OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The Oklahoma Senate passed multiple bills on Thursday to enhance public safety within the medical marijuana industry.

Senator Jessica Garvin, R-Duncan, says the bills are directed towards youth access, medical education, product potency, recalls and other matters requested by the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA).

“Medical marijuana was overwhelmingly supported by Oklahoma voters in 2018 but unfortunately numerous safety issues have arisen that must be addressed to ensure these products are prescribed and accessible only for those with true medical needs and conditions,” Garvin said.

“These bills will require continuing education for doctors in order to prescribe these products, create guardrails to protect youth, limit dangerous THC levels, and provide additional tools for OMMA to stop illegal activity. These reforms will help better protect legitimate patients and businesses.”

The approved bills include:

• Senate Bill 437 conducts the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) to develop a registry to be published starting January 1, 2025, of physicians following the agency’s original and continuing medical education requirements. All medical marijuana business employees will also need to complete the education requirements.
• Senate Bill 440 tells the OMMA to develop rules that would limit the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) potency of medical marijuana and related products sold in dispensaries to no more than 1,000 mg of delta-9 THC per package for edible products; 5 mg of delta-8 THC or any other THC isomer or analogue that naturally occurs in cannabis per package of edibles. The director is subject to limit THC in edibles further for patients under 18 and will limit access to THC vapes.
• Senate Bill 439 conducts the OMMA to provide a list of qualifying medical conditions to receive a medical marijuana patient license. Physicians will need to hold in-person exams of all license applicants unless the patient is certified as home-bound. It also requires that the two recommending physicians able to prescribe medical marijuana for minors to not be located at the same physical address. Before medical marijuana can be prescribed, at least one of the doctors must authenticate that the minor has been under his or her care or referred to by a physician who has cared for the patient for at least a year, or not less that 5 years if the applicant has only been seen through telemedicine.
• Senate Bill 264 allows OMMA to use ‘secret shoppers’ to discover businesses not following the state’s medical marijuana rules and laws.
• Senate Bill 645 requires that any medical marijuana flower, trim, shake, kief, medical marijuana product, or other flower-based product not labeled as a concentrate, sold by licensed processors and commercial growers to licensed dispensaries be pre-packaged and weigh at least half of a gram and no more than three ounces. Flowers are allowed to be packaged in nonopaque materials.
• Senate Bill 813 allows the OMMA to run a quality assurance lab to direct compliance testing of medical marijuana businesses.

The bills will now move onto the House for further consideration where Rep. T.J. Martin, R-Broken Arrow will be the principal House author.