Petition drive for recreational marijuana needs volunteers, organizers say | Marijuana in Oklahoma

On Friday, Jed Green of Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action was traveling across the Tulsa area to visit dispensaries hosting the petitions.

“We wanted to take advantage of our (medical marijuana) retail locations across the state … nice, indoor areas where folks could go to sign because it’s hot out there,” Green said. “And then from there, we’ve got folks who are starting to come in, pick up packets and then actually work their way out into the field and doing events.”

Those helping gather signatures for the ORCA effort say most who have questions fall into three categories. Some are confused about the three cannabis-related petitions currently in Oklahoma, while others are patients mainly worried about keeping access to their medicine.

SQ 818 is ORCA’s proposed constitutional change for state law to allow for medical marijuana. It differs from the initiative petition that already legalized medical marijuana — SQ 788, approved by Oklahoma voters in July 2018 — in that it would not allow for changes by the state Legislature.

SQ 819, the companion petition from ORCA, would enshrine legal recreational marijuana for adult use into Oklahoma’s constitution. It eliminates a tax on cannabis for licensed patients.

The other petition, SQ 820, Green said “is a version of recreational” from a national group that has been collecting signatures recently at public events including rallies for reproductive rights.

Bonnie Caldwell, finance director for Seed Cannabis, pointed out a couple of the differences between 819 and 820 on Friday.

“We can feel confident (819) won’t be changed,” she said.

As an initiative petition, SQ 820 would be subject to similar changes as SQ 788.

“But 820 also has the portion about (retroactive expungement) to help those who have faced criminal charges in Oklahoma solely for marijuana possession,” Caldwell noted.

A similar clause was stricken from SQ 819 as legally too vague. Green pointed out SQ 818 addresses the inherent problems with THC metabolite testing for patients, as well as law enforcement confusion.

A third category of questions about the recreational marijuana petition comes from people curious about the “scorecard,” or how far the campaign for SQ 819 is to hitting its goal.

Green said: “They’ll ask ‘How many signatures do you have?’ And I’ll just kind of say, ‘How many signatures did you collect?’”

To be considered for placement on a statewide ballot, SQ 818-819 need 178,000 signatures for each petition. SQ 820, organized by New Approach PAC, needs 95,000 signatures.

Green said cannabis supporters remember well the controversy of 2018 when a different group, Green the Vote, collected signatures for a recreational marijuana petition. The group’s leaders reported inflated numbers in updates to supporters throughout the campaign.

ORCA is devoting its resources to collecting the signatures and training volunteers, Green said, so there’s no time for counting yet.

With an Aug. 24 deadline to deliver the signatures to the Secretary of State, ORCA plans to finalize its collections Aug. 19-20, he said.