| The black market Marijuana industry in Oklahoma may be one of the strongest special interests who are desperate and fearful that a medical marijuana reform may prevail, next week. This same phenomena was very obvious in the wake of the 1959 overturning of Oklahoma's long liquor prohibition. Even though State Question 788 only allows for a narrow window of medically supervised treatment with Cannabis medicines, it will still cut into the black market monopoly that drug cartels currently maintain. When people with chronic or even terminal illnesses find their best treatments to include Cannabis, they do not care that they may face a jail sentence. Their tortured physical and/or mental condition is a far worse prison than the incarcerations of the state. We saw the same situation in Colorado, about 5 years ago. The black market drug merchants who currently control turf throughout Oklahoma. Those of you who are teetotalers like me, may need a bit of assistance, but some of my contacts assured me that there's always a 'pot dealer' within walking distance in any city in Oklahoma. One may be on your block? |  Will we take another step forward in squeezing out the black market cartels? The proponents of SQ788 say that it will. |
Some of those currently 'black marketing' Marijuana in Oklahoma may quite well have been from a cartel who was run out of Colorado.
It was prohibition which created the mob. Al Capone would have been a two-bit thug if he didn't control black market liquor in Chicago.
It was prohibition which created the mob. Al Capone would have been a two-bit thug if he didn't control black market liquor in Chicago.
A Story of Mental Health ecovery
At a recent civic meeting devoted to the issue of Cannabis medicines, I had a chance meeting with a businessman from an eastern Oklahoma community. When he realized that I was a devoted advocate for mental health policy, he drew me aside for a confidential discussion of his successful use of a specialized strain of Cannabis to treat his diagnosed Schizophrenia. I was very skeptical.
'Jack' told me of the past interventions, psychiatric hospitalizations, long-term care and treatment from a respected psychiatrist. All of this occured before he ever dabbled in any form of illegal medicines. He said that his psychiatrist was only able to effectively treat the worst features on his more acute manifestations. But after much personal study, he told his psychiatrist that he was about to begin a Cannabis treatment that was successful for a growing list of others with his chronic condition. He refused to tell his medical team anything about his supply chain, but he did continue regular check-ups because he still relied upon his doctor to provide objective observation and feedback.
Well, after years of stable and unprecedented recovery, his doctor told him that it seems a waste of time and money for these checkups to continue. For the next decade 'Jack' successfully owned & operated a business in the entertainment industry.
I peppered 'Jack' with many questions of a psychiatric nature, to see if I could catch him in an inconsistency. the result was quite the opposite. 'Jack' began telling me about the very unique strain of Cannabis medicines that are required to treat his symptoms. He said that 95% of the Marijuana on the street will not do a thing for his psychiatric conditions.
This is only anecdotal. The federal govt. will not allow any clinical drug trials using anything with any significant traces of the many strains of THC (the psychotropic agents in Cannabis).
Jack would have been just another of the thousands in Oklahoma who are perpetually collecting disability checks and medicaid healthcare. Instead he has paid tens of thousands in taxes to the state, and only because he takes a drug that the pharmaceutical industry doesn't have the exclusive rights to control & market.
'Jack' told me of the past interventions, psychiatric hospitalizations, long-term care and treatment from a respected psychiatrist. All of this occured before he ever dabbled in any form of illegal medicines. He said that his psychiatrist was only able to effectively treat the worst features on his more acute manifestations. But after much personal study, he told his psychiatrist that he was about to begin a Cannabis treatment that was successful for a growing list of others with his chronic condition. He refused to tell his medical team anything about his supply chain, but he did continue regular check-ups because he still relied upon his doctor to provide objective observation and feedback.
Well, after years of stable and unprecedented recovery, his doctor told him that it seems a waste of time and money for these checkups to continue. For the next decade 'Jack' successfully owned & operated a business in the entertainment industry.
I peppered 'Jack' with many questions of a psychiatric nature, to see if I could catch him in an inconsistency. the result was quite the opposite. 'Jack' began telling me about the very unique strain of Cannabis medicines that are required to treat his symptoms. He said that 95% of the Marijuana on the street will not do a thing for his psychiatric conditions.
This is only anecdotal. The federal govt. will not allow any clinical drug trials using anything with any significant traces of the many strains of THC (the psychotropic agents in Cannabis).
Jack would have been just another of the thousands in Oklahoma who are perpetually collecting disability checks and medicaid healthcare. Instead he has paid tens of thousands in taxes to the state, and only because he takes a drug that the pharmaceutical industry doesn't have the exclusive rights to control & market.
