Field representatives for U.S. Sens. James Lankford and Jim Inhofe as well as U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas visited with the Weatherford Area Economic Development Authority recently.
Lankford and Inhofe represent Oklahoma in the U.S. Senate while Lucas represents Oklahoma’s District 3, which includes Custer County.
Ryan Sproul with Inhofe, Steve Carson with Lankford and Megan Knight addressed questions and concerns from members of the committees.
One of the big concerns brought up was foreign entities buying local land to grow marijuana.
“It’s not just here in Weatherford,” Sproul said. “It’s happening where I live in Fairview and all across the United States.”
Carson said medical marijuana has become a very profitable business in Oklahoma, and land is cheap. Medical marijuana sales in March 2021 were more than $9 million and card holders on average spent about $230 each.
Carson said Oklahoma has more dispensaries than any other state. Dispensaries also outnumber any other type of store in the state.
In addition, Oklahoma had the most lax medical marijuana laws until Oregon recently changed its regulations. This brings more people into the state
“There are a lot of eyes on this issued in Oklahoma and most other state,” Knight said. “I think there will be a lot of movement on it, especially if any illegal activity happens.”
Lankford, Inhofe and Lucas each have been working to have U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on the Committee on Foreign Investments to possibly help with situations like this.
“It’s a problem, we get it, but I don’t know if there’s a lot we can do on the federal level,” Sproul said.
Currently, marijuana use of any kind still is illegal on the federal level. Ultimately, this situation will need to be handled by the individual states.
Carson said Lankford will not vote to legalized marijuana use at a federal level.
Another big concern addressed by the trio was continuation of COVID-19-related relief packages.
Bankers expressed concern with the ever-changing forgiveness terms of the Paycheck Protection Plan and as well as fraud.
Business owners said they had issued finding employees because people were making more money on unemployment.
Sproul said these were meant to be a short-term fix to assist individuals and boost the economy, but congress just keeps throwing money at the problem.
Republicans have been voting against the measures but Democrats currently have the majority, so the measures keep passing.
The long-term effect these measures will have on the economy also needs to be considered.
“It’s time to get people back to work and start moving forward,” Knight said. “If we keep shelling out a bunch of money, how are we going to pay for it and what is it going to do 20 years from now?”