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Medical Marijuana Working Group Agrees on Testing and Labeling Recommendations for Health Board

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Oklahoma’s Medical Marijuana Working Group finalized Wednesday its recommendations for the State Board of Health about testing and labeling rules.

The requirements would take effect May 15, 2019. Labels will not be required to have doctors’ or patients’ names on them, and they were going to read “For use by qualified patients only.”

"We have changed that [to] ‘For use by Oklahoma medical marijuana patients,’" said working group co-chair Sen. Greg McCortney. "That way, it couldn’t be contrived that someone who had a license in Colorado or some other state could come in and say, 'Well, I’m qualified.'"

Other recommendations direct labs to test for certain compounds, require a warning label on untested products and let dispensaries sell mature plants.

"You can go to the store and buy chocolate chip cookies, or you can go to the store and buy the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. This allows someone to purchase the raw ingredient instead of purchasing something that has already been processed," McCortney said.

The health board does not have to adopt the recommendations, but lawmakers on the working group hope they do.

"If the board of health rejects this, it would be my recommendation to this committee for us to ask the governor to call for a special session for testing and labeling," McCortney said.

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.