Tulsa Police have specific concerns about medical marijuana, chief among them home-growing regulations.
Deputy Chief Jonathan Brooks said loosely regulated home growing is the biggest contributor to gray- and black-market marijuana.
"What it has allowed is organized crime and drug traffickers to avoid the statutory laws that they already have in place or to circumvent those. It results in the purchasing and renting of houses in neighborhoods and using those homes for grow facilities," Brooks said.
Brooks said in those tight regulations, TPD would like to see medical marijuana home-growing limited to indoors.
When it comes to commercial operations, TPD is looking for limits on who may work in them. Brooks said people with certain felonies should not be allowed in the industry, with those including violent crimes and trafficking convictions.
"In addition to that, any type of gang-related offense that there’s a felony conviction with a gang affiliation of some type," Brooks said.
TPD is also anticipating some problems when medical marijuana dispensaries start operating in the city. Brooks said other cities have seen an increase in crime around dispensaries, such as burglaries and robberies involving the business and its customers.
"What we want is a patient that has a need under doctor’s care, we want them to be able to go and get that, not become a victim of a crime," Brooks said.
TPD also favors some form of prohibition on officers holding patient cards, and Brooks said urban police departments have some different concerns than rural law enforcement agencies when it comes to medical marijuana.
