With regulations currently up in the air, proponents of medical marijuana are forming a group focused on patient rights.
The Oklahoma Cannabis League will be made up of 11 members who are medical marijuana card holders, caretakers and advocates but not with a stake in a medical marijuana business.
Oklahomans for Health’s Ray Jennings said that sets them apart from New Health Solutions Oklahoma, the trade group wanting state officials to adopt rules it drafted.
"New Health Solutions does not represent all pro groups, OK? So, let’s [not] make that distinction," Jennings said. "New Health Solutions represents New Health Solutions. So, there’s a difference."
The Oklahoma Cannabis League says those proposed regulations are unfair to individuals in many ways, including the home grow limit of six mature plants and six seedlings. Organizer Shawn Jenkins said most patients who will try growing their own marijuana aren’t horticulturists.
"So, what if they got seeds that they didn’t understand and one of the plants flowered before the other one? And so you had a situation of instead of six and six, you have seven and five. So, are we going to slap a $5,000 fine on an individual for that?" Jenkins said.
The fine for dispensaries making unlawful sales is also $5,000.
A medical marijuana working group meets for the first time Wednesday afternoon. That meeting comes after a tumultuous period in which the State Board of Health narrowly amended rules proposed by the Oklahoma State Department of Health to ban smokable marijuana and require pharmacists in dispensaries, attracting two lawsuits from medical marijuana groups.
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said he was not consulted about the rules before they were signed by Gov. Mary Fallin. Once Interim Health Commissioner Tom Bates contacted Hunter for advice, Hunter advised him to follow guidelines voters approved in State Question 788, which legalized medical marijuana.
Jenkins said many involved in the rulemaking process, including lawmakers on the new working group, don’t have the right experience to write regulations affecting thousands of Oklahomans who may benefit from medical marijuana, such as his two children.
"They just don’t know what it’s like to hold a child that shakes uncontrollably and has a struggling time to get air," Jenkins said. "And I think that if they did understand that — if they knew what it was like to have stage 4 cancer, if they knew what it was like to bleed for their country and have scars on the inside that no one else will ever see — if they knew what that was like, maybe we’d get something done in a quick amount of time and we’d have faith in the process."
Jenkins said he's heard estimates the working group will take up to six weeks to finish its task.
Besides advocating for patients to state officials, the Oklahoma Cannabis League aims to establish a membership system for patients, growers and dispensaries, as well as a sponsorship program for businesses that give back to the community.
