GREG HARTON: Legal marijuana does up in smoke in OklahomaPosted by On


For advocates of fully legalized marijuana, the people of Oklahoma delivered a real bummer last Tuesday.

Marijuana legalization has wafted across the country in the decade or so since Colorado and Washington in 2012 became the first states to claim the high ground on so-called recreational pot. It’s legal in 21 states.

Only Idaho, Kansas and Nebraska have no provision for any sort of legal marijuana. Other states have some form of medical marijuana, ranging from tightly controlled to barely regulated.

I’ve never quite warmed to the whole “recreational” marijuana concept. It’s not Pickleball, after all. It’s a drug. I don’t subscribe to the “reefer madness” paranoia that was drilled into people’s heads for so long, but I also don’t see it as this harmless over-the-counter product advocates have largely been able to market it as.

But the trend away from criminalizing marijuana to legalizing it for largely self-prescribed medicinal uses has helped to clear a path toward more acceptance of marijuana overall. Still, Oklahomans said no.

The Associated Press reported the anti-legalization interests — such as faith groups and other conservatives — were outspent 20 to 1 in the Oklahoma campaign to fully legalize marijuana use. And yet the legalization plans went up in smoke. Exactly why is anyone’s guess, but the measure faced opposition from the state’s governor and other GOP leaders. Former Republican Gov. Frank Keating, an ex-FBI agent, and Terri White, the former head of the…

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