A pair of Oklahoma City residents has filed an initiative petition to legalize recreational marijuana in the state.
State Question 806 would legalize recreational marijuana for people 21 and older. They would be allowed to possess up to an ounce of marijuana or eight grams of a concentrate, either alone or in an infused product.
Sales would be subject to a 15% excise tax. Those tax revenues would first go toward funding an Oklahoma Marijuana Authority to oversee licensing and regulation of a recreational marijuana industry.
After the authority is funded, 4% of tax revenues would go back to municipalities or counties where sales happened, 48% would go toward grants to public schools for a broad range of substance abuse prevention programs, and 48% would go toward grants to agenices and nonprofits to increase access to addiction treatment.
Under SQ806, local governments would be allowed to enact time, place and manner restrictions for marijuana businesses. It also has a provision to allow individuals to petition for an ordinance to limit the number of retail licensees allowed to operate in a city.
SQ806 would do away with the need for medical marijuana patient licenses.
Licenses for commercial growers and sellers, testing facilities and retail sellers would still exist. Currently licensed medical marijuana distributors would be allowed to start recreational operations four months after the proposed recreational marijuana laws take effect.
SQ806 would amend Oklahoma's constitution, so it needs 178,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot. It was filed Dec. 12.
