Medical marijuana may soon be legalized in Oklahoma - one of the reddest states in the US
- Oklahoma may approve a ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana on Tuesday.
- It's one of the least restrictive proposed medical marijuana laws in the country, allowing doctors to recommend the drug to anyone over the age of 18.
- Oklahoma residents support medical marijuana by a huge margin: 57-29%, according to recent polls.
Voters in Oklahoma may approve a ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana on Tuesday.
The ballot initiative, State Question 788, would be one of the least restrictive medical marijuana models in the US if it's passed. The law would allow doctors to recommend medical marijuana to anyone over the age of 18 and would legalize growing marijuana for medical purposes in the state.
A group opposed to medical marijuana spent $815,000 in a campaign to defeat the ballot initiative, and the Oklahoma State Medical Association spent a further $95,000 against the initiative, according to Cannabis Wire.
Oklahomans, however, overwhelmingly support the bill. Recent polls show 57.5% of Oklahoma residents support medical marijuana, with only 29.6% opposed to it.
Oklahoma's conservative electorate seems to be coming around the issue, PBS reports.
"Some people said I couldn't be a pastor and support medical marijuana, but I would say most of the people I know, including the Christians I pastor, are in favor of it," Danny Daniels, a conservative Evangelical pastor, told PBS.
Medical marijuana is legal in some form in 29 states, and the Food and Drug Administration recently approved a marijuana-based drug, Epidiolex, to treat childhood epilepsy.
The federal government still considers marijuana a Schedule I drug.
Other red states, including Arkansas and Utah, are weighing medical marijuana ballot initiatives this year, while Michigan residents will vote on legalizing the drug outright in November.