Oklahoma Activists File New Marijuana Legalization Initiative For 2026 Ballot

Oklahoma activists have filed a proposed initiative to legalize marijuana for adult use that could appear on the state’s 2026 ballot.

About two years after voters rejected a separate recreational marijuana legalization measure, Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action (ORCA) filed this latest constitutional amendment with the secretary of state’s office on Monday.

The measure would allow adults 21 and older to purchase and possess up to eight ounces of cannabis for personal use. They could also grow up to 12 plants and possess what’s harvested, and they would be able to have up to one ounce of cannabis concentrates.

The proposed constitutional amendment would also provide that Oklahoma banks would not be penalized simply for servicing state-licensed cannabis businesses.

Further, the initiative includes protections to make it so any adults would be shielded from being penalized with respect to “healthcare, housing, employment, public assistance, public benefit, parental right, educational opportunity, extracurricular activity” and also “licensure or licensed activity” such as firearm ownership and driving rights due to any legal cannabis activity.

As part of those protections, the presence of THC metabolites in a person’s system could not be used as evidence of impairment.

Local governments would not be permitted to impose bans on the marijuana home cultivation, and any regulations they set on the activity could not be “unduly burdensome.” Additionally, no public ordinances on public smoking for marijuana could be more restrictive than what’s currently in place for tobacco.

Existing medical cannabis dispensaries, as well as any new retail licensees, would be able to start selling to adult consumers starting 60 days after the measure’s enactment. After 180 days, they could start delivering cannabis products to adults.

The same state departments that oversee the current medical cannabis program would be responsible for regulate the adult-use market.

A 10 percent excise tax would be imposed on adult-use marijuana products, and the initiative stipulates that the legislature would be empowered to decrease that tax rate but not raise it.

Revenue from those tax dollars would go toward the state general fund (40 percent), as well as county governments (30 percent) and municipal governments (30 percent) where retail sales occurred. For unincorporated jurisdictions, revenue would be split evenly, with 5o percent for the general fund and 50 percent for the counties.

Sixty days after the measure’s enactment, the tax rate on marijuana for registered cannabis patients would be eliminated.

“Should the federal government legalize marijuana, then the State of Oklahoma shall have no restrictions on such conduct greater than the restrictions set under federal law,” the initiative says.

It also states that state-licensed marijuana businesses couldn’t be prevented from engaging in interstate commerce if there’s a change in federal law, or a court action, permitting such activity. If that happens, the legislature would be authorized to place up to a 3 percent wholesale tax on cannabis exported beyond state lines.

If the measure is cleared for signature gathering, ORCA will need to collect at least 172,993 signatures to secure ballot placement.

ORCA Director Jed Green told The Oklahoman that one of the key differences between the initiative his organization is pushing and the one that failed at the ballot in 2023 is that it accounts for concerns about licensing rules. Many have criticized the rollout of the state’s medical marijuana law, which led to a dramatic proliferation of dispensaries, and Green said the failed adult-use measure effectively duplicated that licensing scheme.

Regulators were “already behind on licensure renewals,” when that measure came before voters, Green said. And there was “no way” they had the bandwidth to stand up a recreational marketplace under the proposal. Additionally, unlike the prior initiative, this new measure would not require medical marijuana businesses to hold two separate licenses to enter the adult-use market.

Meanwhile in Oklahoma, lawmakers last month advanced a bill aimed at protecting gun rights of state-registered medical marijuana patients, although federal law still bars cannabis users from owning firearms regardless of their patient status.

Another state bill filed in January by a GOP legislator would criminalize the use of medical cannabis during pregnancy.

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Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.