A ruling last week by an Oklahoma County district judge gives all medical marijuana commercial licensees in Oklahoma until May 26 to become compliant with a “seed to sale” tracking system.
District Judge Natalie Mai signed an order Friday that lifts a restraining order that had blocked the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) from implementing Metrc, its seed-to-sale tracking system.
That restraining order had been obtained in April 2021 by the Tulsa-based law firm Viridian Legal Services against the OMMA and the Oklahoma State Department of Health as part of a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 10,000 state licensed cannabis businesses. Viridian said the order had restrained OMMA and the health department from forcing businesses to exclusively use Metrc. Metrc (Marijuana Enforcement Tracking Reporting and Compliance) is a cloud-based management system that OMMA has designated to track Oklahoma’s businesses.
Viridian and the OMMA announced Friday state officials and plaintiffs had reached an agreement that would allow the management system to continue.
Under the terms of the order filed by Oklahoma County District Judge Natalie Mai, Oklahoma cannabis licensees have 90 days from the date of her order (or, May 26) to become compliant with the Metrc tracking and tagging system. During those 90 days, OMMA must conduct at least five Internet-based seminars to educate licensees on implementation of the Metrc system, and also must ensure adequate staffing to be “reasonably responsive to questions licensees might have about the program implementation....”
Dispensaries have 180 days from the date of the order (or Aug. 24) to sell or legally dispose of all untagged cannabis products in their inventory.
According to a press release from OMMA, that agency will soon provide updates on the implementation of the seed-to-sale tracking system. Those holding commercial licenses will be updated about implementation via email and through the OMMA website and social media channels, officials said.
“Lifting this injunction clears the single biggest roadblock to OMMA enforcing the law,” said OMMA Executive Director Adria Berry. “This is a crucial step toward cracking down on licensees operating illegally or skirting the system within Oklahoma’s medical marijuana industry. Come May 27th, we will focus the bulk of our enforcement authority on businesses that are not Metrc-compliant.”
The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority was established in 2018 after the passage of State Question 788, which legalized medical marijuana in Oklahoma. OMMA is the regulatory agency for medical marijuana, currently serving about 400,000 licensees.