Foreign investors, crime among concerns as cannabis booms in rural Oklahoma | Marijuana in Oklahoma

“That’s a real problem,” said Fetgatter, who has devoted much of his time over the past three years to understanding the medical marijuana business and its implications for the state. “Unless you live outside of Tulsa or Oklahoma counties, you probably don’t even understand how big it is.”

“It escaped us”

Some claim the stories are exaggerated and they may be encouraged by those who are still largely against legal marijuana of any kind and hope to turn public opinion in their favor. But at least some of the stories are true.

For example, a 30-acre lot with a 1,800-square-foot home between Bartlesville and Tulsa that was on the tax list for $ 132,600 was sold to a marijuana grower for $ 375,000 last November.

Even legitimate sales like this one make neighbors nervous. It drives up land values ​​for those looking to expand and raises taxes for those who are just trying to hold on to what they have.

And then there is the criminal element.

To be clear, most of those involved in Oklahoma’s new medical marijuana sector are believed to be obeying the law. But some don’t.

Oklahomas have joked that cannabis is becoming the state’s premier source of income for at least the 1970s, but Mark Woodward of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs said his agency saw an unprecedented level of illegal marijuana activity. The money trail, Woodward said, runs through the United States and into Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.