OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Medical marijuana is one in every of Oklahoma’s quickest rising industries. Proof of that was CannaCon coming to the Oklahoma Metropolis Conference Middle on Thursday and Friday. After a presentation by the state, many in attendance left unhappy due to unanswered questions on new state regulation.
Many Oklahoma medical marijuana growers have points with how the Oklahoma State Division of Well being and the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority are implementing its seed to sale monitoring program. They’ve employed Florida-based firm Metrc to do the monitoring.
A few month in the past, a category motion lawsuit put the implementation on maintain.
Viridian Authorized Providers’ Ronald Durbin, the lawyer for the case, is representing roughly 10,000 licensed hashish companies throughout Oklahoma. He says the implementation of Metrc would create a monopoly and that the corporate would earn over $12 million within the first yr alone.
Durbin continued airing his points by saying many companies already do their very own seed-to-sale monitoring and this new plan will probably be expensive. He additionally mentioned public enter was by no means looked for the choice.
“We’re not in opposition to Metrc,” he defined. “This has nothing to do with any animosity in direction of Metrc or any seed to sale monitoring firm. What this has to do with is the style by which the state and the OMMA adopted this system and tried to implement it. What they’ve performed is that they’ve adopted a program that primarily passes all the prices of this system on to the companies with none enter from the companies, any steerage to the companies. It’s giving any individual a take a look at with out educating them what’s going to be on the take a look at. It’s an issue.”
On the convention Friday, OMMA gave a presentation on new compliance efforts and the implementation of the brand new seed to sale monitoring program. Deputy Director of Compliance and Enforcement Taylor Hartin wouldn’t focus on the category motion lawsuit, to the frustration of these in attendance.
“I can’t reply questions on Metrc right now as a result of there’s pending litigation,” she mentioned from the stage.
Hartin defined to KFOR that regulation is required to offer sufferers entry to protected and constantly made product.
“Folks produce merchandise that really damage individuals and make them sick as a substitute of serving to them,” she mentioned. “I don’t need individuals smoking pesticides. That ought to by no means occur if you happen to’re a affected person in search of medical marijuana for remedy. So. regulation is without doubt one of the elements that makes that occur. I would like individuals to have the ability to discover if medical marijuana is correct for them by entry to constant merchandise and dependable guidelines that these product distributors must comply with to make sure that they keep constant.”
Marijuana grower Jon Wahl of Independence Farms in Ardmore, Okla., agrees along with her pondering.
“If Metrc’s not carried out and we don’t get some correct seed to sale monitoring all the way in which from the start to the top, then there are not any checks and balances,” he mentioned. “There’s definitely marijuana bought on the black market. I imagine that has to finish. To ensure that that to finish now we have to have some form of verifiable metric monitoring or seed to sale monitoring.”
OMMA plans to rent one other 60 to 70 medical marijuana inspectors by the top of the yr, on prime of the roughly 20 to 25 they have already got.
Durbin mentioned a listening to for the case is ready for June 29.
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