A bill under consideration at the Oklahoma Legislature would legalize medical marijuana for patients with some conditions, including cancer and HIV.
Rep. Eric Proctor, D-Tulsa, said he decided to introduce the bill this session after several constituents from his district had to leave the state to obtain marijuana for medical conditions.
Proctor’s House Bill 1877 also proposes medical marijuana should be made available to patients with glaucoma, hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Tourette’s syndrome, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, post-traumatic stress disorder, severe arthritis, fibromyalgia and Alzheimer’s disease.
The bill is modeled after a statewide ballot measure on medical marijuana for qualifying medical conditions that voters in Arkansas passed in 2016, Proctor said.
"Arkansas is a state that is very similar to Oklahoma and this will give us the opportunity to see what works there and also see what doesn’t work," he said.
The bill would create new revenue for Oklahoma, generated by licensing and sales, but it’s still up for negotiation where most of the new revenue would go, Proctor said. The money could be funneled to a variety of state health and education programs, he said.
The bill would give Oklahomans access to medical marijuana a year or two sooner than a pending state question on the issue, Proctor said.
"If we can offer help in a shorter amount of time, then I think we should," he said.
The group Oklahomans for Health is pursuing a statewide ballot measure that would allow Oklahomans to have access to medical marijuana with a doctor’s prescription. Unlike Proctor’s bill, State Question 788 includes no qualifying conditions, allowing a doctor to prescribe marijuana for any ailment.
State Question 788 would funnel about 75 percent of new revenue from medical marijuana sales to an education fund and the remainder would go to rehabilitation programs in the state.
Oklahoman for Health does not support Proctor’s bill because it would limit medical marijuana use to patients with a handful of ailments, said William Jones, one of the leaders of the group.
"We want to ensure Oklahomans get access to the medical marijuana that they need," Jones said.
The ballot measure could go to a vote of the people in 2018 if it survives a review by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Oklahomans for Health, which backed a petition drive to get the measure on the ballot, is suing Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt over his rewrite of the ballot title.
In December, the Oklahoma Supreme Court asked both parties to tell the court whether SQ 788 is "void on its face in relation to federal law."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: Medical Marijuana Bill Proposed At Oklahoma Legislature
Author: Brianna Bailey
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Website: News OK
