Even as our nation experimented with the notion of a constitutional ban on liquor, there was always a medical liquor program. A physician could write a prescription for a patient to buy a pint of hard liquor for a $3 federal fee. The drugstores sold the only legal liquor for about $3-4 per pint. But the citizen had to claim a medical disorder and a physician had to agree that the proper medicine is liquor. Even biblical texts support this as a form of medical care. One new testament apostle relayed to another prominent bishop that a traveling physician & associate has directed that the bishop regularly consume a small amount of wine, to treat a digestive disorder he'd been diagnosed with. When Federal bans were thrown off by another vote of more than 75% of the states, Oklahoma remained constitutionally opposed to liquor and our state's first 52 years were as a completely 'dry' state. For more than 52 years Oklahoma has also been keeping a cannabis prohibition. The fact that we carved out a medical exception recently, is just a slight nuance to that prohibition. |
Then my assessor friend elaborated on the new medical marijuana industry.. "The OTC Ag card application for sales tax exemption does require the applicant to name their business and/or crop and always has. Thank you for asking. What we are seeing from some of the Marijuana businesses is that they have no idea of required business reporting practices especially for Ad Valorem purposes. Also the law was poorly written with no direction for implementing before the law came into effect." So: If you're seeking an agricultural tax exemption for the production on your farm, you do need to state your crop production details, just like factories & wholesalers do.
We don't blame the OBNDD for doing their statutory duty. In fact, patients should be thankful that someone is looking out for consumers and keeping the dispensaries accountable.
It further drives home the warning to dispensary owners to be very very careful whom your business associates are. If one clerk had been doing this without his boss knowing; that clerk could cost the dispensary owners their entire operation, even if they had no idea what was happening. It also warns dispensaries not to deal with shady suppliers who may be trucking in illegal cannabis from another state. that too, would result in this same outcome.
Since 1960, one of the world's greatest conservative leaders has been William F. Buckley, of New York. One of his boldest positions on public policy has been the end of the failed and bankrupting "War on Drugs".
We're reprinting part of it, to illustrate the timeless arguments he makes. For years since his death, his logic remains sound even as it is largely ignored by lawmakers.
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Nigel O'MallyNigel heavily focuses on the medical research and drug policy topics at SoonerPolitics, from an international perspective & a background in homeopathic herbs and agrarian culture. Archives
March 2020
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