On Tuesday, March 7, 2023, Oklahomans are asked vote on State Question 820: Recreational Marijuana Legalization Initiative. So let’s talk about it here in this special edition of the Blog Oklahoma Podcast.
Welcome to Blog Oklahoma.
Whenever a state question comes up, I like to the read you the text before the election to give you a chance to understand what you’re voting on. Sometimes these state questions can be quite wordy and the compact format they’re presented on the ballot isn’t the most readable.
Now, I encourage you to do your own research.
In the show notes and an Extra edition of the Blog Oklahoma Newsletter I’ve provided some links with more information about SQ820.
After I’m done reading, I’ll share my thoughts on SQ820.
So let’s begin. Here is the text as it will appear on the March 7th ballot.
SQ820
State Question 820 / Initiative Petition No. 434
This measure creates a state law legalizing recreational use marijuana for persons 21 or older.
Marijuana use and possession remain crimes under federal law.
The export of marijuana from Oklahoma is prohibited.
The law will have a fiscal impact on the State.
The Oklahoma Tax Commission will collect a 15% excise tax on recreational use sales, above applicable sales taxes.
Excise tax revenues will fund implementation of the law, with any surplus revenues going to public school programs to address substance abuse and improve student retention (30%), the General Revenue Fund (30%), drug addiction treatment programs (20%), courts (10%), and local governments (10%).
The law limits certain marijuana-related conduct and establishes quantity limits, safety standards, restrictions, and penalties for violations.
A local government may prohibit or restrict recreational marijuana use on the property of the local government and regulate the time, place, and manner of the operation of marijuana businesses within its boundaries.
However, a local government may not limit the number of, or completely prohibit, such businesses.
Persons who occupy, own, or control private property may prohibit or regulate marijuana-related conduct, except that a lease agreement may not prohibit a tenant from lawfully possessing and consuming marijuana by means other than smoking.
The law does not affect an employer's ability to restrict employee marijuana use.
For the first two years, marijuana business licenses are available only to existing licensees in operation one year or more.
The law does not affect the rights of medical marijuana patients or licensees.
The law requires resentencing, reversing, modifying, and expunging certain prior marijuana-related judgments and sentences unless the State proves an unreasonable risk to a person.
The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority is authorized to administer and enforce the law.
For the proposal – Yes
Against the proposal – No
Well, there you have it SQ820. It’s so much fun reading these state questions aloud, such riveting content. I hope in my small why it helps you understand these state questions better by hearing them read to you.
Go Vote
Everyone in the state will be only voting on SQ820 on March 7th, but a few of you will have local elections also on the ballot. I suggest you visit the Oklahoma Elections Board OK Voter Portal and view a sample ballot.
Early voting is on Thursday, March 2nd and Friday, March 3rd from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Only those two days. The polls are open on Tuesday, March 7th from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Please visit the Oklahoma Elections Board for more details.
Links
- Oklahoma Elections Board
- Fact Sheet by the Oklahoma Policy Institute
- SQ820 Filing from the Secretary of State’s Office
- Wikipedia: Oklahoma State Question 820
- Ballotpedia: Oklahoma State Question 820, Marijuana Legalization Initiative (March 2023)
Blog Oklahoma Podcast
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This episode was recorded in front of a live teddy bear audience in beautify just off downtown Elk City, Oklahoma. During this session we used a MXL 990 microphone or Behringer Ultravoice XM18005 microphone connected to a Behringer Xenyx 502 audio mixer using a Behringer U-Control UCA202 USB Interface to feed into Audacity. Our audio episodes are hosted on Libsyn and our video episodes are hosted on YouTube.
The Blog Oklahoma Podcast episodes are released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
