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Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Supporters Sue Over Pruitt's State Question Rewrite

Willy Jones, one of the area organizers for Oklahomans for Health, holds a sign in support of medical marijuana during a petition drive outside a vapor shop in Oklahoma City, Thursday, July 3, 2014.
Sue Ogrocki
/
AP
Willy Jones, one of the area organizers for Oklahomans for Health, holds a sign in support of medical marijuana during a petition drive outside a vapor shop in Oklahoma City, Thursday, July 3, 2014.

An attorney representing a group trying to legalize medical marijuana in Oklahoma filed a lawsuit Tuesday in the state Supreme Court.

The legal action challenges Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s rewritten ballot language for State Question 788, which will not go before voters this fall.

“This language would mislead the voters and or make argument against or show partiality,” the lawsuit states. “Specifically, [Pruitt] would lead voters to believe they are either legalizing marijuana for general purposes and/or would confuse voters by his language used rather than the original language of marijuana for medical purposes.”

The original ballot language read:

Pruitt’s revised ballot title opens with:

This measure legalizes the licensed use, sale, and growth of marijuana in Oklahoma. There are no qualifying medical conditions identified.l Possession and use of marijuana is authorized through a medical marijuana license that is valid for two years, rather than by prescription. An Oklahoma board certified physician must recommend the license using the same accepted standards for recommending other medications, and must sign the application for the license.

The attorney general’s version also says the Oklahoma constitutional amendment would not change federal law prohibiting the use, sale, and growth of marijuana.

Pruitt has rewritten the ballot title for all seven state questions voters will decide this fall. Last month, the state’s high court ruled two of those were “misleading and partial,” eCapitol’s Shawn Ashley reports:

In August, the court rewrote the ballot titles for State Question 780 and State Question 781 after Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform challenged Pruitt's versions. In its decision, the court wrote, "The Petitioners reassert their original ballot titles are more appropriate than the two rewritten by the Respondent (Attorney General). We find the rewritten ballot titles to be misleading and partial. However, we conclude neither parties' proposed ballot titles sufficiently describes the measures involved." State Question 780 would reclassify certain low-level offenses, like simple drug possession and lower-level property offenses, as misdemeanors rather than felonies. State Question 781 would invest the anticipated cost savings from lowered incarceration rates into rehabilitation programs to treat substance addiction and mental-health conditions.

Since the ballots for this fall’s election have already gone to the printer, the medical marijuana issue won’t go before voters until June 2018 at the earliest unless a special election is called.

Read The Entire Lawsuit Filed On Behalf Of Oklahomans For Health:

Brian Hardzinski is from Flower Mound, Texas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. He began his career at KGOU as a student intern, joining KGOU full time in 2009 as Operations and Public Service Announcement Director. He began regularly hosting Morning Edition in 2014, and became the station's first Digital News Editor in 2015-16. Brian’s work at KGOU has been honored by Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI), the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, the Oklahoma Associated Press Broadcasters, and local and regional chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. Brian enjoys competing in triathlons, distance running, playing tennis, and entertaining his rambunctious Boston Terrier, Bucky.
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