Oklahomans Prepares to Rally at State Capitol for Medical Marijuana - 71% of Oklahomans want it

With a medical marijuana rally scheduled from 9 A.M. to 4 P.M. at the Oklahoma State Capitol on Wednesday, I sat down and spoke with one of the state’s longest and loudest advocates of legalization, State Sen. Constance Johnson (D-Forest Park), to talk about, amongst other things - marijuana.

Johnson has made national headlines as she has put forth bills in the past attempting to legalize medicinal marijuana, and just recently filed a bill that would legalize recreational marijuana use. Currently only Colorado and Washington have legalized recreational pot.

The firebrand Democrat stated that her main objectives for this year’s legislative session were to attempt to have a better relationship with her Republican colleagues and to objectively discuss proposals which she claims frequently “are very shallow, not well thought out, and seem to appeal to special interests.” She asserts that the culture within the legislature under the Republican leadership has tended to appeal to favored entities instead of representing the voice of the people.

Those allegations seem to ring true considering a September Sooner Poll revealed that 71.2 percent of Oklahomans support legalizing medicinal marijuana...

Currently, twenty states have legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. When I asked Sen. Johnson the reasons her colleagues give for refusing to adapt to the science, she stated: “It is a Catch-22, because they want to hear it from a doctor. A doctor is afraid for his livelihood, and that is how vicious this state is. So Doctor X,Y,Z comes and testifies; all of a sudden, the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) and the OBNDDC (Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control) are investigating his office.”

- See more at: http://www.reddirtreport.com/red-dirt-politics/medical-marijuana-issue-importance-johnson