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Stitt proposed pushing a state question to voters to end the industry, citing criminal elements.
An announcement from Governor Kevin Stitt regarding an ambition to end the state’s medical marijuana industry through another vote of the people has dominated conversations ever since at the state capitol.
Industry business owners have already been vocal about their opposition to the idea.
Majority and minority chamber leaders provided their own thoughts during the first week of the legislative session.
“It’s much, much easier to regulate and to inspect and to make sure we’re doing the right thing,” said Senate Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle. “We’re not where we need to be yet, but we’re going in the right place. But, I would suggest to the governor; we don’t need a state question to pull this back. There are some good Oklahomans that invested their life savings into this program, and they’re trying to do what the voters actually thought they were voting for.”
When asked about its position on the governor’s remarks, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics told News 9 it does not have a position.
“We will support the will of the legislature and governor and enforce the laws accordingly,” a spokesperson wrote in a statement.
Harrah Police Chief Marty Burns, who early in his career served as an undercover agent with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, reflected on witnessing the evolution of the illegal and legal marijuana industry.
“I don’t think we’ll ever get rid of it, but we need to take control over it and make sure that we’re responding to the issues that we see now, with the medical marijuana industry,” Burns said. “There are a lot of good, honest businesses out there — but, there’s also a lot of bad ones, straw ownership.”
Burns, who left OBN before medical marijuana became legal in Oklahoma, said bad actors still warrant attention from law enforcement.
“People think it’s just a medicinal drug, and it’s not that harmful,” he said. “But, I had people willing to trade automatic weapons for pounds of marijuana at the time. So, it was an industry that proliferated.”
Just this week, the Oklahoma Attorney General announced arrests in what they said was a major bust of a $1.5 billion black market marijuana operation.
Similarly, the District Attorneys Council told News 9 it has not taken a position on the issue as a state agency — but indicated individual district attorneys have.
The agency referenced a first-ever comprehensive report, released in 2025 from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, about marijuana enforcement and statistics in Oklahoma.
Key highlights, tabulated through its law enforcement partners in Oklahoma, referenced a 4,166% increase in pounds of marijuana seized through investigative efforts in the state from 2018 to 2023.
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