Oklahoma’s law enforcement program told Congress Thursday that most of them were from China and had “infiltrated” the legal medical marijuana industry that once flew high and is now struggling.
That’s the testimony that the Oklahoma Narcotics Bureau (OBN) is preparing for the Homeland Security Subcommittee, according to KTUL, a Tulsa-based ABC affiliate.
After the explosive start of MMJ legalization in 2019, Oklahoma’s cannabis industry has been in a state of freedom.
According to Politico, the state now has about 5,000 MMJ operators after reaching 14,000 licensed businesses in 2021.
OBN officials told KTUL that there were only about 2,000 of them.
Violent crimes and fraud related to Oklahoma marijuana
According to Boben, many “foreign nationals” use “fraud and straw ownership” to evade national laws, requiring licensed operators to become state residents.
Law enforcement and state and federal lawmakers raised questions about organized crime in the cannabis industry in Maine and Oklahoma.
Several high-profile crimes, including the 2022 tetraploid murder in a cannabis cultivation operation, have raised these concerns.
But Oklahoma may have contributed to the MMJ’s free-to-go approach, too.
Oklahoma medical marijuana corrects explosive growth
With low fees, no statewide license caps and easy patient qualifications, the state is flooded with marijuana, which is rare.
OBN Deputy Director Brian Surber told KTUL that the state produces 64 times more marijuana than marijuana.
The market also appears to have played a role despite law enforcement claiming to cut the state’s cannabis industry and shut down as many as 6,000 illegal farms.
In an interview with Politico, former tiller Josh Fischer said he lost $300,000 on a cannabis business in Oklahoma City — partly due to losses during the robbery and partly due to market difficulties.
“I don’t think anyone legally makes 100% of it legally as I do,” he told Politico.
