At the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association’s 2023 winter policy meeting, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, got the chance to visit with the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, Adria Berry, about the latest on all things marijuana-related in Oklahoma.
The OMMA, Berry said, has been a stand-alone agency since November 1st of 2022.
“There is a lot of marijuana in Oklahoma,” Berry said. “More supply than demand- I will say that. We have far more than we need here in Oklahoma, and you know, that goes back to how it was legalized with State Questions 788, and we are still just trying to wrap our arms around it.”
Berry said there are currently 7,000 grow operations in the state of Oklahoma. Because marijuana is a federally illegal product, Berry said it is not legal to ship marijuana grown in Oklahoma out of state.
“We have staffed up this year,” Berry said. “We have 89 compliance inspectors across six regions in Oklahoma now.”
The moratorium on new licenses, Berry said, started in August of 2022.
“We had about 2600 applicants right when the moratorium started in August,” Berry said. “The moratorium on new licenses will go through August of 2024, so of course, that will even out soon enough.”
Starting in June of 2023, Berry said license fees will increase dramatically. A large producer, Berry added, could pay as much as $50,000.
Berry also talked about the “seed-to-sell” concept.
“It is a fantastic tool that we did not have before,” Berry said. “It requires every single licensee of OMMA to input every single bit of information. We know how much they are growing, and they are harvesting, testing, and processing. It just helps us have actual eyes on the industry that we did not have before.”
Going forward, Berry said there is a need to work with the legislature to tighten up a few more laws.
“I think it would help to tighten up the industry’s ability to transfer and sell the licenses,” Berry said. “We need to look at that and maybe tighten up when that is available to the industry.”
Listening to Oklahoma cattle producers at the policy meeting, Berry said, gave her perspective on what many Oklahomans experience is with the marijuana industry.
“We have a complaints forum on our website, and it is addressed by a dedicated complaints team that is made up of former military and law enforcement that goes out and investigates every single complaint,” Berry said.
On March 7th, if voters vote “yes” for recreational marijuana in Oklahoma, the OMMA will be in charge of all things recreational marijuana-related going forward.
To visit the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority website, click here.
