Advocates in Oklahoma have received state approval to begin collecting signatures for a ballot initiative asking voters whether to legalize both medical and recreational cannabis in November, according to a KOKH. The measure would add legalization to the state constitution, rather than as a law, which would also need to be codified by the state legislature.
Oklahomans will vote on medical cannabis legalization in June but the legislature will also need to approve the law. The medical cannabis constitutional amendment ballot initiative would allow excise taxes on sales and divide the proceeds with 75 percent to the state Department of Education and 25 percent to the Department of Health. The initiative would also includes language to legalize industrial hemp – which was already approved by lawmakers last month – but it would add those reforms to the constitution.
The adult-use plan would see the first $40 million raised from tax revenues derived from wholesale excise taxes to be used for school construction funding. The measure caps sales taxes at 20 percent and would see all funds after the $40 million split between the Department of Education (50 percent), the Department of Health (25 percent), and the state General Fund (25 percent).
Green the Vote, the group behind the initiative, can begin collecting signatures May 11. The advocates need to collect 125,000 valid signatures by Aug. 8 in order to put the issue to voters.
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