As Oklahoma activists work to collect signatures for a 2026 ballot initiative to legalize adult-use marijuana in the state, law enforcement leaders are raising concerns about cannabis.
Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action (ORCA)—which has partnered with more than 400 dispensaries and retailers across the state to carry their legalization ballot petitions—says recent anti-marijuana comments from a police association and state law enforcement agency speak to the strength of their effort.
At a press conference on Thursday, Moore Police Chief Todd Gibson, who serves as president of the Oklahoma Association of Chiefs, said “the citizens of Oklahoma have already spoken out against this issue and have resoundingly said we don’t want recreational marijuana.”
That was a reference to an earlier, 2023 initiative to legalize recreational cannabis that voters rejected at the ballot.
Gibson also criticized the implementation of the state’s medical marijuana program, which was approved by voters in 2018, linking it to “a significant increase in access to our youth [and] impacts on our community with crime.”
“We’ve seen black market and international crime enter Oklahoma and put a strain on public safety,” he said. “Nowhere have I seen marijuana make better communities and safer communities.”
Oklahoma Bureau of
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