The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority has temporarily closed its customer service center to free up more staff to respond to the high volume of applications for medical marijuana cards.

The number of applications received per week rose from 1,200 in September to around 5,000 in February, agency officials said. The agency's policy requires a response to emails, requests and applications within 14 calendar days.

The authority has reassigned the call center's three to five employees from working the phones to processing applications full-time, KFOR-TV reported.

Melissa Miller, the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority's spokeswoman, said the agency also hired extra staff to address the rising demand. The shift allows them to respond to 300-500 more applications daily.