U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe’s office announced Wednesday he has requested $4 million in federal funds to combat illegal marijuana growing operations in Oklahoma.
Luke Holland, Inhofe’s chief of staff, said Wednesday during a visit to Lawton that he made that announcement earlier in the day during an Oklahoma Sheriffs Association meeting.
The funding would allow the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs to create a unit to combat “trans-national and national drug organizations,” helping to stem the tide of illegal drug operations by cartels and others in the wake of Oklahoma’s legalization of medical marijuana. The unit is expected to work with the state’s sheriffs.
Law enforcement entities, which opposed legalization of medical marijuana by voters in 2018, said illegal marijuana-growing operations are setting up in rural parts of the state, funneling the drug into illegal drug trade. Holland said those same entities are responsible for bringing other illegal operations to the state, to include human trafficking.