In the past decade the US has seen a vast change in societal prejudices regarding pharmacology. Ten years ago, pharmacy stocks were skyrocketing and the medical community was somewhat of a lapdog for whatever the cute pharmacy reps were telling them.
  If that wasn't enough to meet sales quotas, then weekend trips to conferences in exotic destinations usually resulting in getting physicians to begin writing scripts for the 'latest, greatest' drugs to come along.
  Old drugs were regarded with a generational snobbery which is often closely matching the same dates when patent protections expired.
  But recently we've seen several researchers bravely exploring the medical impacts of a raw and ancient herb called cannabis. 
 Three physicians have impressed me more by their temperament and curiosity than by their medical breakthroughs. I want to introduce them to  you.  Two of them have been to Oklahoma recently and I have had private conversations with them. The other has spoken with people I know and trust. Watch the videos of their clinical presentations at conferences and see if you agree?

  Over 12,000 needy patients are waiting for their medicine. The medicine their personal physician recommended for each of them.  That's because the OMMA is sliding downhill in their responsiveness to the people who pay their salaries.
  On June 1st the OMMA reported a major cleanup of the license processing software and databases. On that date they reported that 1203 licenses were still awaiting further action before a license can be issued. That's less than 1% and likely to include folks who either died, moved, or gave up on the licensing process.
  Even if we assume that as a baseline then in the past 14 weeks, the OMMA has fallen behind by over 12,000 additional applications.  This reached a serious failure over the past 2 weeks when the OMMA only issued about half the patient licenses that they normally issue, despite having a backlog that is higher than at any time in the past year of legalization.

  It's been 14 months since the Oklahoma Health Dept. first published a draft set of agency rules to govern the Medical Marijuana program, which the voters approved, despite the govt's objections. 
  The first set of rules were so grossly unconstitutional that the state Attorney General told the Board of Health to scrap the rules and start over, even before a filed lawsuit could get a court date.
  Then the Board of Health took a different tact, and decided to let the new industry destroy itself by a complete absence of product safety regulations.
  Product hit the shelves in late October. A product line that the federal govt. insists is so dangerous that people are imprisoned just for possessing a small bag of the dried plant material.
  Then it became the duty of the state legislature to enact a set of safety protocols. That started in February.  The so-called 'unity bill' (written mostly by marijuana reform advocates) formed the foundation of this omnibus permanent set of agency rules. But the legislature still deferred to the Health Dept. to write the finished product on what tests need to be  conducted independently, and monitored by the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA).

  At this time last year, State Health Dept Director, Tom Bates; testified to the legislature that his new Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority was expecting about 80,000 licenses to be sought by patients and businesses.
  In the 12 months since, his OMMA saw that number become wildly inaccurate. 240% of that number is what really transpired.
  The Board of Health (now disbanded) suggested that the population could probably be served by 50 dispensaries which should be strategically licensed around the state. There are now 3600% more than that number of granted licenses. Over 4000 commercial growers are licensed. Well over 1000 medicine processors are licensed.
  As of last month, over $50 Million in fees & taxes have been collected, nearly all of it in just the past 6 months.
 

  $20,666,145 in collected state & local Excise & Sales Taxes.(so far) That's the real impact for Oklahoma govt., because the people said, "Let those suffering people have access to their medicine!"
  But that's not even close to the full picture of what this has done for giving the state an infusion of new cash. The new business licenses to the OMMA brought in $17,960,000 already. The patient licenses also brought in roughly $12,000,000 (if we assume that one of every 3 applicants was on an approved govt. program which qualified for an 80% discount license fee).

  The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) is the branch of the state Health Dept. which is statutorily tasked with managing this new program. They received a generous budget of about $8.5 million for this current fiscal year.
  ​Sales of medicine through the end of July are now $133,329,963. Almost all of that came in the past 7 months. the State's portion of taxation on the product is 11.5%, or $15,332,745.

  So the local govts. somehow got over $5 million that the statutes did not approve. It was done through a ruling from the Oklahoma Tax Commission, that the 7% tax that we voters approved, was really intended to be an unusual category of taxation known as excise tax. 

The publisher of SoonerPolitics.org passed this note to several of us..

  A little dispensary in the small town of Spiro, OK (10 miles from Ft. Smith,AR) was busted this week after the owner was caught selling methamphetamines twice to an undercover agent.  the news is angering thousands of patients who worry that the politics of the incident will become harmful to their health, if the incident leads to federal action or state regulations getting even more difficult for them to continue treatment of their frail health.
  This is the worst case scenario for those who fear a federal crack down. The fact that the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics & Dangerous Drugs handled the matter, & not a federal raid by FBI or DEA agents; is actually a god-send to patients and the law-abiding businesses producing, processing, and retailing the medicines. 
  The OBNDD completely confiscated the entire dispensary inventory and hauled it off.  It will likely be considered and asset forfeiture because it's part of a drug crime. The OBNDD could reassign or sell it to another licensed dispensary, but the arrested dispensary owner may also fight to have it used as collateral for his bond & attorney fees in his criminal trial. This could lead to landmark rulings for the industry.

  The Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC) reports that tax collections for medical marijuana retail transactions have sharply risen again, in June. This makes the 5th consecutive month of increase of at least 33% of the month prior. These sales are subject to a 7% special tax which the OTC deemed an 'excise tax'. The OTC is also demanding that each retail sale also pay all common local and state sales tax.
  The legislature avoided correcting the loophole and double taxation during the spring session, leaving patients to struggle with about a 16% tax on all purchased cannabis medicines. This confiscatory tax rate is helping keep the illegal "black market" cartels in  business throughout Oklahoma. Many patients still patronize the black market dealers because the price is competitive.
  Total reported sales are now over 30 million per month and garnering about $5 million in taxes. Liquor taxes currently bring in about $10 million per month, and tobacco taxes are dropping well below $10 million per month. Not that tobacco consumption is flat, but many Indian tribes are selling cigarettes without the hefty state tobacco taxes.

  The disabled, sickly, & poor are now finding new access to the naturopathic medicine options, including cannabis.  Currently, more than two dozen MDs & DOs are accepting SoonerCare Patients and working with the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority(OMMA). This means that clinic visits may become as low as $3 and the Patient license may be just $20. 
  This doesn't provide marijuana itself, but it does authorize the patients to grow their own therapeutic treatments rather than get govt. subsidized drugs which the taxpayers fund.  This is especially important to pain management patients whose bodies are in constant pain and who have depended on opiates for partial relief. By switching to cannabis meds, these suffering Oklahomans are reporting greater relief and restored mobility. Many are returning to some productivity and social interaction.
  We cross-referenced the latest list of SoonerCare providers with the OMMA list of participating physicians. we found 26 unique names of physicians, which we show in the map and spreadsheet below.