Meet Scott Biggs, the former state representative who rose to chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee, and then thwarted the will of the vast majority of legislators and the governor's office, when he refused to allow any criminal justice reform bills, thus keeping thousands more citizens going to state prisons rather than diversions into drug rehab, psychiatric intervention, and alternative sentencing.
  His obstructions went on for years, forcing citizens to take up several initiative petitions, and spending thousands of private funds to institute these laws without the legislature's obstructions. SQ 780, 781, & 788 all became law by going around Rep. Scott Biggs.
  Now Biggs is in charge of state agricultural services and overseeing several millions in federal dollars for farm programs.
  In this latest capacity he is being sued by a large group of farmers for illegal threats and other intimidations, while lying to the farmers about the availability of participating in the new industrial Hemp farming projects.  The Oklahoman delves further into the story.
  Hemp is valued for over-the-counter homeopathic medicines. the fiber is used in textiles.  ​Oklahoma can now open a legal agricultural production which has been very lucrative in a few other states.

  As is their weekly habit, the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority posted the summary numbers from the previous week's paperwork. This week showed a continuity of what we've known since the beginning of February.  Each week we add more than 5000 new licensed patients to our state rolls. Last August the top leadership of the new agency told our legislators that we would likely have about 80,000 total business and patient licenses by the next August.  Well, that number was wildly lower than the reality we see at this point. They based their numbers off of Arizona and perhaps other states whom the regarded as similar in statute to our SQ788.

  But Oklahomans have a passion for living free and independently. As the research data and anecdotal realities continue to come in, we see 4 major groups of patients with very serious or chronic conditions are now turning to Cannabis as the safest and/or most effective means of alleviating their suffering and restoring their quality of life. 
  Navy Veteran, Cody Barlow, have a very simple and powerful testimony to the legislature. Listen to his success story, here.

  Well,  it seems the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana reforms are here to stay. We're on course to more than double the projections of the Oklahoma Dept of Health in the number of licensees for the first year.  Tax collections are now already over $1 million per month, according to Oklahoma Tax Commission reports.
   Despite the prudish rejection of the 'big pharma' sycophants in the medical society and the bigoted disparagements of the prosecution industry; most every neighborhood in the state now has legal medical patients getting improved health and a more tolerable lifestyle, with safe use of cannabis medicines.
  The 57th Oklahoma legislature has to be watching this development with some sense of astonishment. While the state's tax collections are booming, the sociological doomsday predictions are AWOL. 
  We see more bitterness among the entrenched medical society than celebration for the patients who finally got off opiates and found a safer & more effective pain relief.
  We see more pharmacological skepticism about chemotherapy success with the anti-nausea treatment of cannabis, than hope for survival. 
  We see more fear from the prosecutors than relief, that PTSD sufferers have found calmness from their panic attacks and flashbacks.

 On August 8th of 2018, the top officials of the Oklahoma Health Dept. told the legislature that they expected 80,000 total applications in the first year of Medical Marijuana. They further elaborated that 2000 of them would be for commercial businesses (MMBs).  That was then. This is now. ​

​ The projections were made by dept. analyst, Buffy Heater, in the context of agency funding, and if fees would cover the cost of the function. Here's the video of that event.

  For the second time in three weeks, the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) has taken immediate action to shut down the call center and divert the limited staffing to help clear the flood of filed licensing applications. The law mandates that all applications be processed in 14 days, since patients often need immediate relief from many serious conditions such as severe nausea from chemotherapy & other cancer treatments, and to replace dangerous opiate drugs which have become addictive and less effective.
  In November (the first full month that cannabis medicines were legal to dispense), the load of patient applications to process was about 6500. In February it was over 20,000.
  This past August, the Director of the Oklahoma Dept. of Health, Tom Bates; told the bicameral Legislative Interim Study that he expected about 80,000 total licenses to be issued in the first full year. But in the first 6 months we are already in excess of 57,000 and adding to that number by over 5000 per week. At this rate the total will be double what the ODH director projected in his legislative testimony.
  While patient information is strictly confidential, by federal law, the OMMA says that "a good portion of the patient applicants are over 60 years old."  This further dispels the derogatory claims of opponents who characterize the program as a thinly veiled recreational drug use accommodation. ​

  The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority nearly doubled it's output, last week. Over 5200 patients were approved for medical care with cannabis medicines. The previous record was set in mid December when 4300 patients got good news in the Christmas season.

  Last August, the Director of the Oklahoma Department of Health, Tom Bates; told the Legislative  Interim Study on Medical Marijuana that he projects the granting of 80 thousand licensures for medical marijuana.  That total would include less than 10 thousand Medical Marijuana business licenses. 
  But the first 5 months are showing us a different trend.  While the first 2 months (Sept. & Oct.) saw about 1 thousand patient licenses granted each week, the next 3 months are showing a steady expansion of volume. This is attributed to a few factors.
  Director Bates said he used the Arizona model for his projections. But Oklahoma has dynamics that we don't see in any other state.  Home grow is an essential piece of the Oklahoma rollout. It impacts economic access to medicines for those disabled Oklahomans who simply cannot pay $400 for a meager monthly supply, for their condition. Some health conditions require an even more intense treatment.

  Currently the OMMA (the health department's division which oversees medical marijuana) is granting around 2700 patient licenses per week. If the current activity continues at this rate, by the time we reach the first anniversary of the August 25th rollout, our patient license count will be 117,000 .