six mature marijuana plants and six seedlings, and possess the marijuana produced by them. No more than 12 plants and a dozen seedings could be kept in or on the grounds of a private residence at one time.
Disbursement of MJ tax proceeds
An excise tax of 15% would be collected on the gross receipts of all sales of marijuana sold by an adult-use marijuana dispensary to its customers. A 7% excise tax is collected on sales of medical marijuana products to licensed patients and caregivers.
Tax receipts from the 15% levy would be deposited in the Oklahoma Marijuana Revenue Trust Fund.
Those proceeds would first pay for any “reasonably necessary” costs incurred by the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority to implement the new law. Any revenues exceeding that amount would be disbursed in the following manner:
10% would be allocated to municipalities (or counties, for unincorporated areas) where the retail sales occurred;
10% would be sent to the State Judicial Revolving Fund;
30% would be deposited in the state’s General Revenue Fund, for appropriation by the Legislature;
30% would be earmarked for grants awarded by the State Department of Education to public schools “to develop and support programs designed to prevent and reduce substance abuse and improve student retention and performance,” by supporting students who are at risk of dropping out of school, promoting alternatives to suspension or expulsion that focus on student retention, remediation, and professional care, and providing after-school support and enrichment programs for students in kindergarten through 12th grade that include art, music, athletic, and academics.
20% would be used by the state Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services to provide grants to agencies and non-profit organizations to increase access to evidence-based low-barrier drug addiction treatment.
Low-level MJ cases would be vacated
The new law would allow current and previous low-level marijuana convictions to be “dismissed, expunged, and vacated as legally invalid or redesignated as a civil infraction…”
An individual on parole, probation or other state supervision, or released and awaiting trial or other hearing, could not have that status revoked or be punished or otherwise penalized “based solely on conduct that is addressed and permitted” by the proposed statute.
The new statute would not affect laws that prohibit:
operating or being in physical control of any motor vehicle, train, aircraft, motorboat, or other motorized form of transportation while under the influence of marijuana;
possessing or consuming marijuana on the grounds of a public or private preschool, elementary school or high school, in a school bus, or on the grounds of a correctional institution;
undertaking any task while under the influence of marijuana if doing so would constitute negligence or professional malpractice.
A county or municipal government could regulate the time, place and manner of operation of adult-use marijuana business licensees, “so long as those regulations are not unduly burdensome.” However, a city or county could not limit the number, or completely prohibit the establishment or operation of, adult-use marijuana business licensees within its corporate boundaries.