• Consumers must pay a $100 fee to get the license after their application is approved.
• New laws have been implemented, allowing consumers that use medical marijuana to purchase firearms.

The world of legal medical cannabis is different in each state, and Oklahoma officials are quickly finding out how great the need is for this substance. The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority officially started accepting applications last year, and there have already been approvals for 200,000 patients to receive licenses. On average, about 3,500 applications are being approved each week since they started being accepted. After approval, the license costs patients a $100 fee.

New rules regarding requirements for seed-to-sale tracking, rules against physicians that attempt to make recommendations in dispensaries, and the legalizing of firearm ownership for cannabis patients went into effect last month. Previously, federal law prevented anyone who used “illegal drugs” from purchasing firearms, of which medical marijuana is not.

With the new law, working in “safety sensitive” positions surrounding heavy machinery operation, handling hazardous materials, or firefighting should be conscious about the patient’s status. Regulations against the ban of medical cannabis businesses at the municipal level were also implemented last month.

Oklahoma Greenlights Over 7,000 Medical Marijuana Licenses in First Year

At this point, product testing is required by the rules, but applications for such laboratories aren’t yet being accepted.

More than 7,300 business licenses have already been issued by Oklahoma’s regulators during the first year of its medical cannabis program. Beyond that, 4,300 grower permits have also been approved. Beyond licenses for growers, processors, and dispensaries, the state now allows for a new license as a transporter.

New rules will form the future industry-standard compliance systems and this can truly shakeout the MMJ program of Oklahoma. For example, new medical cannabis companies have to prove that ¾ of the owners reside in Oklahoma. Other rules being rolled out in the next weeks and months will regulate the labeling, testing, waste management, and seed-to-sale tracking.

In the first year of the program, there have been 4,287 grower licenses, 1,173 processor licenses, and 1,848 dispensary licenses issued according to the Medical Marijuana Authority.

There have also been 178,173 approved applications from patients for the purchase and usage of medical marijuana products. In fact, Marijuana Business Factbook estimates that sales of these products in Oklahoma will be as much as $140 million to $180 million in the first year of operations, which is much higher than originally projected.