Welcome to the wild west of weed.

Eighteen months after Oklahoma voters approved medical marijuana, the state is awash in cannabis retail shops. One in 13 adult Oklahomans has a patient card. With no qualifying medical conditions required, patients are finding it easy to get approval, with consultations sometimes just a video call away.

A price war has broken out on the retail side, with intense competition among more than 2,200 licensed dispensaries across the state. Some sit on the same block of a city street. Oklahoma leads the nation in per-capita dispensaries in medical marijuana states, with 56 per 100,000 residents. Retail sales topped $345 million in 2019, and state tax revenue was $55 million, according to the Oklahoma Tax Commission.

Reciprocity, the legal process allowing a state-issued license to be accepted in other states, is relatively common among medical cannabis states. 

But it seems that not that many people actually use reciprocity, particularly in high bar states like Oklahoma.

The effort to get banking access for legal cannabis businesses seems to have lost the wind in its sails for a moment, and while we wait for a new breeze in Congress, a wave of crime is targeting the legal cannabis industry’s fat stacks of cash.

An initiative petition to legalize recreational marijuana use for Oklahomans ages 21 and older was quietly filed with the secretary of state’s office Thursday.

The 14-page petition seeks to amend Oklahoma’s constitution to legalize recreational marijuana for most residents and impose a 15% excise tax on recreational cannabis.

The measure also includes a provision to nullify many prior drug convictions, which could make waves in Oklahoma's criminal justice system.

An Oklahoma lawmaker is proposing a new law that would expedite the process for terminally ill patients to obtain a license to use medical marijuana. Under a bill introduced by Republican state Sen. Rob Standridge of Norman, the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority would have up to five days to issue medical marijuana identification cards to qualified terminally ill patients.

“I find the areas in which we can really help people with the medical marijuana, and one of those is end of life,” said Standridge.

The content of your weed could be a lot more than just THC.

News 4 went to the labs responsible for testing medical marijuana in Oklahoma and found out some distributors in the industry are skimping on their safety procedures.

Just drive down North May Avenue and you can't look left or right without seeing a medical marijuana dispensary.

Some are even calling it "The Green Mile."

But are the products you're buying safe?

The industry was unregulated in Oklahoma until the Unity Bill went into effect recently, making safety testing at licensed labs mandatory.

"We're talking about $40 a pound," Wendy Hampton, CEO at Express Toxicology Services, said.

Their Edmond facility mostly tests marijuana sent to them by growers and processors.

Cannabis laws are very clear in Oklahoma. The state legalized medical cannabis in October 2018. Since then, the medical marijuana industry has boomed in Oklahoma. Notably, the industry has brought in more consumers, growers, dispensers, processors, tax revenues, and patients in the state. However, there are some challenges. A new medical marijuana law hit Oklahoma. Let’s discuss the changes.

Legislation takes effect Friday expanding protections for state-qualified medical cannabis patients.

Legislation will take effect next week expanding protections for state-qualified medical cannabis patients.