Oklahoma officials seize thousands of pounds of marijuana, shut down five businesses
The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority announced Tuesday the agency along with law enforcement in Kay County recently shut down five marijuana businesses. This comes after the authority recently increased scrutiny of Oklahoma's potential to overproduce and export the product, likely fed by illegal grows.
Responding to complaints about medical marijuana businesses in the Ponca City area, the authority and Kay County law enforcement from Sept. 11 to Sept. 14 performed 19 routine compliance inspections at licensed facilities and seized or embargoed 14,000 marijuana plants and 4,850 pounds of marijuana.
The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority filed emergency orders that immediately shut down growers, pending further administrative action.
OMMA shut down five grow operations after citing illegal activities
According to the orders, on Sept. 11, investigators at Polar Lights LLC found six large blue storage containers filled with 160 pounds of untraceable and untagged marijuana.
At JN Green Grow, officials found thousands of untagged and untraceable marijuana plants and numerous totes, coolers, plastic bags and trash bags filled with suspected illicit marijuana.
On Sept. 13, there were 31 vacuum-sealed bags with untraceable marijuana were discovered at DIHOW.
Investigators at Zhangs Farm found more than 3,400 untagged marijuana plants and untraceable harvested marijuana.
Officers at L&L Magic Grower found 14 trash bags with 214 pounds of untraceable marijuana.
Authorities seek the public's help to reduce illegal grows
Voters approved Oklahoma's medical marijuana program in 2018 that launched with no limits on the number of marijuana producers, sellers or users. Nearly 10% of Oklahomans have a license to use marijuana.
Today, Oklahoma might be producing 64 times more marijuana than needed by licensed cannabis consumers, according to a June study released by the authority.
Data from the state's new seed-to-sale tracking system and surveys of more than 1,300 licensed marijuana users were used to create the report.
Officials say the significant oversupply is likely funneling large amounts of marijuana out of state and adding to the illegal market.
“We encourage the public to notify our call center or use the business complaint form on our website when they suspect illegal activity in their area,” authority Executive Director Adria Berry said in a statement. “Our enforcement, compliance and legal teams stand ready to ensure the safety of our patients and their communities through swift action.”
During the enforcement action, the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority worked with investigators from the District 8 District Attorney Task Force, Kay County district attorney’s office, Kay County Sheriff’s Office, Ponca City Police Department and Osage County district attorney's office.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma officials seize thousands of untraceable marijuana plants
