Gov. Stitt Screws GOP Allies, Industry, Citizens on Cannabis Reforms

If 2020 were a pot plant, it would be underdeveloped, undernourished, light-burnt, mite-infested, mold-ridden…and it would steal your lunch money. Despite it all, Oklahoma’s cannabis industry has thrived, providing an essential trickle of lifeblood for our economy.

So why did our good ol’ boy gubnor veto HB 3228, which offered amendments to the cannabis program that seemed to have overwhelming support from citizens and legislators on both sides of the aisle?

HB 3228 was set to make a large number of positive changes to the current program.

Via Tulsa World:

Efforts to amend laws for the state’s medical marijuana industry could be unsuccessful this year after the Oklahoma Legislature opted Friday not to override Gov. Kevin Stitt’s veto of a bipartisan bill containing program reforms.

House Bill 3228 from Rep. Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, would have allowed medical cannabis patients to receive deliveries from dispensaries within a 10-mile radius or — for rural residents — a dispensary in their county. It also would have barred the Oklahoma State Department of Health from sharing patient and caregiver records with other state agencies or political subdivisions, including law enforcement, without a court order.

Despite all of the support, Gov. Stitt flexed his veto powers and pissed in our Hot Cheetos, stopping the bill dead in its tracks.

I’d like to know which parts of the bill he found so egregious. The most drastic proposal by far would have allowed for limited delivery of medical marijuana from dispensaries. That got a fuck no, but Stitt was cool to sign SB 1928 into law, allowing for alcohol delivery to continue permanently.

Stitt had this to say, about what a hypocritical piece of shit he is:

“HB 3228 is a lengthy bill that alters Oklahoma’s medical marijuana program. The language in the bill makes substantial policy changes to the medical marijuana program that were not fully scrutinized through normal legislative procedures before the bill was received by my office in the middle of the night Saturday.”

What a bloviating whiner!

The amendments in HB 3228 would have expanded the program, protected patient privacy rights, created even more jobs, raised enormous amount of weed tourism money, and helped the most vulnerable patients to receive their medicine safely — at home. All good. That’s probably why the bill had overwhelming support from lawmakers and citizens.

Even still, Stitt said, No…to all of it. He wants to keep essential dispensaries open and paying their taxes, but he has zero fucks to give for the safety or privacy of medical marijuana patients.

But wait! There’s more! According to our not-new favorite Tulsa advocate, attorney Ron Durbin — who’s been in Oklahoma’s medical marijuana mix from the very beginnings of SQ 788 — there is more shittiness! Stitt’s veto could put up to 250 Oklahoma dispensaries out of business.

Great timing! Oklahoma has a failed budget and a failed governor, during a time when it makes financial sense to support (or at least not kick in the dick) one of the top revenue-generating industries in our state. I don’t know what Stitt is smoking, but I don’t think it’s anything being regulated by our fantastic program.

Rep. Fetgatter, a key sponsor of HB 3228 — and also the man who wants to smell yo stanky weed breath — told Tulsa World the veto made “no sense” and called on his colleagues to override the veto. That effort fell flat when Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat yellow-bellied out of the fight to override the veto. How this develops will be of great interest to at least 5% of Oklahoma’s population.