OKLAHOMA CITY. (KSWO) – Officials in Oklahoma are voicing their concerns after data gathered by the TEXOMA High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) shows what they call “alarming data” in regards to marijuana in the state.
The research is the first of it’s kind in the state and was requested by state legislature to delve into statistics that show percentages of marijuana users since legalization between both children and adults as well as marijuana related health issues like hospital visits and emergency calls.
Oklahoma U.S. Senator James Lankford, who was very vocal about being against medical marijuana to begin with, says elected officials in both the state and national level will have to make big choices in the near future.
“We have hard decisions to be able to make on what we’re going to do to be able to protect our kids in the days ahead,” Senator Lankford explained. “Because with the calls to poison control, with the trips to the hospital that are happening with the youngest of the young. Again we;ve seen a giant growth with children showing up 2 years old and younger, this also comes out in the report, that are going to end up with marijuana poisoning. This is a very serious issue.”
The report also shows the struggle the state has had to regulate the industry and calls for further study into the long term effects of medical marijuana.
Director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Donnie Anderson says Oklahoma is unlike any other in state in regards to marijuana.
“So understand the whole reason we want this report is to give our policy makers, our legislatures, public safety and of course our citizens a true snapshot of what’s going on in the state of Oklahoma.”
Below is the full report released by the TEXOMA HIDTA.
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