Eight years after legalizing medical marijuana, most Oklahomans are not interested in legalizing its recreational use.
BLACKWELL, Okla.—When Oklahoma legalized medical marijuana on June 26, 2018, many people were hopeful it would stimulate the economy while helping eligible patients.
They expected the 7 percent excise tax and state and local property taxes on sales to bring in more money for schools and infrastructure, create new jobs, and help the economy thrive.
Few people expected organized crime to rise to the levels it has, said Mark Woodward, public information officer for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.
Woodward said at least 85 percent of the illegal grow facilities that popped up in Oklahoma have ties to Chinese organized crime.
“They used straw owners because so many of them came here during the pandemic,” he told The Epoch Times. “The first thing they wanted to do was try to look legitimate.”
Illicit operators often buy old houses or undeveloped property in remote areas at competitive prices and then add buildings to grow marijuana, said Mike Garcia, agent in charge of the 8th District Attorney’s Drug Task Force/Major Crime Unit.
He and his team of three field agents regularly patrol communities in Oklahoma’s Kay and Noble counties—that have licensed marijuana farms and dispensaries—to ensure compliance with state law.
“You have to keep countering the illegal [operations] to balance it out. It’s a hard thing to do,” Garcia said; his unit covers 1,652 square miles.
“We’ve seen a mix of groups out here—Asian, Eastern European, Middle Eastern,” Garcia told The Epoch Times. “Through our investigations, we found money that was going back to China.”
Kay County Sheriff Steve Kelley said that soon after the state legalized medical marijuana, the county experienced an influx of mostly Asian groups seeking to obtain property and a license to grow and sell marijuana.
“I know one farmer personally who had a three-bedroom, two-bath, double-wide trailer house that sat on 26 acres with two outbuildings,” he told The Epoch Times. “Asian groups came in with a trash sack full of money and paid him $280,000.”
“Who’s going to say no to that?”
Other foreign buyers paid in cash, outbidding local land buyers, Kelley said.
“They would come in and build their grow operation and start doing it. And they’d do it for two or three years and leave their mess behind,” he said.
“The first three or four years, we just had an influx of illegal grow operators. They would undercut the legal ones and put them out of business.”
Kelley estimates that of the 200 grow operations that opened in Kay County since 2018, about 75 percent of those that shut down left behind dangerous chemicals and trash.
“We’ve got $200,000 buildings riddled with mold,” Kelly said. “Who’s going to be stuck with that? The taxpayers, in my opinion.
“Eventually, it’s going to fall back to the sheriffs to sell. We’re going to have to sell it at a very low price because it’s going to take thousands of dollars to clean it up.”
By Allan Stein
