OKLAHOMA CITY — Damon Devereaux, the sheriff of Logan County, simply north of Oklahoma Metropolis, recollects when his deputies stopped a truck carrying 17 kilos of marijuana.

Neither the motive force nor the passenger had a driver’s license or a license to move medical marijuana, however Devereaux mentioned they did have a spiral-bound pocket book itemizing money gross sales. The sheriff mentioned the operation gave the impression to be “clearly unlawful,” and deputies arrested them.

However when the pair went earlier than a decide, their lawyer advised the district legal professional that medical marijuana laws didn’t truly require licenses for transporters.

“She goes, ‘Wow, you’re proper,’” Devereaux mentioned. “So we needed to give 17 kilos of marijuana again.”

That regulation has since been modified. However Devereaux, who’s a part of the legalization opposition group Shield Our Youngsters No 820, mentioned it’s emblematic of a number of the issues he and his fellow regulation enforcement workplaces have confronted since Oklahoma permitted medical marijuana in a statewide vote in 2018.

The approval set off a increase, and nearly 400,000 of the state’s 4 million residents now have medical marijuana playing cards. The state is dwelling to nearly 3 times as many dispensaries as totally weed-legal California, the place the inhabitants is 10 occasions that of Oklahoma.

Entry to marijuana within the state might improve quickly, as voters are set to resolve a full legalization referendum on Tuesday. Pollster Pat McFerron, who’s affiliated with Shield Our Youngsters No 820, mentioned opposition to legalization led by just a few proportion factors, 49% to 46%, in early January, with solely a sliver of Oklahomans undecided.

Legalization proponents say it might present a tax windfall for the state and a “wise” regulation regime. The proposal would set a 15% tax on hashish gross sales, with proceeds to go to colleges, remedy packages, and state and native governments. It might additionally permit for expungement of low-level marijuana convictions and require product security laws on testing, packaging and labeling of merchandise.

Sure on 820, a pro-legalization group, commissioned a research that discovered legalization would offer $821 million over 5 years in income from leisure and medical weed gross sales after legalization.

“We’ve got a once-in-a-generation alternative to bolster financial funding throughout the state and make main investments into schooling, well being care and different priorities,” mentioned Mike Ervin, a board member for the Oklahoma Hashish Business Affiliation.

However critics are skeptical that the advantages of legalization would outweigh potential issues, particularly as entry to medical marijuana has elevated, outpacing laws to maintain the business in verify.

Final 12 months, the state legislature overwhelmingly handed a invoice setting up a two-year moratorium on new dispensary and farm licenses, and each candidates within the governor’s race cited the necessity for elevated regulation.

“It’s the wild, wild West with medical marijuana,” mentioned Democratic candidate Pleasure Hofmeister in an October debate.

A rejection of State Query 820 would mark a pointy turnabout for Oklahoma, which in 2018 enthusiastically joined what at the moment are 38 states and the District of Columbia in legalizing marijuana for medical use.

Not solely did medical marijuana cross 57% to 43%, it received 36 of the state’s 77 counties, not simply the three city ones.

However McFerron’s knowledge confirmed an erosion of assist amongst all age teams for leisure marijuana in contrast with the medical marijuana effort on the identical stage. Voters ages 45 to 54 and people 55 to 64 have been statistically tied in January after solidly supporting the 2018 initiative.

Probably extra worrisome for legalization advocates is the decline in assist from older voters, who might tip the scales in a low-turnout election. For these ages 65 to 74, solely 39% supported legalization, in contrast with 58% for medical marijuana in 2018. For voters 75 and older, assist dropped to twenty-eight%, down from 36% in 2018.

The notion that the expansion of the marijuana business has been linked to a rise of crime in Oklahoma might contribute to voters’ worries about legalization, as might considerations over the environmental influence of marijuana as a big money crop.

Though there is no such thing as a proof that the medical marijuana business has led to a major improve in crime in Oklahoma, some level to a case in Kingfisher County for instance of what might occur if legalization is handed.

On Nov. 20, sheriff’s deputies have been referred to as out to a marijuana develop farm close to Hennessey, about an hour’s drive northwest of Oklahoma Metropolis. However as an alternative of the hostage state of affairs they have been anticipating, they discovered 4 Chinese language nationals, three males and one lady, shot to loss of life and one other wounded.

The alleged shooter, 45-year-old Wu Chen, was arrested in Miami and has been held with out bail since. Of their utility to maintain him in jail, prosecutors declare he demanded $300,000 from employees on the farm as a return on his funding and shot the 4 “in a matter of minutes” once they didn’t comply.

The brutality of the Kingfisher killings shocked many, and politically the case entails a number of points that regulation enforcement departments have nervous would accompany the proliferation of farms — violence, trafficking in unlawful immigrants and fraudulent enterprise house owners.

The 4 individuals who have been killed are believed to have entered the U.S. illegally, in response to a report within the South China Morning Put up. The license for the farm itself is alleged to have been obtained by a straw proprietor, who is accused by the Kingfisher County district legal professional of having been paid $2,000 a month by one other Chinese language nationwide to fulfill state possession necessities.

Oklahoma is a pretty location for marijuana companies due to its low obstacles to entry and low working prices, mentioned Mark Woodward, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

“It’s due to a mix of our land, our regulation, our license. All these excellent storms that simply made it advantageous not just for reputable companies to attempt to make it a go but in addition for the criminals to return and conceal,” Woodward mentioned.

A license that can be utilized to each open a dispensary and arrange a farm prices about $3,000. In neighboring Arkansas, the dispensary license payment is $15,000 and licensees are required to have a efficiency bond of $100,000. In Colorado, medical marijuana dispensary licenses go for $6,000 to $14,000.

MJBizDaily, an business web site, has referred to as Oklahoma “probably the most liberal medical marijuana market within the nation,” citing each the low obstacles to entry and the free restrictions on use.

In Oklahoma, a resident can have as much as 3 ounces of marijuana on them and as much as 8 ounces of their residence in addition to as much as six mature vegetation and 6 seedling vegetation, 1 ounce of focus, 72 ounces of edibles and likewise as much as 72 ounces of topical marijuana.

“In most states which have leisure [marijuana], that kind of weight is a felony,” Devereaux mentioned.

To fulfill demand, Oklahoma has probably the most dispensaries of any state within the nation, by MJBizDaily’s account. Oklahoma had 2,880 licensed dispensaries as of early February, in response to the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority. California listed 398 totally licensed retailers and 701 provisional licensees.

To produce all these dispensaries, Oklahoma has licensed 7,088 farms, solely about 500 lower than California. Of these, Woodward mentioned, about 2,000 are beneath investigation for acquiring their license by fraud, probably with the intent of promoting their merchandise out of state illegally.

“We’ve bought companions in regulation enforcement on the East Coast who say Oklahoma’s their No. 1 provider now of black market marijuana,” Woodward mentioned.

For a state the place the panorama nonetheless bears the scars of the Mud Bowl, water is an important useful resource. And in the case of water, thirsty weed vegetation and ageing rural water methods are a nasty combine.

As each authorized and unlawful pot farms have flourished, so have the calls for positioned on native water methods constructed primarily for residential use.

A typical family can use anyplace from 4,000 to 14,000 gallons of water a month, however develop operations can use anyplace from 75,000 to 200,000 gallons a month, relying on the kind of irrigation used, mentioned Brandon Bowman, state packages director for the Oklahoma Rural Water Affiliation.

“It’s only a sudden large improve in utilization and a change from what was residential utilization to abruptly high-volume business utilization that the infrastructure and the water system was not designed to deal with in lots of conditions,” he mentioned.

For methods stretched by the brand new prospects, neighbors of marijuana farms can see their water stress fall and even fail utterly. Bowman mentioned the western facet of the state, the place most water comes from groundwater as an alternative of pure and man-made lakes, has extra to fret about.

“I’ve not heard of a system exhausting their provide, but it surely’s one thing everybody’s serious about,” he mentioned.

For twenty-four-year-old Talon Hull, medical marijuana has meant a thriving small enterprise. His medical marijuana outlet, Sage Wellness, is positioned in an artsy Oklahoma Metropolis neighborhood, and its inside seems like a cross between an Apple Retailer and an upscale espresso store.

However even he mentioned the business might use some further regulation.

“I feel that it’s, simply with any enterprise, you’ve bought to do it the correct manner,” he mentioned.

Hull mentioned he started serious about moving into the weed enterprise even earlier than medical marijuana had been legalized in Oklahoma. He studied the problem in highschool and noticed how Oregon dealt with it. He began his retailer with cannabidiol (CBD) merchandise, altering over to supply medical marijuana in 2018.

Oklahoma, he mentioned, has turn out to be a de facto leisure marijuana state, a “medical-rec” state.

“I imply, you will get 3 ounces a day, 72 ounces of edibles and an oz of focus. So there’s no manner that any individual can devour that quantity of hashish in in the future, you understand?”

Although he mentioned he hoped leisure marijuana would cross, he was undecided it might make a lot distinction given regulation was nonetheless “so free.”

Retailers like Hull’s are what pro-marijuana advocates see as a part of a booming marijuana economic system that’s attainable if legalization wins. And Hull is grateful for what medical marijuana has supplied for him.

“We grew up in the identical rental property that my mother had been renting from landlords for 18 years. She simply moved out final 12 months,” he mentioned.

“The hashish business modified my household’s life.”

Devereaux, the Logan County sheriff, is of two minds. Whereas not completely happy on the prospect of extra marijuana-related companies, he additionally mentioned full legalization could also be a sensible option to make unlawful rising much less worthwhile.

“We will’t put the cat again within the bag proper now, I suppose. It’s too huge. It’s gotten too huge to attempt to management now,” he mentioned.

“It form of comes right down to, I feel, we have been bought a Computer virus, and now we’re caught coping with it.”