As medical marijuana continues to grow in Oklahoma at a wonderfully fast pace. With over 100,000 patients in the program now, the state continues to work to establish helpful tools for those curious about cannabis. Furthermore, the federal government’s prohibition of cannabis still impacts businesses operating an Oklahoma medical marijuana dispensary despite being federally prohibited.
To this point, the state authority behind the industry continues to lend a hand with tools to help patients learn about cannabis. To this point, the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority established a new call center that can help answer questions residents have about cannabis.
While the state works to help the young Oklahoma medical marijuana industry, the federal government still continues to drag its feet with ending cannabis prohibition. While this brings few benefits, it offers businesses many hardships than other industries face.
With that in mind, we take a closer look at the Oklahoma medical marijuana news for this week.
OOMA Call Center Encourages Patient Questions
With the medical marijuana market taking off in such a popular fashion across Oklahoma, the state has started a call center to help patients navigate the market. According to OKC Fox, the regulatory body known as Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OOMA) opened a call center for patients to get answers to questions they may have about Oklahoma medical marijuana. With this wonderful new additional resource, patients should be able to answer any questions they have about the blooming medical marijuana market.
The call center has previously been closed earlier in 2019 to help process the massive influx of license applications that came into the office. Between the 100,000 plus medical marijuana patients the office had to approve, they also helped with the issuance of business licenses which totaled in the thousands. Through this process, the state law mandates a specific and limited amount of time to respond to all of these licenses. Thus, the additional resources were needed briefly when the application numbers peaked but now can be reallocated back to the call center.
Oklahoma Marijuana Businesses Still Have to Follow Federal Law
Despite the cannabis plant being federally prohibited, Oklahoma medical marijuana businesses still have to follow federal regulations while often not getting the benefits of such compliance. According to the Oklahoman, medical marijuana employers still have to follow federal employee law. With this in mind, employees of an Oklahoma cannabis company can rest assured they will have protections against any abuses by the employer. This case decided in a court case that recently ruled that cannabis operators did indeed have to follow federal employee standards despite the cannabis plant being federally illegal.
Yet, these regulations are one of the few examples of where the federal government helps with regards to cannabis. Other aspects of federal regulations such as the tax code seem to only hinder the cannabis sector instead of helping it at all. Businesses, while required to pay their fair share of a variety of federal taxes, also do not get the traditional tax write-offs which make operating a business more viable. That being said, these regulatory oddities are sure to occur when there is a discrepancy between state and federal law as blatantly as is the case with cannabis.
In closing, it’s wonderful to see the state Medical Marijuana Authority working to help answer patient questions. Even as the federal government continues to be slow to react to the legalization of medical marijuana, the state of Oklahoma has done a wonderful job to foster a strong medical marijuana market here. That being said, the local medical marijuana market could never be in a stronger position. Once the federal government does make a change to the archaic prohibition of cannabis laws currently in place, Oklahoma will be poised to lead the way for cannabis deregulation.
Finally, remember our team here at The Peak Dispensary are here to help as well! If you ever have any questions about Oklahoma medical marijuana, the team here with The Peak Dispensary is always happy to help where they can. Stop by one of our many store locations and a member of our team is happy to help where they can!
Learn more about The Peak Dispensary.
