Just when Oklahoma’s Medical Board dropped pregnancy testing for MMJ licensing and lifted the ban on smokable weed – which was approved by Gov. Mary Fallin –the state’s two largest public universities announced that medical cannabis will not be allowed on campus.
While university officials acknowledge Oklahoma’s state law allowing MMJ, they’ve instead chosen to follow federal law on cannabis, citing the Federal Drug-Free Workplace Act and other requirements the universities have said they need to fulfill in order to continue receiving federal funding.
Since the June referendum approving State Question 788 legalizing medical marijuana passed broadly, some Oklahoma lawmakers and officials have tried to restrict the program by floating a series of controversial decisions that cannabis advocates have been fighting to overturn.
Cannabis supporters have had some successes fortunately. On August 8, Governor Fallin approved and signed rules that got rid of various obstructionist proposals.
As those obstacles were lifted, the decision to ban medical cannabis at Oklahoma State University (OSU) and the University of Oklahoma (OU) came as a shock.
The decision means that students living on campus who need and have the legal right to medical cannabis are barred from possessing or consuming it. The same goes for any faculty, staff, or other employees of the university.
OSU and OU students with a medical marijuana licenses will also not be permitted to grow cannabis if they live on campus. State law, however, allows for licensed patients to cultivate their own cannabis on property they own or in rentals so long as they have the landlord’s permission.
A violation would most likely result in the patient facing disciplinary or administrative sanctions from OSU or OU, according to the Tulsa World, but not criminal charges.
