By the time 2024 arrived, numbers from the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority were bleak.
The cannabis industry was losing momentum fast.
At one time, Oklahoma’s cannabis industry was glowing from nationwide hype. The influential news site Politico called Oklahoma the wildest marijuana market in America.
The state earned nicknames like “Tokelahoma.”
All of this happened even though we’re among the most conservative states in America with a reputation for law and order.
Oklahoma voters in 2019 had nonetheless approved medical marijuana even though the language of the ballot measure was much more liberal than in other states. The measure was approved by 57 percent of voters.
Since then, the number of licenses for cannabis businesses in Oklahoma exploded by the thousands. At the industry’s height, there were more licenses for cannabis businesses here than virtually anywhere else in the nation.
But warning signs had emerged by 2023. Cannabis businesses by then were producing far more products than there were people to consume them in the state.
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Dramatic
The cannabis industry’s downturn by early 2024 was stunning. Commercial and patient licenses for medical marijuana had dropped by the thousands over a period of months.
The plunge in commercial licenses was notably dramatic. Every category of commercial license was down by the thousands: growers, dispensaries, and processors.
Oklahoma law enforcers, meanwhile, were pressuring cannabis businesses even further by seizing tens of thousands of plants and pounds of processed marijuana in 2024 alone.
Retail sales for medical cannabis in Oklahoma plummeted, too, by well over $200 million.
Then there were complaints from Oklahoma residents about the industry’s local impacts. Despite what cannabis was doing for the state of Oklahoma’s economy, politicians imposed a moratorium on new grower permits.
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Collapse
There’s another important reason why cannabis in Oklahoma has undergone major changes.
For commercial cannabis businesses at one time, there were few barriers to entry and few limits on production. But that led to supply greatly exceeding demand from consumers.
Residents and businesses and local leaders complained. Things got so bad, Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt called for shuttering the industry completely. He pointed to public safety concerns, marijuana products being diverted, and ongoing criticism over illegal grows.
According to Ted Streuli from the news site Oklahoma Watch:
“The oversupply collapsed wholesale prices and pushed many operators out of the market. Commercial real-estate agents describe a flood of vacant cannabis warehouses with almost no buyers. Rural grow facilities built with specialized lighting and climate systems are sitting empty. Law enforcement says much of the excess product has flowed out of state through illicit channels.”
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Reckoning
The industry news site Marijuana Business Daily called the devolution of cannabis in Oklahoma “a reckoning.” One insider told the Tulsa World that “many, many people” would leave the industry in the short term.
The industry faded so much, state marijuana regulators got rid of 10 percent of their workforce.
Said state officials: “What we are seeing is the free market doing exactly what it’s intended to do — balancing out supply with demand.”
The national news site Politico went further:
“The state’s uniquely free-market approach to weed legalization quickly manifested numerous problems. The entrepreneurs flooding into the state included many criminal enterprises — including hundreds with ties to Chinese organized crime — that used the wild-west market as camouflage to operate drug-smuggling operations.”
By 2023, voters weren’t so accommodating when presented with the chance to legalize adult cannabis that didn’t require a medical license. Every county in Oklahoma voted no.
Adds Politico:
“The overwhelming rejection of the 2023 recreational legalization referendum seemingly emboldened public officials who had previously been hesitant to crack down on the booming market out of fear of alienating their constituents. Since then, a slew of laws and regulations, as well as higher fees and tougher enforcement, have been put in place that have made it more challenging for businesses to operate and turn a profit.”
Bad actors
With his departure looming, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has said he wants to permanently close the cannabis industry. While it seems unlikely to succeed, Stitt’s attempts reflect a shift in the public’s mood toward medical marijuana.
Stitt announced in 2026 that he would ask the legislature to send a ballot initiative to voters that would fully shut down Oklahoma cannabis. Stitt said in public comments:“This industry is plagued by foreign criminal interests and bad actors, making it nearly impossible to rein in,” he said, according to the news site NonDoc.
State narcotics enforcers in Oklahoma have bragged about taking down even fully legal cannabis. Oklahoma would reportedly be the first in the nation to recriminalize cannabis.
Winning it all
Joe Norwood’s record says it all.
He’s won against foreign manufacturers. He’s won against the government over wrongful convictions. He’s won against banking interests and insurance companies.
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By G.W. Schulz