Superior Buds is one of three dispensaries in this small town along historic Route 66 on Tuesday, July 27, 2021 in Bristow, Okla. | RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via APThe world’s wildest weed market — which at its peak had nearly 14,000 licensed medical marijuana businesses — has been steadily shrinking since Oklahoma voters overwhelmingly rejected a recreational legalization referendum in March.
The unlikely boom market has been sullied by dozens of raids on illegal cultivation sites, rampant diversion of products into the illicit market, allegations of human trafficking and grisly crimes, including, who has worked extensively on cannabis policy, said the blowback is so severe among his fellow lawmakers and constituents that he doesn’t see any point in introducing legislation seeking to boost the medical market and help struggling business owners.
Chris Moe, a medical marijuana patient and advocate widely known as “Uncle Grumpy,” thinks the bloodletting will be even more severe: 80 percent of businesses, he predicts, will be gone by the one-year anniversary of the failed referendum.The only people who don’t want the industry shrunk are those who know they’re going to lose everything.”
“Many people in the marijuana industry didn’t do their due diligence and they should have known better,” Fetgatter said. “If you start a business, you should know all the guidelines.” Weed businesses are feeling the blowback, too. Travis Smith, co-founder of Oklahoma City cultivator Smokey Okies, said the company’s garbage contractor recently announced that it will no longer work with weed businesses. The reason provided: frustration with cannabis companies routinely over-stuffing dumpsters in order to save money and not paying their bills.