Oklahoma Candidates Find Common Ground On Medical Marijuana Use

Supporters of legalizing medical marijuana in Oklahoma have to file their petitions Friday to get the issue on the ballot in Oklahoma.

Now the candidates for Governor are weighing in on the issue of cannabis products used as medicine. Democrat, Joe Dorman said incumbent, Mary Fallin, is calling for a study of the issue three months after he first had the idea.

8/13/2014 Related Story: Oklahoma Governor Announces Support For 'Medicinal' Marijuana Oil Usage

It was another day on the campaign trail for Fallin as she toured a local Tulsa manufacturer. The tour comes a day after an announcement by the governor on the use of medicinal marijuana oil.

"We have a legislative study that's being done at the Capitol that will explore, through clinical trial research, whether CBD oil, which is cannabis oil, would be beneficial to children who are severely debilitated because of seizures, strokes and epilepsy,” Fallin said.

It’s a legislative study that opposing candidate Dorman said during a campaign stop in Pryor, he’s in favor of.

"I was surprised the governor endorsed one of the proposals that I submitted three months ago,” he said. “We filed these as interim studies at the Capitol three months ago. I suggested we look at the treatment in seizures in kids and look at alternate forms of medicine."

Fallin is being accused of flip-flopping when it comes to the alternate forms of medicine.

"I've never said anything about whether I was for or against it. So I haven’t changed my mind on anything,” she said. “What I have said, is that I'm against the legalization of marijuana and the petitions that are out there right now, they both basically want to legalize marijuana for any cause, and for any reason, and that is something I'm opposed to."

It’s an opposition that both candidates find common ground.

"I'm opposed to full legalization. As far as decriminalization, I think we need to look at the way the statues rest. On the medicinal side, I don't think that there's enough evidence out there to prove that it does help all people, but there are things such as Marinol that we need to look at, and things like the capsules, things that don't provide some type of high when using the product,” Dorman said.

Neither candidate supports the current petition by Oklahomans for Health which calls for the legalization of all forms of medical marijuana.

If supporters get enough signatures, it could be on the ballot in November. That's also when voters will decide our next governor.