A petition to legalize medical marijuana sits under black lights at The Gypsy Coffee House in Tulsa’s Brady District. DYLAN GOFORTH / The Frontier
Tulsa’s City Council appears poised to enact a moratorium on applications related to medical marijuana production during Wednesday’s meeting, according to an agenda posted online.
The agenda states, the council, in an emergency clause, would declare “a moratorium on the acceptance or processing of any applications for, and on the issuance of, any permits or other City approvals for a Medical Marijuana Grower Operation or Medical Marijuana Processing Facility and on the initiation of construction, renovation or use of any building or real property for a Medical Marijuana Grower Operation or Medical Marijuana Processing Facility.”
The agenda states the proposed moratorium would be in effect pending amendments to zoning codes that regulate the use and location of medical marijuana facilities. The moratorium would go into effect “immediately,” according to the agenda, and would “remain in full force and effect until the earlier of the effective date of Zoning Code amendments regulating Medical Marijuana Grower Operations and Medical Marijuana Processing Facilities or 90 days after publication of this Ordinance.”
A spokesperson for the City of Tulsa said the proposed moratorium “is only on processing facilities and commercial growing operations, and not for retail establishments or home growing.” The city referred other questions to the Indian Nations Council of Governments, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.
Oklahomans For Health, a pro-marijuana advocacy group, posted about the proposal on Facebook on Tuesday, accusing the city of Tulsa of trying to “sneak” the moratorium by the public.
If “the City does this, they are VERY VERY liable just per the Attorney General’s letter regarding SQ788,” the group posted, crediting local attorney Ron Durbin for first noticing the proposed moratorium. Durbin recently sued the City of Broken Arrow, trying to prevent the city from enforcing anti-medical marijuana ordinances.
Durbin last week was quoted in the Tulsa World as saying that some zoning regulations proposed by the City of Tulsa in a draft were “brilliant,” while quarreling with others. Durbin could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.
The agenda posted online discusses “adverse impacts” that “Medical Marijuana Grower Operation or Medical Marijuana Processing Facility” may have on owners of “nearby properties.”
In order “to prevent adverse impacts and the creation of non-conformities, and otherwise to promote the public peace, health and safety, it is necessary and advisable temporarily to prohibit the acceptance or processing of any applications for, and the issuance of any permits or other City approvals for the location of a Medical Marijuana Grower Operation or Medical Marijuana Processing Facility and temporarily to prohibit the initiation of construction, renovation or use of any building or real property for a Medical Marijuana Grower Operation or Medical Marijuana Processing Facility, pending consideration by the (Tulsa Municipal Authority.)”
Oklahoma law bars city or county governments from changing or restricting zoning laws to prevent the opening of a retail marijuana establishment. By law, retail establishments are only prohibited from being within 1,000 feet of a school.
The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, the state’s regulatory agency on medical marijuana, started accepting applications for licenses on Aug. 25. As of Monday, the agency had received 1,619 business applications, according to OMMA. Of those so far, 593 grower licenses and 165 processor applications have been approved.
A medical marijuana processor license allows a business “to legally process marijuana for medical purposes in Oklahoma,” according to OMMA. Licensed processors are allowed to sell marijuana to licensed dispensaries and other processors.
Oklahomans passed State Question 788 in the June primary with about 57 percent of voters in favor of the measure. The proposal passed by an even bigger margin in Tulsa County, where almost 63 percent of voters were in favor of it.
