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Medical Marijuana Advocates Say They Will Challenge Rules in Court

Groups supporting medical marijuana will go to the courts to fight rules tweaked and adopted by the Oklahoma State Board of Health and signed by Gov. Mary Fallin this week.

"We have a law. We don't need any more laws done. We have a proper law that 57 percent — over 500,ooo of us — just approved. So, we don't need to change the law, but we do need to change what happened," said Chip Paul with Oklahomans for Health. "And, again, we all live in a republic, by gosh, and we got screwed, and we're not going to take it. We're not going to take it."

Oklahomans for Health and the Cannabis Trade Association object to changes the health board made before sending the rules to Fallin. Those changes ban the sale of smokable products and require dispensaries to have pharmacists on staff.

"I had more calls from attorneys than you could possibly imagine. There's so many attorneys that want a piece of this," Paul said. "We'll develop a proper legal path where we're operating under these emergency rules but where we're still challenging things."

Paul and other advocates say state officials' actions go against the will of the people who voted for State Question 788.

"Are these people really not that smart? I mean, we were outspent 1,000 to 1 in this campaign, 1,000 to 1. This is the way that people think," Paul said. "I think these politicians need to figure that out and these people who are making decisions at the Oklahoma State Department of Health need to figure this out. This is the will of the people."

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.