I was born and raised in Oklahoma and this is one of the last things I would think I would see in this state. I moved to North Carolina in the late 90s. When I left Oklahoma you could only buy 3.2% beer outside of a liquor store and tattoos were not legal. The Daily Oklahoman, the biggest newspaper, was very conservative.
Economically Oklahoma could be doing much better. The only reason I left Oklahoma was for a decent job. With my background in science, I was just not getting the kind of available jobs that led me to believe I had a future there. I was actually working a scientific job in the day, and washing dishes at night to make ends meet before I left Oklahoma.
I believe, in Oklahoma, that medical marijuana was only legalized as a path toward recreational marijuana use. Although Oklahoma is conservative, there's a lot of people that are not politically active that do not want the government telling them what to do à la a bit of the wild west still. I am a libertarian and my beliefs stem from growing up in Oklahoma. Wide open spaces, self reliance, low taxes, and more freedom were things I enjoyed growing up.
Oklahoma is also geographically uniquely positioned. It has Interstate I-35 running right through the middle North to South. It has Interstate 40 running from Tulsa in the Northeast into the panhandle of Texas. The amount of illegal pot transported through the state must be unimaginable. The panhandle of Oklahoma shares a border with Colorado, which has legalized recreational marijuana.
When I was a teenager, friends would drive to Kansas or Texas to get "6-point" beer. And in Northern Oklahoma, it was known if you wanted to get a tattoo to drive up to "Ark City," Arkansas City, Kansas to get one legally. So what the politicians of Oklahoma did not provide the interstates and a tank of gas did.
So, I think it was combination of what the people of Oklahoma wanted and politicians hungry for tax revenue led to medical marijuana becoming available.
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