Since Oklahoma voters approved legalizing medical marijuana three years ago, state lawmakers and agencies have been working to establish guidelines and clarify policies as they learn more from experience.

During its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, the Seminole County Board of Commissioners discussed a trio of items concerning marijuana businesses in the county. They were aided by Paul Simpson, the COEDD (Community & Economic Development Division) Rural Fire Coordinator for Region 5, which includes Seminole, Hughes, Okfuskee, Pottawatomie, Lincoln, Payne, and Pawnee Counties, who offered details concerning each of these agenda items and was ready to answer any questions the commissioners might have.

The first item concerned approval of Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) Business Certificates. Asked about one local grow operation that didn’t have fencing, Simpson stated that fencing issues are the concern of the Bureau of Narcotics and OMMA. He inspects the facility itself, with individual permits for each separate building. In the case of hoop houses there isn’t much to the inspection, but if the operation is fully enclosed, they are required to have electricity, exit lights, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, etc.

Simpson stated that there are some counties that are cracking down on illegal activities where the operation may be permitted but they are not following the proper guidelines, which is up to the District Attorneys, Bureau of Narcotics, OMMA, and other agencies they may ask for assistance. If this type of activity is suspected in Seminole, he suggested that the District Attorney contact some of the other counties with experience tackling this kind of problem, repeating he is not involved in that type of enforcement, all he does is inspect the buildings.

As far as the two operations the Seminole Commissioners had asked him to inspect, they have submitted their plans, have theirpermit requests in, and he is waiting to do an inspection.

The commissioners approved OMMA business certificates.

During the next discussion, to approve an OMMA emergency contact form, Simpson explained COEDD wanted to do a little more in-depth and update, but the forms will change as they determine other things. He stated there is still some gray area that they are being as lenient as they can on. There are other instances they plan to discuss later where they need to draw a line, but they want to make sure they treat everybody the same way. The forms will “mature,” and get a little bigger and longer, he added.

The commissioners voted to approve the OMMA emergency contact form.

The commissioners next discussed a variance period for non-compliance life safety code violations. Simpson explained COEDD is running into compliance issues with growers that were in business before they started doing a life safety plan review. Normally, under state statutes, any commercial building must obtain a permit with local authorities or the state fire marshal’s office. Since this plan has become an issue, the growers that were already in business have requested that they be grandfathered in. Simpson stated he has explained to one Seminole County grower what needed to be done to reach compliance, because his electrical work wasn’t right, and informed him the best he could do is give him a five-month, temporary license, but during this time he must upgrade to state code. Simpson informed the commissioners that this was their call, so they could offer a longer grace period, but he felt five months was rather lenient.

Simpson stated this is a common problem COEDD is running into across the state, and the Assistant State Fire Marshal recently mentioned there were a lot of entities that don’t get their license, and nobody knows about it until they get caught. Although this isn’t a big problem in Seminole County, he wants to make sure they set a goal, and everybody is treated fairly. He is aware that rewiring is expensive, and he doesn’t want to create a hardship, but he does want to bring these businesses up to code.

Commissioner Russell Yott asked what will happen in November, when these businesses no longer have to bring their certificate of compliance through the commissioner’s office. Simpson explained that they will still have to come in for an annual renewal and permitting. They can discuss, between now and then, how they wish to give notification that the permits are up for renewal. If they haven’t yet received a permit, they will need to get one. Simpson added COEDD does more than just OMMA permitting – they do permitting for any commercial building in the state. And if somebody changes occupancy of a building, they’re supposed to get a permit for that, too.

The commissioners voted to give a five-month variance period for non-compliance life safety code violations.