Inside the Rise — and Surprising Crackdown — of the Country’s Hottest Weed Market

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Oklahoma fostered the country's biggest weed market — and 'ghost' owners gaming the system

Love County Sheriff Marty Grisham

Recent raids have targeted allegedly illegal marijuana grow operations in Marietta and Gene Autry, Oklahoma. The latter effort resulted in 27,000 seized cannabis plants with a street value of $50 million. “There's always been a spirit of apathy, if you will, from our Department of Health as to how they've rolled this out, and that spirit of apathy has absolutely affected enforcement of the program,” said Chip Paul, a libertarian legalization advocate who played a key role in passing the 2018 medical marijuana referendum.

“The lack of enforcement on the medical program has put the marijuana program in a negative light in the eyes of average Oklahoma citizens,” said Republican state Rep. Scott Fetgatter, who has been deeply involved in cannabis issues at the Capitol. Moore was initially wary of Oklahoma’s medical marijuana program, since he’d seen close up the ravages that drugs have caused his clients.

“Margins are too slim to make any real money,” lamented Moore, a baby-faced 48-year-old wearing a green polo shirt and seated at conference table inside the NatureMeds dispensary in Ardmore. “We get excited every time one shuts down, but you drive around the corner and another one's opened up.” Kori Thompson has witnessed how this wave of buyers has roiled the real estate market in south central Oklahoma. Her realty business is hard to miss in Ardmore: It’s a big pink building emblazoned with the acronym “I.S.H.” along the town’s main commercial strip.

“You absolutely cannot say that to me,” Thompson said she tells the sellers. “That’s completely illegal. You cannot discriminate against race.” Rocky Atencio, 49, is best known around Ardmore as the owner of the Chrysler and Hyundai dealerships and as the long-time high school wrestling coach. But like so many other locals, he couldn’t resist the lure of the legal marijuana business.

In January 2020, Zai Fu Xiang sold his belongings, borrowed funds from his family and headed to Weleetka, Oklahoma to grow weed. Xiang, according to the suit he would file in September against the state of Oklahoma in Okfuskee County District Court, anticipated that he would need to wait two years before he could actually obtain a license to legally grow marijuana for Oklahoma’s medical market due to the state’s residency requirement.

“Hundreds” of other prospective Oklahoma cannabis entrepreneurs followed a path similar to Xiang’s, according to court records. Following the advice of lawyers at Jones Brown, they hired Windler as a consultant and were able to obtain business licenses by relying on her to meet the state’s residency requirement.Mark Woodward

But they say that the way Jones Brown and some other law firms went about securing business licenses — with a single Oklahoma resident used on dozens of applications — has led to the current mess. “They don’t want to rock the boat on residency. Nobody’s wanted to challenge that,” said Rachel Bussett, an attorney with dozens of cannabis clients. “Do I think it’s challengeable? I absolutely, 100 percent think it’s challengeable.”

“It’s not that complicated of a process to weed out, for lack of a better phrase, the bad actors in this industry.”Attorneys with Jones Brown declined to be interviewed for this story. They have not been charged with any crimes related to their marijuana licensing work. “I have no comment other then what is in the public record,” David Cheek, who is representing Jones Brown in Windler’s lawsuit, wrote in an email to POLITICO.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, has made cutting business regulations a hallmark of his administration, but has vowed to enforce tighter restrictions on the state’s booming medical marijuana market. | Alonzo Adams/AP Photoevin Stitt has made reducing the state’s already notoriously lax business regulations a hallmark of his administration — vowing toby the end of his current term. But when it comes to the cannabis industry, the Republican governor is promising a more stringent approach.

 

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