Medical Marijuana Proponents Plan To Fight New Rules In Court

Wednesday, July 11th 2018, 6:21 pm

By: Dana Hertneky

Governor Mary Fallin signed the controversial Medical Marijuana rules the State Board of Health voted on Tuesday. Several groups now say the next step may be legal action.

The Governor said "I expect modifications could occur in the future. I know some citizens are not pleased with these actions." But says this is the quickest and most cost-efficient way to get the process started.

Several groups however, including the ACLU, say they believe those rules were made illegally and are considering taking this to court.

Seven surgeries following a car accident left Ruth Dedmon in chronic pain. With CBD oil she has been able to wean off opioids, but believes smoking medical marijuana will finally make her feel better.

“Smoking, it gets you an instant relief,” she explained.

But yesterday the Oklahoma Board of Health voted she and other Oklahomans won't be able to buy smokable products.

“I felt violated, I felt betrayed by our state,” she said. “We asked them to step in and help us facilitate it and they stepped in and took it down.”

“There is without a doubt in my mind the department of health overstepped yesterday,” said attorney Rachel Bussett.

Bussett says she doesn’t believe the board had the authority to make rules that seem to go against the intent of the state question.

“When your own general council says you can’t do this and they do it anyway that’s a clear indication they know they weren’t supposed to do what they did.”