The Politics of Marijuana...
Dateline 3-8-23 The weather has returned to some sort of normalcy with cooler conditions here in Middle Tennessee which makes us folks at Tennessee homegrown glad that we showed restraint and planted only cold weather resistant veggies. The Arugula, Beets, Carrots and Kale should be able to endure the light freeze that is forecast in the next couple days. Meanwhile, The Old Hemp Farmer is enjoying a customary cup of organic Indonesian and nibbling on some Siriana Costa Rican Cacao fortified with Tennessee homegrown Cannabis extract. The other thing yours truly is chewing on this morning, are the results of the special election for Recreational Marijuana in Oklahoma. If you were a Cannabis professional hoping that a win in Oklahoma would spur on momentum for the industry, it was a “Heat Check”. Not only did the Okla-by God-homa Recreational Cannabis provision get beat, it got beat like a rented mule, it wasn’t even close. When the smoke cleared, over 60% of the votes were against Recreational Marijuana. So why did a state (Oklahoma) with maybe the most lenient Medical Marijuana laws in the U.S. drop the hammer on Recreational Marijuana? Why indeed?
Let’s drill down in Oklahoma (no pun intended) a bit shall we? In a state of slightly under 4 million people there are about 370,000 people that have Medical Marijuana cards. Which means that 15% of the Adult population of Oklahoma already has access to Cannabis at very competitive prices. And when I mean access, The Old Hemp Farmer means access. There are no Red Ropes or reservations required when it comes to weed in Oklahoma. As of February 8th, 2023 there are 2,877 dispensaries in the panhandle state that are being supplied by a staggering 7,078 licensed growers. This Cabal of Medical Marijuana growers and retailers netted this very Red State more than $120,000,000 in tax revenue. The curious fact about this special Recreational Cannabis election was that the turn out was low, I mean very low. Less than a third of the registered voters showed up at the polls, which means if the people that consume Cannabis and the Cannabis Industry would have showed up at the polls, this morning, there would be Recreational Marijuana in Oklahoma. So what happened? Maybe just maybe there were enough pro Cannabis people that were happy with things the way they were. It appears that there will be a moratorium on new grower licenses plus more and more stores are folding just enough to make a Medical Marijuana dispensary a little profitable. So there were sufficient amount of folks in the system that were happy enough with the way things are, that they didn’t show up at the voting booth. So for the near future in Oklahoma it will be the same as it ever was. Meanwhile in Tennessee, where we have one of the most lenient Hemp derived Cannabinoid markets in the U.S. there continues to be very little momentum to change anything. Although the state of Tennessee nowhere derives nearly as much tax revenue as Medical Cannabis in Oklahoma, its a revenue stream that continues to grow without changes in state law. The Old Hemp Farmer mentions the correlation between Oklahoma Medical and Tennessee Hemp Derived Cannabinoids because both are dark Red States that can tell their constituents that they are embracing the sinner just not the sin. Anyway as always, Hemp Dawgs and Hemp Puppies keep one eye on the weather and the other eye on the market. Visit our Tennessee Homegrown web site to try our great products: https://www.tnhomegrown.com
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