If you aren't talking to your teen(s) about medical marijuana, chances are they could be receiving misinformation from friends or social media. Talk to your child(ren) about cannabis safety and the importance of treating medical marijuana like any other prescription medication.

If offered medical marijuana by a friend, advise them not to take it: 1) it's illegal; sharing/gifting medical marijuana is a crime, and 2) taking a prescription that isn't yours could lead to adverse health events.

Conversations like these aren't always easy, but they are important.

On July 29, Graves Farm Organics LLC (PAAA-EYKG-PCTX) was suspended for failing to meet state testing requirements and other violations endangering public health and safety.

“There is no room in Oklahoma’s medical marijuana program for operators who disregard the law and endanger public health and safety. We work diligently behind the scenes so patients can trust the marijuana they purchase at dispensaries has been properly tested and is safe for consumption. Regulations are in place for a reason — when operators cut corners, patients suffer,” said OMMA Executive Director Adria Berry.

Whenever you contact OMMA — either via our Call Center or Contact Form — please be ready to confirm your identity just like you would if you were contacting your bank or utility company. If you use our Contact Form and need information about a specific license or application, please help us expedite your request by uploading a copy of valid photo ID to verify your identity. You can upload your ID at the bottom of the Contact Form — look for Your ID.

Keep in mind there are several things you can do on your own via the licensing portal, such as check the status of an application, fix a rejected application, request a replacement card, surrender your license, submit a name and/or address change request, and much more.

For more information on patient licensing and renewals, including how-to videos, checklists, requirements and forms, please visit omma.ok.gov/patients.

Fiscal year 2024 (July 1, 2023-June 30, 2024) was a year of several firsts for OMMA — our first full fiscal year as a stand-alone agency, our first year navigating the formal budget process and our first year as an appropriated agency.

OMMA’s budget history is brief but complex. In October 2022, weeks before separating from being under the state Department of Health’s umbrella, OMMA submitted an initial fiscal year 2024 budget request of $53 million — later revised down to $48 million. When the Legislature set our fiscal year 2024 budget at $37 million, we had about five weeks to reduce our planned budget by roughly $11 million (22%). At that time, we were charged with standing up, staffing and funding office space for a brand new, stand-alone agency along with implementing dozens of legislative mandates. This is a rare occurrence in modern state government, but our team pulled it off in the six-month time period mandated by the Legislature in Senate Bill 1543.

In fiscal year 2024, 73% of OMMA’s budget funded our payroll expenses, leaving roughly $10 million to be allocated to IT, equipment, software and general operations. Despite the reduced funding, OMMA tackled major projects, including processing employee credential applications and initiating the use of robotic process automation (RPA) to process credential applications automatically 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We initiated an agency-wide IT roadmap for the investment in technology for the next three years. These projects, along with RPA technology and a website chatbot, are just a few ways the agency is leveraging technology to maximize the efficiency of state tax dollars entrusted to us. We have also been navigating the state purchasing process since January 2023 to procure new licensing and inspection software — stay tuned for more updates on that soon!

For OMMA’s fiscal year 2025 budget, we submitted a $45.8 million budget request, including our baseline funding of $37 million, plus $8.8 million in additional funding for staffing the quality assurance reference lab and its operating costs, ongoing IT projects, and ensuring field staff have the necessary equipment to do their jobs efficiently and safely. At that time, we also submitted a $10 million supplemental request for fiscal year 2024. The supplemental request included funding for additional personnel in licensing, legal and enforcement along with law enforcement equipment, start-up costs for IT projects and start-up costs for the quality assurance lab. Although we were not granted any of our fiscal year 2024 supplemental requests, the Legislature did approve additional funding in fiscal year 2025 for quality assurance lab costs and personnel ($1.4 million) and quality assurance lab start-up costs ($3.5 million) for a total fiscal year 2025 appropriation of $41.9 million.

We continue to balance the basic needs of the agency alongside the regulatory demands of the state. As we look back, we’ve learned and grown a lot in our first year as an appropriated agency. Fiscal year 2025 has just begun, and now we get to take everything we learned last year to make this one even better. We look forward to feedback from the State Auditor and Inspector’s Office on ways in which we can improve (read more on that below).

State statute requires the State Auditor and Inspector’s Office (SAI) to audit the books and records of state agencies whose duty it is to collect, disburse or manage funds of the state.

OMMA and SAI will collaborate on an Operational Audit of the agency to fulfill this statutory mandate, identify targeted objectives and outcomes of the audit, and utilize the final report to further enhance agency functions and increase agency efficiencies.

While we are still in the preliminary stages of the audit, we are eager to share details and results, and remain committed to promoting public health and safety through regulation and enforcement of responsible medical cannabis practices.