I hope everybody survived the Labor Day weekend and didn’t get caught up in any Trump boat parade wakes. Help! I’m sinking in my own stupidity! I’m sure you all made it through fine — after all you are in the top 9% of Oklahomans!
What 9% am I talking about? According to a report in the Tulsa World, Oklahoma’s medical marijuana market continues its explosive growth:
“the OMMA reported Tuesday that its total number of active medical marijuana patient licensees exceeded 350,000 for the first time, a roughly 6% boost from the number of patients on record in July. The number is nearly 9% of Oklahoma’s population.”
That’s a significant increase! I could feel the tides were turning in our favor. Only another 42% and licensed pot smokers will be in the majority! In the meantime, Welcome to the ranks, and thanks for your cash.
The amount of marijuana being purchased is at a record high.
The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority released a report last week illustrating a year-by-year comparison of SQ788 tax vs. state and local sales tax collected since 2018. These numbers are staggering and prove one thing without a shadow of a doubt: More Okies are loving more weed by the minute month!
Numbers represent taxes collected in July 2020 pic.twitter.com/8McUELsopg
— Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (@OMMAOK) September 3, 2020
Look at all that tax money to waste — and the year is barely halfway over! We’ve collected about 1.5 times the amount of MMJ taxes so far in 2020 as we did in all of 2019. Oklahoma could easily double its marijuana sales from 2019 to 2020, and that would truly be worth celebrating!
But these numbers only represent the direct taxes we pay. What about all that money OMMA takes in the name of license fees?
That information was not included in OMMA’s infographic, but Tulsa World dug into that, too:
“OpenGov’s database reports that the OMMA took in about $2.4 million in patient license application fees and almost $4.1 million in commercial license application fees in August.”
That’s an additional $6.5 million in license fees collected in just one month. It should be interesting over the coming years to see what happens with this money. Will it be plagued by questions of misuse like the Oklahoma Lottery? Will your child’s public education in Oklahoma soon be sponsored by Reefer Madness? I think the answer to both questions may very well be, Very Yes.
And just in case you were daydreaming about turning your popcorn-bud home grow into flowering fields of green, you might first consider how ridiculously crowded this market segment is:
“There were 5,971 licensed growers, 2,087 dispensaries and 1,328 processors in the state as of Tuesday, the OMMA said.”
There are nearly three times the number of growers as dispensaries. Let that sink in. It seems everyone in Oklahoma decided they were born to grow weed! Despite the crowding, we still have new dispensaries popping up all over the place…hell, I’m still getting new patient discounts!
Oklahoma’s medical marijuana program has been around for a little more than two years, now, and its explosive growth doesn’t seem to be slowing any time soon. Cannabis has risen to help fill the economic gaps created by a dying fossil fuel industry and a global pandemic.
For this feat alone, we think even rural Oklahomans should be thanking the good lord for pot heads during this week’s Sunday service.
Lol funny funny how Oklahoma is a red state. But yet medical marijuana bill passed. Seems people forget who forced marijuana on the controlled substance list. And who must have voted to make medical marijuana legal here.
Just so you know Democrats would not pass controlled substance act without marijuana being added to it. Republicans were against adding it. Now who voted in a red state to make it a legal medicine. Republicans, independents, and Democrats.
By the way 80 million is just a drop in the bucket. Considering state budget is in excess of 175 billion.