Oklahoma’s Medical Marijuana Authority, known as OMMA, is downsizing. Hit by a dive in the number of new commercial licenses, and a budget appropriation from the legislature below what it asked for, the agency has laid off 29 staff members to try and save money.
In an email to employees impacted by the layoffs, the state’s medical marijuana authority director, Adria Berry, gave two reasons for the organizational restructuring happening at OMMA, and compared it to steering a ship in open water.
“Changing courses is tough,” Berry wrote. “Righting this ship meant taking a hard look at where we are spending our time and energy as an agency in light of decreasing commercial license numbers and a limited appropriated budget.”
State data shows that between 2021 and 2024 the number of active commercial medical marijuana licenses dropped by nearly 52%, or 7,132 down from 13,785.
It started when lawmakers ended the grace period for businesses to renew their expired licenses in 2021.
Then, in 2022, a moratorium on newly licensed cannabis businesses, prompted by a crackdown on illegal grow operations across the state, took effect. That’s in place for two more years. And without the potential for new growers, distributors and retailers, money taken in by the state is dropping.
Also, as its own agency, the authority didn’t get as much money from the state legislature as it wanted.
Lawmakers appropriated almost $42 million to the authority for the next fiscal year, according to the House’s Budget Transparency Portal. That was an increase, but not as much as Berry had told lawmakers she needed.
So, 29 people lost their jobs. That’s a tenth of the staff, according to OMMA spokesperson Porsha Riley. She said the decision was made to maximize available taxpayer dollars in light of the fiscal deficiencies.
The staff members received severance packages they could choose to sign or not, which is consistent with state statute for this kind of force reduction. They included a $5,000 lump sum payment, 18 months of health coverage, administrative leave for 45 days and a longevity payment until each employee's next would-be anniversary.
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