Oklahoma's medical marijuana options are growing faster than projections.
  The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) has released their July 1st report of licensure activity. It shows a brisk & continued utilization of cannabis medicine by the patients of Oklahoma.
  At this time last year, the Oklahoma Health Dept. (parent agency of the OMMA)projected close to 78,000 patient licenses by this coming Labor Day weekend.  That projection is wildly inaccurate and the state is on course to more than double those numbers.
  The business climate also continues to improve each week as the ratio of patients to dispensaries maintains a persistent increase to more than 90 patients for every dispensary license.
 Sales & Excise taxes are beginning to reach revenues comparable to tobacco & liquor.
  And all this time, none of the horror stories that were told by the 'Vote No' crowd are becoming reality. Cannabis medicines are proving to be safer (even off-label & casual) than liquor & tobacco.
Below you'll see a full set of spreadsheets detailing the economic indicators for cannabis meds in Oklahoma.

State Liquor tax collections have been about $10 million per month, for the last few years. That's what other media sources are reporting.
 And the upstart medical marijuana industry is exploding with sales increases every month which eclipse the previous month by over 20% more. The June tax collections of excise & sales tax will be between $4 million & $5 million.  By this time next year the number may be double what it is now.
  When you add the patient licensing and Medical Marijuana Business (MMB) licenses, there is already  a huge windfall for the state and municipal governments.
  And this is for a revenue raising measure which the voters overwhelmingly supported, just 1 year ago.  
  Average patient spending is increasing every month, and new patient licensure may be double the current tallies, by this time next year.
  We were expected to have around 70,000 patients licensed by next month. But the current number of licensed patients is double, and growing fast.

  As the calendar turned to June and the OMMA reports continued brisk activity from patient applications, the Oklahoma Tax Commission reports the other half of the economic picture.
With about 130,000 licensed patients in the state, the Sales of cannabis medicines topped $23 million in just the month of May. 
  While the total numbers change radically, and the sales are just as dynamic, the average patient spending is rather consistent.
  When we took the total sales for each month and divided that vast sum by the last reported total number of licenses, we came up with a rather consistent snapshot on individual purchasing.
 Between January 1st & June 1st, the average patient spent about $175 each month in the state's licensed dispensaries. Sometimes that individual monthly tab jumped to $200, but other months it dipped to $150.
  This gives us a fairly reliable snapshot about what a dispensary might expect as the industry continues to grow far beyond all official state projections.
  This last week the OMMA told us that there are about 90 licensed patients for every dispensary license issued.   What we'd really like to know is how many dispensaries are actually reporting significant monthly sales?

We're going to look at the impact of govt. extortion (fees,taxes, mandates, & regulations) on how much you have to pay for this medicine.
 When we decided to allow patients to work with their own physicians to get better care with cannabis medicines, we agreed to a 7% total tax on retail sales, and a 0ne-time $100 patient license. Our commercial producers & distributors agreed to a $2500 license on top of the normal assessments that all local businesses are subject to. That's what we thought we were approving, and we said yes! 
  But the businesses providing these safe and therapeutic medicines are now being ordered to pay much more and jump through far more hoops than reason can rationalize. 

•   The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics now is given authority to shut down any Dispensary who hasn't gotten a special license that SQ788 never mentioned. Growers & Processors have similar license fees
• The State Agriculture Dept demands a $15 license.
• The State Health Dept. then charges $450 of would-be processors for the right to present a request for a plan review.
• If The Health Dept approves your business plan, you then pay a 2nd $450 fee to the Dept of Health for permit

  With legal cannabis medicine prices stabilizing in Oklahoma dispensaries, the black market dealers are seeing the 'writing on the wall'.
  In states where patients have to turn to the cartels for cannabis medicine, the prices are commonly over $300 per ounce for medium/high quality raw dried flower buds.
  But the legal dispensaries which have been opening all over the Sooner State, prices and supply have created market conditions which allow licensed patients to safely and legally attain tested cannabis medicine at prices of around $200-300 per ounce.
  At this rate it makes little sense for a patient not to get a medical consultation and pay the $100 for a medical license. It's almost like getting a Sam's Club card. You pay a membership fee up front, but you expect to recoup that expense through lower priced products.  It's as though the state created a "Sam's Club" for naturopathic medicines.
  Last December, the wholesale prices for legal cannabis was over $300 per ounce. Now it is half that.

  On Tuesday, Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a new law into immediate effect. It's Emergency clause requires the OMMA to accept a medical recommendation from any MD or DO physician whose license is in good standing with the State of Oklahoma. The physician no longer is required to be a "board certified specialist" in addition to being a general practitioner.
  The impact is huge for patients who want to remain in the care of their own local clinic. It will allow them to seek the new recommendation at any follow-up, med check, or annual physical exam.  Until now the patients have had to go hunt down a willing physician who does not know anything about their complex health condition. It also puts an additional financial burden on patients who may be battling cancer, mental illness, or other serious conditions. But this law doesn't mean their current physician will be willing to recommend cannabis treatments for them or any of their patients. Some physicians simply won't recommend any treatment that they have not been sufficiently trained to utilize in the care of patients.
  The new law's author, Senator Rob Standridge, (R-Norman) is a pharmacist who initially opposed the SQ788 initiative, but he's seen firsthand the impact that cannabis meds can have for end-of-life care and alleviating severe pain while avoiding opiates. 
  Other major changes to medical marijuana law will go into effect 90 days after the legislature's May adjournment.

  Over the past few months, the OMMA has been sinking further under a flood of applications, but lacking the proper appropriations from the legislature, in order to hire permanent staff. They relied on temporary staffing contractors and had to devote more time to training.
 But in the run-up to Easter weekend, a major accomplishment was achieved. Over 10,000 new licenses were issued, eclipsing the previous record of 5,000+.
  Statutes require the OMMA to issue a license within 14 days, unless a known problem exists in the forms submitted online. But the OMMA's weekly tweets indicated that they had a typical backlog of about 12,000, either rejected or awaiting action. Now that backlog is around 7,000.
  Some of those are likely to be from patients who have given up or have deceased. But many more are forms which just needed additional clarification or documentation. And it's likely that every application sits en queue for over a week before the staff even gets to a first review.

  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.