The Oklahoma Board of Health passed a new set of additional emergency rules, on Tuesday. This, in spite of A.G. Mike Hunter's advisory that they have exceeded and continue to exceed the authority of an agency to create temporary emergency rules, which have the force of statutory law, even though they are not democratically created by the legislature & governor.

  The Food Safety Board (a statutory oversight board specifically created by the text of SQ788) presented their proposed emergency rules to address the  standards that products must comply with.  

Media reports published that "Hunter said he believed many of the working group’s recommendations still 'appear to exceed the bounds' of the health board’s power because they don’t have a direct relationship to existing food safety or preparation standards."

  Yet many trusted leaders in the medical cannabis industry are seeing this added set of emergency rules as quite reasonable & workable. While the process of getting these rules may not be optimal, the outcome may be better for everyone, and instill a confidence for consumers to trust the medicine.

  The Oklahoma Department of Health met Tuesday to consider the work of the new Food Safety board of the OMMA. These proposed temporary 'emergency' rules were adopted by the board & will now need the approval of Gov. Mary Fallin in order to go into effect.
 Leaders in the Cannabis medicine industry are applauding the effort to bring sensible clarity.  Chip Paul of GnuPharma is the chief author of SQ788. He said; "

"Some processors have started making edibles, but they've been operating on “shaky ground” because the rules weren't finalized." He said he thinks the rules are in line with other foods and products such as dietary supplements.
“I think that's very responsible,” he said.

Among the labeling rules are;

• THC content per unit
• Ingredients
• What testing the product has undergone
• The Poison Control phone number (in case of accidental or excessive ingestion)

  Dispensaries are reporting increased interest as the state continues to pressure physicians to end the use of opiate painkillers.
  Severe arthritis sufferers and others with nerve & joint ailments are finding relief, particularly with the Cannabis oils, especially the newly legalized oils with THC as well as CBD components.
  Tulsa radio personality, Pat Campbell told his listeners that his own mother now finds a restful night's sleep because Cannabis oils worked where opiates quite being effective.
  Bixby businessman, Ray Jennings told a special meeting of legislators that He was dying with stage 4 cancer and the chemotherapy had so ravaged his ability to keep food down, until his family convinced him to use cannabis to treat the severe nausea of chemo therapy. He recovered and now serves on the product safety board of the OMMA,
  Navy veteran, Cody Barlow of Wagoner, reports that his PTSD was so severe that he could not work. the VA had him so full of tranquilizers that he was in a near catatonic state, but his family sent him to Colorado for a medical trial. the Cannabis meds restored his mental capabilities and he resumed full time work.

  There are now 743 licensed medical marijuana dispensaries cleared to begin serving licensed patients with a wide array of cannabis medicines. Those dispensaries are licensed in 130 Oklahoma municipalities and more licenses are expected to be sought and approved.
  Oklahoma City and the county it occupies, has 264  local medical facilities for medical marijuana dispensing.  Tulsa & the county it occupies has 129 similar medical marijuana facilities for patients to acquire cannabis medicines.
  Certainly not all of these licensed facilities are open yet. But the investors still paid a $2500 license so as to keep their options open. 
  There are over 1100 licensed cannabis growers on file at the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA). Close to 20,000 patients have secured their physician's directive and been fully licensed to seek medical relief from the newly legalized cannabis plant derivatives.  
  SoonerPolitics has compiled an exhaustive list of all the businesses licensed to deliver medical relief to the growing list of patients.

 This interactive map is designed to help the public find the dispensaries best able to serve licensed patients.

  SoonerPolitics.org is launching a weekend feature for our readers.  Sure, we're amateurs and this is not a high-budget-over-produced entrance into the realm of television. 
  But it is an effort to bring a multi media resource to those who want to be more informed on our state.
  We'll be looking at a lot of format options, but we held our first live broadcast on Youtube. We'll be sharing it on several social media outlets and on other platforms.
  Tonight's broadcast was focusing on;

  Cannabis growers all over the state are reporting the first harvests of licensed & legal medicines this week. Many are cutting & curing this weekend.  The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority(OMMA) reports the full licensing of 743 retail dispensaries. Oklahoma City has over 180. Tulsa has about 120. and even some tiny 'single intersection' towns now have their own dispensaries. 
The Sales tax collections will be enormous as this formerly black market demand gets proper regulation, oversight, and protection of law.
Some noteworthy names are getting in on the new industry. Entities connected to the Dr. Zoellner Eyecare  locations in Tulsa are now properly licensed. So is the Parkhill's liquor empire. One group (SGOK3) has 9 separate locations licensed.
Friendly Market (which beat a rap for selling artistic pipes) is also licensed in the Norman area. Car Finders in OKC are evidently becoming cannabis suppliers.
  Sooner Politics is publishing an interactive spreadsheet of the announced dispensaries. But this does not mean that the license holders are yet open for regular business. Some opened in November, but many more opened December 1st. 
  You can scroll to your own city's listings and then find the locations closest to your zip code.

  Some very loud, but small groups of social justice warriors are continuing their 'book burning' efforts. But now they're taking on the recording industry and music that our grandparents loved to listen to.
​  A wintry-themed song of chivalry and romance is now being condemned as sexual harassment and promotion of the rape culture. Mind you, they've spared the hip hop genre and the gangsta rap recordings which overtly demean with language that polite chooses not to quote*.
  Western culture is facing the nutty extremes of a snowflake mentality where 10% of our people claim to be perpetual victims of something, and a very loud 30% are intent on speaking for those often made up victims, but really are motivated by political and cultural destruction.
  Let's look at the lyrics which Dean Martin first recorded in 1944.
 It was written specifically as a female - male duet. The setting is the home of the male. The weather is a major concern with snow.  The man offers hospitality. the woman is concerned for her reputation more than anything. The woman came to the man's home and says she had a great visit.
  Yes, this man is enamored by this woman. They are already in a romantic relationship. She loves his attention. So how is this song in any way a promotion of rape or exploitation?  A stronger case can be made that this is a demeaning stereotype, suggesting that men cannot be trusted at all. 

   In the heart of South Tulsa County's truck farming district,  a vegetable producer is bringing his same technology skills to the effort of providing safe & healthy medicines for patients whose physicians are turning to cannabis for better health.
  Ben Neal is an unlikely farmer. He grew up in a well connected Tulsa family and attended a prestigious prep school. This is not the career path he originally planned. But his administrative career path left him frustrated and in need of change. He decided to grow vegetables and sell them. But he is anything but, a dirt farmer.
  Neal built Sage Farm on the concept of hydroponics and markets his produce to wholesalers, restaurants, and residential consumers. He coordinated a collaborative effort with other producers so that he could offer a wider range of produce and other locally grown foods. This became www.LocalFarmOK.com.
  Sage Farm is now taking much of these same technologies to cannabis medicine cultivation.  LocalFarmOK is still very active in vegetables and other produce, but Neal's operation is getting ready to harvest his initial cannabis crop.  And that's an even bigger development.

  There is a French uprising going on. It's not a leftist bunch of discontents. Nor is it a reactionary cultural opposition to social change. It even bigger and broader than that.
  President Emmanuel Macron has failed miserably and exposed his lack of insight about all of france. His newest agenda effort was pitched as a way to save the planet, but it would effective destroy rural France's ability to remain fiscally solvent. Macron abandoned the effort to massively increase motor fuel costs. The taxes on these fuels make up more than 50% of the retail price of a liter.  Macron argues that mass transit is what he is trying to force on the people. But tell that to those living on farms and in small villages? Macron revealed that he was willing to abandon them. He now appears to be just another metrosexual urbanite media darling.

Why the Yellow Vests?
French society has long been lacking a strong voice for individual freedom. The 'nanny-state' decides what's good for you and they use the tax code & legal code to accomplish just that.  It is illegal to drive a vehicle on French public roads unless you have yellow vests in the auto for each passenger. Hence, those who own or lease vehicles are all expected to have them. But urban people who use mass transit do not.

  For the first time this season, the OU Sooner football team cracked the top 4, in the college polling. But it was the only weekend poll that counted. This is the poll that decided which 4 teams go into a nationwide division- football playoff.
  Oklahoma will play #1 & undefeated Alabama. The game will be played at the Orange Bowl, in Miami Florida, on New Year's Day. Clemson will host Notre Dame in the other match, in Dallas, on that same day. the two victors of that day will play a week later in a national championship game.
  OU is the only team in that tournament with a loss.  The AAC Champion, Central Florida; is undefeated in the past 2 years (26-0), but was rejected by the NCAA committee, because their schedule is too weak to be compared to that of the "power-5" conferences.  Notre Dame is the only team not in a conference, but their schedule has a much higher "degree of difficulty" and was preferred by the NCAA establishment.
  The Alabama-Oklahoma game will feature the two close favorites in the Heisman hunt. Tua 'T-word' and Kyler Murray are speculated to be in a class of their own, in the Heisman voting.
That award will be announced this Saturday night, in New York City.
  Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama left the SEC Championship game with his team trailing Georgia.  His backup, Jalen Hurts was the shining star of that game. OU, however; has just one blue chip QB.
  

  According to OSSAA's recent statistics, Broken Arrow High School's 5038 average attendance makes it about the  largest high school in the nation. They could create 3 separate high schools and  have 3 times the athletic opportunities for their kids; But maybe with less chance of getting a shiny gold ball for their trophy case.
  Their school board appears to have the wrong priorities. Just 2 years ago, they announced the long-awaited plan to convert two additional existing campus facilities into free-standing high schools. But those plans are in an indefinite stall. 
  Perhaps that elusive gold ball they acquired last Friday will give them pause to reassess who their real trophies are.

Read the Championship sports coverage in the Tulsa World.

  The national weather service and the Severe Storms forecast center; along with the major Oklahoma media outlets; all predicted this event with precision about 48 hours in advance.
  The unusual gulf moisture surge of Thursday & Friday, were pushed off by the gulf stream of the southern plains. That's a scenario we usually see in the spring tornado season.
  It was state championship night  in eastern Oklahoma. The big schools were playing in the Tulsa area (TU stadium, Sapulpa, & Bixby) But they all stopped play and cleared the stadiums as the gust front & lightning assaulted the bleachers and field of play.
   But further to the southeast,  McAlester saw the first formations of a 'super cell' which feeds on itself  and creates the largest twisters.
​   Most Okies never really saw the monster bearing down on them. It was generally a 'rain-wrapped' occurrence in the dark of night.
  Fortunately, the rural hospitals and clinics had very few trauma patients associated with the massive storms.