The OMMA reports that 562 licenses were submitted for commercial growing operations, on Thursday.  This is the last hurdle before seeds could be planted for Oklahoma's inaugural crop of new cannabis medicines.  - 

 - In addition to the 562 announced grower licenses, the OMMA already has applications for 164 processors to create the refined medicine options. State law requires all cannabis medicines (except pure CBD oil) to be produced, refined, and distributed exclusively with the state of Oklahoma. 

  The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority has released their first registry of physicians who have indicated their credentials and willingness to direct the treatment of qualified patients. 
  The long and growing list now spans to all corners of the state and all population sizes. From Guymon to Hollis, to Sallisaw, and Tishomingo; licensed and willing physicians are available to consult and examine patients who are hopeful of better results and quality of life. These practitioners specialize in many areas including psychiatry, oncology, pain management, and general family practice.

  Oklahoma's Republican voters chose rookie outsiders from Tulsa to carry the party standard into the November general election. 
  Mortgage lender, Kevin Stitt will be the nominee for governor. He has never run for elective office. His south Tulsa County headquarters oversees a nationwide powerhouse in competitive home mortgage lending. Stitt is a Norman native and son of a Christian pastor.
  Matt Pinnell will be the nominee for Lieutenant Governor. He is a lifelong Tulsan and graduate of Oral Roberts University. He majored in marketing but turned to political organizing soon after college. He rose quickly in the National Republican party after demonstrating exceptional success in leading Oklahoma  to a solidly Republican supermajority.
  Pinnell joined Reince Priebus at the RNC  and helped the national party soar to victory in 2016, putting Trump in the White House and controlling both houses of congress.

   Some election nights just leave a politico completely exhausted. This runoff election was one of them. 
  Tonight we're talking about the surprises, nail-biters, and the crushing defeats.
  The Republican slate for statewide November voting is as follows:

• Governor: Kevin Stitt
• Lt. Governor: Matt Pinnell
• Atty Gen.: Mike Hunter
• Auditor: Cindy Byrd
• Corp. Commish: Bob Anthony
• Labor Commish: Leslie Osborn

​  Joining them are primary winners:

• Treasurer: Randy McDaniel​
• Insurance Commish: Glen Mulready

  In the video below, we cover and comment on many more races.

  The Oklahoma Dept. of Health reports that about 800 new business license applications were submitted over the weekend. This includes growers, processors, and dispensaries of medical marijuana.
  Interim state Health Dept. Director, Tom Bates; expects that number to increase by another 150% over the first year of implementation of Oklah0ma's medical marijuana statutes.

   To get the full perspective of marijuana commerce, it's important to comprehend the massive current black market (illegal commerce). According to the Federal govt. data, there is a black market marijuana dealer for every 2549 individuals in the USA. That means 1459 black market commercial operations have been in place in Oklahoma, and have been avoiding any tax liability and have been uncooperative with  govt. agencies, especially law enforcement. ++

  The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority(OMMA) reports brisk online application traffic to their website in the first 23 hours of operations. 729 total business groups or proprietors presented their business plans and requested operational licenses. Growers were the biggest classification of  Medical Marijuana Businesses(MMB) that were processed in to the OMMA's database for review and granting of 1 year licenses. Each MMB application costs $2500.

   The growing of cannabis(botanical name of the marijuana plant)  is the integral 1st step in eventually providing marijuana medicines to the patients whose physicians recommend this course of treatment.
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  Interim Health Dept Director, Tom Bates, foresees nearly 80,000 licensed patients in the first year of the OMMA.   About 2000 MMB licenses are expected to be submitted.

  The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA), a division of the Oklahoma Health Dept., reported nearly 1000 applications were submitted, in the first 2 hours, saturday morning.

  The OMMA's twitter feed became the top source of clarification for patients and other interested Oklahomans who still don't quite understand the latest versions of the emergency rules.

  Patrick McGuigan, a former Reagan White House staffer, published a story in CapitolBeatOk, this week.  In his well-researched paper, he follows the money and the opioide lawsuits; or more accurately, the lack thereof.
  In McGuigan's article, he shows the very active role of the dark money group, Republican Attorney Generals Association (RAGA). RAGA is also a political force through their dark money group which spends fortunes to help incumbents ward off other conservative primary challengers.
  McGuigan, who is the state's elder journalistic mentor; was once a prominent figure in newspaper publishing when the Gaylord family ran a far more conservative Daily Oklahoman. He now teaches classic journalism in secondary & post secondary educational institutions.
  Why now? Why is this lawsuit strategically timed for the re election? And why are some 'incumbent-friendly' opioide distributors exempt?
​  More importantly, why did Hunter leave off so many opioide dealers who are already named in other lawsuits in other states?

  Two-term State Auditor & Inspector, Gary Jones, has decided to no longer be silent on the Republican election to find his successor.
  Jones is term limited, having served 8 years in the post. Oklahoma's constitution was recently amended by the voters, to  prevent statewide incumbents from seeking a 3rd 4-year term.
   Two candidates are locked in a heated battle for the OKGOP nomination. The Runoff Election concludes next Tuesday, but early polling started yesterday.
  Cindy Byrd has served in a senior position on Jones' team and he has supported her campaign consistently. Charlie Prater has outspent her by a ratio of 5:1, using his own family wealth. Despite that advantage, Byrd has led in the polls throughout the campaigning.
​  Here is Jones' statement, attempting to respond to what Jones sees as scurrilous and baseless allegations.

Over the past few weeks many physician clinics throughout the state have seen an increase of contacts from their patients.
  The reason for many of the visits is the new options for care with cannabis meds. This Saturday the state will begin issuing licenses for patients whose doctors are recommending one of the many newly legalized cannabis medicines that soon available. 
  The license will be valid for 2 years and will be renewable as needed.  Most clinics are quietly recommending to their well established patients whose conditions are clearly candidate for this new option.
  But several clinics are now expanding to care for many new patients whose doctors opt not to recommend until they have studied the science more thoroughly.  Almost no medical colleges currently include significant study of the endocannabinoid system or the options to treat with Cannabis of any form.

One of my many privileges in civic activism is the opportunity to meet so many fine Oklahomans.  One of the most selfless and giving men I've met in Oklahoma politics is Darren Gantz.   Thus, his yard sign was the first to get a spot in my front lawn.
  Here's why I support this diligent and dedicated man.
  He builds the community and brings the county together. As  volunteer in his party, Darren has spent a great deal of time finding and supporting worthy candidates for office. He's poured himself into the people he supports. I point this out first because very few other candidates are anywhere to be found when the call for campaign work goes out. Candidates are more often a very self-absorbed bunch.
  Another important reason for Darren's candidacy is to bring a "clearing of the room" after many years of the current administration. Yazel's been there a long time. We used to see Yazel doing a lot for the party and social causes. 

  In the extremely long campaign for Oklahoma's 1st District Congressman, Republicans are still making choices. In fact, over 43% of the voters did NOT select either Hern of Harris. So this runoff is wide open. the past 8 weeks were full of intense research for those who take their civic duty seriously. 
  I spoke with both men from time to time over several years. I consider them both to be solidly competent. I believe Harris has spent too much of his career in criminal prosecution. I further believe that prosecutors acquire a taint view of humanity, over time. They see the very worst of people every day. Almost always we see a subtle prejudice consume them. Harris's legacy demonstrates some of this and his last 3 years in office were his worst. He went after poor people in a manner that he didn't when the citizen was wealthy.
  I have many contacts and clients who are among the wealthiest in Oklahoma. They all speak with awe, about Kevin Hern's work ethic. 
SoonerPolitics encourages & endorses the Hern candidacy for congress.

  Sorry, Boomer... You're not personally very free and your govt. is making you even less free. You're at #44 and dropping!
 The CATO Institute ranks all 50 states on several facets of freedom every year. While Oklahoma seems very favorable to economic and religious freedom,, the state clamps down severely on the more fundamental and personal manifestations of human existence. Their data is a few years behind, but we don't see the recent data as anything close to 'turning a corner'.
​  Here's how they describe it:

​  Oklahoma is a mass-incarcerating state, and federal data show the situation worsened significantly in 2013. Despite this, victimless crime arrests have been declining since about 2005. Civil asset forfeiture reform has not gone far. It is still possible to get a life sentence for a single cannabis offense not involving minors. There is a two-year mandatory minimum sentence for even small-scale cultivation. 

The inner circle at Green The Vote decided that exaggerating their signature count would motivate and excite their allies to go get even more signatures. The reality is that this deception may have been what doomed the initiative petition. 
  On Monday the Secretary of State, James Williamson, announced that SQ797 had only 102k votes that were counted by his staff. The bid for a constitutional amendment ballot question needed 123k signatures.  The other petition (SQ796) would have made Medical Marijuana a constitutionally protected health policy.
  In the outrage that followed the July 10th Board of Health's rogue decisions, Isaac Caviness & Dody Sullivan declared that more  than 70k signatures suddenly were acquired.  Within the next 3 weeks they declared that they had about 10k more signatures than were needed. But their actions suggested more panic than jubilation. When conventional wisdom said to turn in the acquired signatures and try to get certified for the November ballot, they declared their intention to take far more signatures and turn in the papers on the last hour of the last day (August 8th).

  Last night I drove through the night after a big weekend family event several states away. I had my podcast app loaded with some great political discussions & classic audio books. My mobile device read them to me in my earphone, as my family slept right through the long car ride.
   Conservative media has been under a new round of censorship in recent days. When Senator Ted Cruz confronted Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg about the silencing of "Diamond & Silk", few of us even knew that the two sweet women were gone from social media's biggest forums.
  When the silencing from liberal fascist platforms like Google, Facebook, Apple, and other intolerant bigots repeatedly occurs; they fail to provide even the decency of a notice to remove and secure their archives.  The bruts simply delete the whole thing. It's essentially a hi-tech book burning. Alex Jones said that his entire archive on Google's Youtube servers had over 4 billion views! But they are gone.