A group hoping to legalize recreational marijuana in Oklahoma said the state’s claims that there has been an overproduction of cannabis have been exaggerated.
Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action didn’t deny that there is illegal grow operations tied to criminal activity in Oklahoma, but the group said a report filed by the Texoma High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area was inflated.
“The numbers are absolutely all wrong,” Jed Green, who is with Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action, said.
He said the report was commissioned by the state to identify the impacts of marijuana on Oklahoma, and it needs a second look.
“Patently false. At the end of the day, what Sen. (James) Lankford is doing… is to bear false witness against his neighbors,” Green said.
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The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics addressed claims of oversupply at a news conference last week, saying the state produces 32 times the amount of marijuana that is needed in the state.
“The numbers that are being used in this study are based off of a plant that is freshly cut down and wet. Once a plant is dried, it loses up to 75% of its weight,” Green said.
Green said the actual number is much lower, because the study didn’t take into account the stalks, stems and fan leaves composted or sent to waste, nor is it considering what is actually being used for concentrate.
“This is simple misdirection and blaming their failure on our industry,” Green said.
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The OBN news conference also addressed an uptick in violent crime from 2019 to 2023. The agency said these crimes directly correlated to the criminal organizations related to marijuana in Oklahoma.
“It was the pandemic,” Green said. “Everyone is starved up at home in quarantine together. You’re going to have a lot higher incidence of anything from domestic violence, property crimes to, you know, pediatric overdoses because they’re locked up in the house.”
The OBN also said teenagers have recently died in crashes with marijuana in their system.
“What they don’t say is that when they do this sort of testing in a fatality, that does not indicate if the person was impaired at the time. They’re testing for THC metabolites, which remain in your system for up to three weeks after consumption,” Green said.
>> Download the KOCO 5 App ]] A group hoping to legalize recreational marijuana in Oklahoma said the state’s claims that there has been an overproduction of cannabis have been exaggerated. Read More
