Oklahoma medical hashish growers could also be producing 64 instances extra hashish than wanted for the state’s affected person inhabitants, in accordance with a Hashish Public Coverage Consulting study commissioned by the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA). The examine used information from the state’s newly applied seed-to-sale monitoring system and surveys of greater than 1,300 hashish sufferers.
Based on the report, “the supply-to-demand ratio of [Oklahoma’s] regulated medical marijuana provide to regulated medical hashish demand is 64:1.” Given the final assumption {that a} market’s models of provide mustn’t exceed double its demand, “the medical marijuana program has at least 32 instances extra regulated marijuana mandatory” — and the oversupply is “very seemingly including to a bootleg market each on the level of cultivation and the purpose of retail sale,” the report mentioned.
Oklahoma has among the many loosest medical hashish program within the U.S. and over the past yr, lawmakers have handed a number of payments in search of to reign it in, together with requiring $50,000 bonds for hashish cultivators, imposing a moratorium on new cultivation licenses, and giving OMMA the authority to close down hashish farms that injury the setting.
“The quantity of oversupply throughout the regulated system coupled with low boundaries to market entry counsel unlicensed/illicit hashish cultivation operations are unlikely to be noticed throughout the state, and that this illicit market might, in reality, be hiding in plain sight.” — Hashish Public Coverage, “An Empirical Evaluation of Oklahoma’s Medical Marijuana Market,” June 2023
The examine means that 38% of hashish obtained in Oklahoma comes from the regulated market – both dispensaries or residence grows – whereas 44% is obtained by way of the unregulated market and 18% is obtained from out-of-state adult-use dispensaries.
The report means that Oklahoma proceed to increase the moratorium on hashish cultivation licenses by way of 2026 and authorize OMMA to grab and destroy hashish merchandise that aren’t logged within the seed-to-sale methods, amongst different steps to deal with the state’s oversupply points.
Editor’s word: This text was up to date to make clear that Oklahoma’s estimated medical hashish oversupply is 64 instances greater than the state’s present demand, not 64 instances greater than what is required by way of affected person entry.
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