It was another busy week at the Capitol as Senate committees continued meeting to vote on dozens of House bills. Two very important House bills I’m sponsoring passed the Senate Business and Commerce Committee, which I lead.House Bill 3361 aims to prevent illegal sales of medical marijuana and give patients more information about the origins of their cannabis. Black market marijuana grow operations have exploded in the state since Oklahoma legalized medical cannabis in 2018. Although other lawmakers and I have supported policies to give the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority and the attorney general’s office more power to crack down on illegal grows, some illicit operations still exist. HB 3361 would require growers to sell marijuana flower and flower-based products to dispensaries in prepackaged parcels that weigh less than three ounces. The packages would also be required to include labeling information on where the marijuana was grown. Other marijuana products are already packaged and labeled.This idea has been a work in progress for years. At its core, this bill is about protecting public safety. Requiring growers to prepackage flower will reduce the number of people touching the marijuana, making it safer for patients. This measure will also help ensure dispensaries are obtaining marijuana from legal growers, as opposed to buying off the black market. We’re also trying to regulate the output from dispensaries by having growers package the marijuana in reasonable portions.Many other states with medical marijuana programs impose similar requirements. This shouldn’t be a costly or burdensome change for growers. And nothing in this bill will stop dispensaries from opening a package of marijuana and putting flower into another container for display or for customers to smell, which is already allowed by law.My committee also passed a bill I like to jokingly call Bitcoin for Dummies. Currently, Oklahoma has no laws defining or regulating Bitcoin or blockchain. This bill seeks to change that by putting standard definitions in statute and ensuring Oklahomans have the ability to use digital assets to make legal purchases. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that uses blockchain to secure and record transactions. Because Bitcoin mining can get noisy, House Bill 3594 also requires Oklahomans who participate in digital asset mining to comply with local noise ordinances. Digital asset mining businesses would be limited to areas zoned for industrial use.April 11 is the deadline for House bills to be heard in Senate committees. I look forward to ...
