Oklahoma is staunchly conservative and has yet to legalize recreational marijuana, but it has become a boom state for weed entrepreneurs from all over the country to set up cannabis businesses, from grow sites to dispensaries. Lured by low taxes and lax rules, Oklahoma has become one of the easiest places in the U.S. to launch a weed business, and now boasts more retail cannabis stores than Colorado, Oregon, and Washington combined—and it has eclipsed California with the largest number of licensed cannabis farms. Today, there are some towns with more dispensaries than food stores, and battles are growing between legacy ranchers and pot growers, who are accused of straining rural water and electricity supplies and driving up prices for land.
Perhaps Oklahoma should learn from California and its experience with the cannabis industry. In an editorial, the LA Times writes that five years after legalization, the state’s marijuana market is a mess, with many of the promises of legalization remaining unfulfilled. The black market is thriving, illegal pot farms are degrading sensitive environmental habitat, untrusted and unregulated products still flood the market, and the pledge to help communities disadvantaged by the War on Drugs is a work in progress. Instead of creating a vibrant legal market, the vast majority of marijuana consumed in the state is not legal. Most concerning, the editorial points out that some advocates blame the situation on the opt-out provision in the legalization—which entitles municipalities to not allow cannabis businesses—and suggests that this should be right should be eliminated, in order to curb the black market.
And finally, the opt-out provision is the focus of attention now in New York State, as the end-of-year deadline nears for municipalities to decide whether to allow cannabis dispensaries and on-site consumption lounges. At last count, nearly 600 of more than 1,500 localities have said no to marijuana retailers, including many suburban areas around New York City, while cities large and small—including New York, White Plains, Peekskill, among others—have opted out. A commentary in the New York Post suggests that the right to opt-out should be extended to communities and neighborhoods within cities, say, Central Harlem in NYC if they don’t want pot businesses in their area. It adds that every community board in a city should have the same rights as municipalities in the suburbs to say no to cannabis outlets.