Collin Rockett, an Oklahoma City-based attorney who co-founded CannaLaw Group, PLLC, has been among numerous advocates petitioning lawmakers to keep the spirit of SQ 788 intact. Rockett said he believed McCortney’s suggestions relating to the recommendation process will negatively affect patients.

”We’re already watching doctors drop medical marijuana patients like flies,” he said, adding: “Giving them discretion to (impose THC purchase limits) just makes it even more likely that they will, in my opinion.” He said the possible ban on telemedicine is unfair for patients in rural areas or whose conditions make in-person interaction difficult.

McCortney said he hopes the bills will make doctors more comfortable with recommending patients. He also discouraged the use of telemedicine for recommendation of cannabis use, saying he thought face-to-face visits better met the legal criteria for a “bona fide doctor-patient relationship.”

“As long as it’s federally illegal, doctors are going to be scared to get too deep into making this look like a prescription,” he said. Of the language on THC limits, he said, “It’s a may, not a shall. Doctors don’t have to give a number for how much THC they want to limit. This just gives them an option to do whatever they think is best.”