State Board Of Health Bans Sale Of Smokable Medical Marijuana

Smokable medical marijuana can’t be sold in Oklahoma dispensaries. The Oklahoma Board of Health voted on that and several other rules regulating Medical marijuana Tuesday.

The board approved almost all of the rules they published over weekend, with two big exceptions. In closed vote, the Oklahoma Board of Health added a rule that would outlaw the sale of smokable medical marijuana. The board also voted to mandate licensed pharmacists manage dispensaries.

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“I know the activist community will not be happy about this, at all, not at all,” said Chip Paul of Oklahomans for Health.

Paul said those rules go against the intent of the state question. And he knows that because he wrote it.

“Certainly in 788 we intended people to smoke marijuana and smoke it in smokable form and its incredulous to require a pharmacy on site at a dispensary,” said Paul.

But the rule changes are ones Oklahoma medical groups have pushed for.

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“I think there was some feeling that that was to allow smokeable forms would be a step back in their role as protectors of public health in Oklahoma,” said Tom Bates, Interim Commissioner of Health.

The rule changes were against the advice of the board's general counsel, and Bates said he believes there would have been litigation no matter what the board decided.

“This is the first step, we didn’t chisel anything today in granite, after this we will begin a permenant rule making process in which we will revisit some of these issues again,” said Bates.

Paul agreed, saying they can deal with the regulations they disagree with down the line.

“The great thing is we now have a framework and structure,” said Paul.

Licensed patients would still be able to grow marijuana in their homes and smoke that.