A number of concerned Konawa citizens have been alarmed over a rumor circulating about a marijuana grow house being located on Broadway, the major business district in town. According to Konawa Mayor Frank Shirley, the rumor of a grow house on Broadway is just that, a rumor.

“At this time, no application for a permit has been submitted for a grow house on Broadway,” Shirley stated. His statement was in response to a question from the Konawa News Leader concerning the rumor that the city had already approved a grow house. Shirley added that there are some buildings on Broadway that may have been considered for a grow operation but stressed they would first need to apply for a permit, and that permit would then need to be approved. Neither has happened.

Konawa citizens aren’t the only ones that have concerns about the way the marijuana businesses have overtaken the state. Oklahomans approved State Question 788 in June 2018, which legalized “the licensed use, sale, and growth of marijuana in Oklahoma for medicinal purposes.”

Because SQ788 did not address many of the regulatory and logistical issues of the state’s medical marijuana program, Oklahoma lawmakers passed the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana and Patient Protection Act, or “Unity Bill,” in 2019. This Act created the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA), which is responsible for regulating the medical marijuana program in Oklahoma. Lawmakers also established requirements related to the testing, labeling, and tracking of medical marijuana products. OMMA and lawmakers continue to work fine tuning issues as they arise.

Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (OBNDD), said Oklahoma’s medical marijuana law has unintentionally made the state a national center of illegal growing operations.

“We are taking down two or three (grow operations) a week,” he said.

Woodward clarified that most dispensary operators “are trying to do what is right,” but they are being undercut by black market distributors who are benefiting from the large number of both legal and illegal growing facilities.

As of July 1, Seminole County has 142 marijuana facilities, according to OMMA. This includes 18 dispensaries, 112 growers, and 12 processors. Statewide, as of July 1, Oklahoma has 2,274 dispensaries 8,247 growers and 1,461 processors.

OMMA reports that the marijuana industry collected $7,549,302 in state and local sales tax in June. This brings the total so far this year to $43,166,199.

Statewide, the SQ788 initiative provided for a 7 percent excise tax on marijuana sales. Revenue from the tax finances regulatory costs. Any surplus is to be distributed as follows: 75 percent to the General Fund to be used for education, and 25 percent to the Oklahoma State Department of Health to be used for drug and alcohol rehabilitation. The SQ788 tax is in addition to state and local sales tax. SQ788 tax collected $6,005,093 in June, for a total of $34,867,093 so far this year.