Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Petition Falls Short

Thursday, August 21st 2014, 6:21 pm

By: News 9

The Oklahoma Secretary of State's Office says an effort to legalize medical marijuana in the state has fallen short of the number of signatures needed to put the issue on a ballot.

Officials said Thursday volunteers for Tulsa-based Oklahomans for Health collected 75,384 signatures in their initiative petition drive. But they needed 155,216 to get the issue on the Nov. 4 general election ballot.

8/15/2014 Related Story: Deadline Passes For Petition To Put Medical Marijuana Issue On Ballot

Volunteers delivered dozens of boxes of signed petitions to the Secretary of State's Office on Friday. Chip Paul, who filed the initiative petition in April, said at the time he believed the effort would fall short. Paul says thousands of signatures were not turned in because they did not meet format requirements of state law.

8/12/2014 Related Story: Medical Marijuana Supporters Working Against Deadline To Get Signatures

Paul says the organization plans another initiative petition drive next year.