Petitions filed to legalize marijuana in Oklahoma

KINGSTON, Okla. (KXII) - There’s a chance Oklahoma voters could see recreational marijuana on the ballot next year.

Last week an Oklahoma organization filed petitions to both legalize recreational marijuana and to update medical marijuana laws in the state.

“I tried to look for things in this bill and I’m behind every bit of it,” said Jason Thomas, CEO of Monkey Herb Company.

Thomas is a long time advocate and entrepreneur in the medical marijuana industry.

“Recreational kind of sounds different to the Bible Belt at times, but with this it addresses so many problems and issues at the same time,” said Thomas.

State Question 817 would legalize recreational marijuana in Oklahoma. 818, to update medical marijuana laws and streamline its industry.

“Recreational marijuana at 15 percent will be taxed. It’ll abolish the 7 percent that’s currently on medical marijuana patients now,” said Thomas.

Thomas said 40% of those funds would be earmarked to provide updated water infrastructure, mental health services and veterans services, mental health crisis training for law enforcement and minor marijuana conviction expungements. The other 60% would go to education.

“The only reason we run into issues is because it’s illegal forthright in and of itself to begin with. If there was more free trade and more ability for the consumers to safely go somewhere then that clears up a lot of problem,” said Thomas.

The authors of the state questions, Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action, said they expect to start collecting signatures around Thanksgiving.

“The first thing that we need to do is start to recruit registered voters that can put a valid signature behind these petitions,” said Thomas.

One step closer to being on the November 2022 ballot.

“This is exactly what the country needs. It’s going to spur our economy. It’s no different than the gold rush, this is the green rush. It’s nothing but good things for Oklahoma,” said Thomas.

If cleared by the Secretary of State, Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action would have 90 days to gather 178,000 valid signatures for each petition.

Read the petitions and learn more about Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action here.