Pubdate: Tue, 12 Apr 2016
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Copyright: 2016 The Oklahoma Publishing Co.
Contact: http://www.newsok.com/voices/guidelines
Website: http://newsok.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318
Author: Rick M. Green

INITIATIVE PETITION TO ASK OKLAHOMA VOTERS TO LEGALIZE MEDICAL 
MARIJUANA IN NOVEMBER

Oklahoma voters would be asked to legalize medical marijuana under an 
initiative petition filed Monday with the secretary of state's office.

It calls for the state Health Department to regulate the dispensing 
of marijuana to people with a doctor-signed license to obtain it.

A 7 percent tax would be applied to retail sales, with the money 
going first to finance regulatory expenses.

Then, 75 percent of excess funds would go to common education and 25 
percent to drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

Former state Rep. Joe Dorman, D-Rush Springs, is working with 
Oklahomans for Health in an effort to put the measure on the November 
ballot. Once the ballot title clears scrutiny, proponents will have 
90 days to collect the required 66,000 voter signatures to qualify it 
as a state question.

Dorman said friends and constituents have reached out to him.

"My friend's son had chronic pain issues and he wanted to know why 
marijuana wasn't an option because his son was addicted to pain 
pills," Dorman said.

"I've been approached by people for years in my district who have 
cancer saying marijuana was the only way they could receive some kind 
of treatment that worked to keep food down."

Under the proposal, it would be up to a medical doctor to determine 
if a patient would benefit from medical marijuana. There would not be 
a list of qualifying medical conditions.

"I would rather see something left in the hands of a doctor rather 
than politicians and bureaucrats," Dorman said. "We send doctors to 
medical school to receive the best knowledge on how to treat patients 
and everything should be on the table for them."

He said volunteers will gather signatures outside concerts, festivals 
and any place where people gather in large numbers.

Last year, a medical marijuana campaign collected about 70,000 
signatures, about 50,000 short of what was needed to put it on the ballot.

That campaign had a higher signature threshold because it sought a 
constitutional amendment. The present proposal seeks only statutory changes.

Also last year, Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill to legalize clinical 
trials for CBD, a non-intoxicating derivative of marijuana that has 
been suggested as effective in reducing seizures in people suffering 
from epilepsy.

John Scully, director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, said he 
has concerns about legalized medical marijuana.

"I'd be afraid that if you lift the restrictions, we would see more 
marijuana readily available on the streets and that has the potential 
of bringing a lot of other problems, including intoxication, drivers 
who may be impaired by marijuana getting behind the wheel of cars and 
having an overall impact on public safety," he said.

"I sympathize with people who have a true medical need for any kind 
of medicine. I sympathize with them, but also this state and this 
agency have a responsibility to make sure any kind of controlled 
substance does not fall into the wrong hands to be used for wrong reasons."

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 23 states 
have medical marijuana programs.
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