Truth Test: How Much Money Could Oklahoma Make From Medical Marijuana?

According to the group behind the state question 788, Oklahomans for Health, the market for medical marijuana could make the state millions of dollars in revenue.

The OFH website said Oklahoma could net between $10 million and $20 million from medical marijuana sales.

Is that true? Maybe, but there’s just not enough evidence to support it. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 30 states have medical marijuana laws in the books in some way. But the tax laws vary and so does the revenue. California, which has one of the largest usage rates, brought in close to $50 million back in 2014, netting by far some of the most money in the country.

On the other end of that is Oregon, which brought in just $8 million in 2016. In the middle is our northern neighbor, Colorado. In April of this year the rocky mountain state brought in roughly $25 million.

So, what does that mean for Oklahoma? It’s too hard to tell. What we know is State Question 788 is: how much marijuana someone can have at one time, that a medical license holder must be 18 without special circumstances, and that sales would be taxed at 7 percent.

We don’t know what cities or municipalities would tax on their own nor is there a framework for which conditions would be covered meaning we don’t have a good estimate for how many potential patients there could be.

Ultimately, this one is pretty inconclusive, so we rate it in our category of You Decide.