After Health Dep't Restrictions, Marijuana-Related Petitions Get Surge In Support

<p>Proponents say petitions for preventing over-regulating medical marijuana and for getting the legalization of recreational marijuana on the ballot have seen a surge of support over the past week.</p>

Monday, July 16th 2018, 10:16 pm

By: Amy Avery


Proponents of recreational marijuana say they’ve seen a surge in support for a petition to get the measure on the November ballot over the past week.

The group behind the petition believes the regulations that were imposed last week on medical marijuana are helping them get the signatures they need.

There are more than 300 stores across the state where you can go to sign the petition.  There is also a petition to prevent over-regulation of medical marijuana.

Sponsors say they’ve seen a big turnout and they’ve almost reached their goal.

“People don’t want to be oppressed and that’s sort of what they tried to do,” said Ronald Durbin II, an attorney for Green the Vote.

Durbin sent out letters to the Oklahoma County District Attorney, the Board of Health, and the Oklahoma Attorney General trying to address some of the regulations that they believe are arbitrary.

“Let’s do it now and all of these lawsuits will go away,” he said.

The letter to the Board of Health specifically asks for all communications between the board and any board member as it pertains to State Question 788.

“You would prosecute someone for the simple possession of marijuana, why not prosecute someone for misdemeanor violation of the open meetings act?” asked Durbin.

Since the board imposed several last-minute regulations on medical marijuana last week, signatures for the petition to put recreational marijuana on the ballot this November have skyrocketed.

7/16/2018 Related Story:  Deadline Drawing Near For Recreational Marijuana Petition To Get Enough Signatures

“It nearly tripled how many signatures we got turned in to us in one week,” declared Isaac Caviness, President of Green the Vote.

Caviness says they’ve also seen a surge in volunteers.

“We’ve had almost as many people sign up to volunteer as we’ve had the previous 60 days,” he said.

He says it’s difficult to keep track of the numbers right now, but at last check, the petition for a medical cannabis constitutional amendment had almost 94,000 signatures and the petition for legalizing recreational marijuana had more than 104,000 signatures.

“I think a lot of that has to do with how mad Oklahoma is that the will of the voters is being suppressed right now,” stated Caviness.

Green the Vote has a map on their website with the over 300 stores that have the petitions.

They are also asking for donations because it’s been expensive to keep this campaign going across the state.

logo

Get The Daily Update!

Be among the first to get breaking news, weather, and general news updates from News on 6 delivered right to your inbox!

More Like This

July 16th, 2018

March 14th, 2024

December 4th, 2023

September 25th, 2023

Top Headlines

March 19th, 2024

March 19th, 2024

March 19th, 2024

March 18th, 2024