Summary: Oklahoma has voted to legalize medicinal marijuana.
Oklahoma is set to become the 30th state in the US to legalize medicinal marijuana.
On Tuesday, the conservative jurisdiction voted for the change, which will allow growing, selling, and using marijuana for medicinal purposes.
Law enforcement and other detractors had tried to suppress the new initiative, which did not outline what qualified as a medicinal need, according to CBS News.
“Under the proposed law, a two-year medical marijuana license would allow someone to possess up to 8 ounces of marijuana, six mature plants and six seedlings, along with edibles and concentrated forms of the drug. Gov. Mary Fallin said she feared the proposal would essentially legalize recreational pot and said if it passed she would likely call on lawmakers to return for a special session to set up a regulatory framework for medicinal pot,” CBS News stated.
Later this year, Michigan and Utah will vote on marijuana legislation. In Oklahoma, lawmakers must now come together to advance the law.
“The citizens of the state have decided that they are in support of this law, so there aren’t necessarily any changes that need to be made,” Oklahoma House Majority Leader Jon Echols said. “What I would like to see happen is putting together an orderly process for getting your permits to sell it to be a dispensary. Getting your permits to grow it. … We put together some common sense regulations for what home growth looks like. We’re not looking at changing any of the fundamentals.”
The vote in Oklahoma is indicative of the changing attitude towards marijuana. This year, marijuana advocates swarmed Washington, DC; and legal experts believe that the US federal government may legalize marijuana soon.
This fall, Canada will be the second country in the world to legalize marijuana, according to Forbes, and this could signal that the US is not far behind. Currently, federal law prohibits marijuana sales, possession, and usage, but individual states have voted to stop enforcing that law.
“There is growing pressure to change the federal law and allow states to make the decision for themselves while paving the way for businesses to grow and generate taxes. Similar to Canada, support for legalization has grown dramatically over the past 20 years. There are many factors influencing this political change, but possibly the most important has been the rise of medical marijuana and its ability to affect voter perceptions of the drug,” Forbes wrote.
Since many states have chosen to legalize medicinal or recreational marijuana, the drug itself has become normalized, according to Forbes. This means that politicians may react to this new culture and vote accordingly.
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