Exhausted by hostility from state officials and emboldened by a recent win in federal court, Oklahoma medical marijuana operators are escalating a legal fight for their survival.
More Oklahoma cannabis businesses are joining the more than 30 already suing Gov. Kevin Stitt and other state authorities in federal court, Tulsa-based attorney Dana Kurtz told MJBizDaily on Wednesday.
Plaintiffs include a cannabis cultivator, At Joy Growing, that’s already won a reprieve against state authorities, who are waging what Kurtz said is a deliberate and coordinated effort to shut down the state’s $600 million medical marijuana industry.
That’s on top of Stitt’s recent calls, first made last month and repeated as recently as March 3, to recriminalize cannabis in Oklahoma entirely.
How Oklahoma authorities are shutting down legal medical marijuana
On Feb. 26, a federal judge ruled against the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control, which had revoked At Joy’s outdoor cultivation permit for lacking a certificate of occupancy.
Bureaucratic snafus over the occupancy permit have thwarted other Oklahoma cannabis operators, some of whom noted that certificates of occupancy are awarded to businesses in other sectors in a matter of weeks, but can take years for cannabis.
The win is temporary for now and only affects At Joy Growing’s outdoor permit. Its indoor permit is still suspended.
Still, At Joy Growing can now plant for the 2026 growing season, pending the outcome of the larger case, for which Kurtz is seeking class-action status, she told MJBizDaily.
“We’re getting a lot of calls” from other Oklahoma operators who want to sign onto the suit, she said.
“Thousands of businesses are affected.”
What is happening with Oklahoma medical marijuana?
Medical cannabis boomed in Oklahoma for several years after voters legalized one of the loosest MMJ programs in the country in June 2018.
Investors and operators flocked to the state, where low permitting fees and easy patient access to medical cannabis recommendations created arguably the country’s most libertarian and business-friendly environment for MMJ.
That’s since changed dramatically.
A moratorium on new permits, recently renewed, and frequent allegations from Stitt and other top officials that Oklahoma cannabis is rife with criminals culminated with the governor’s call last month to abolish legal marijuana in the state entirely.
“Oklahoma’s marijuana ‘experiment’ has failed,” Stitt posed on X on March 3.
“It’s time to shut this broken system down and protect our kids and communities.”
Annual cannabis sales in Oklahoma exceeded $600 million in 2025, a significant drop from the market’s heyday – and one that reflects state officials’ efforts to curtail the industry.
Oklahoma governor’s war on legal marijuana
In a press conference in Tulsa on Tuesday, Kurtz claimed that Stitt and other authorities are “creating a system that makes it impossible” for Oklahoma cannabis businesses to operate, according to 2 News.
Neither the governor nor other agencies, including the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, commented to 2 News, the station reported.
In their initial federal lawsuit, first filed last fall, the cannabis operators alleged that Stitt and other state authorities are “engaged in a scheme and pattern and practice to destroy legally operating businesses.”
According to the suit, Oklahoma authorities are doing this through:
- Imposing permit requirements retroactively and passing laws that make compliance impossible
- Refusing to process permit applications promptly
- Rejecting applications for minor errors
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Federal judge sides with Oklahoma medical marijuana cultivator
In a Feb. 26 ruling granting a temporary injunction, United States Judge Christine Little found the state “provided little reasoning for revoking At Joy’s entire registration.”
At Joy is likely to win future court proceedings that allege their due process rights were violated, Little added.
Oklahoma is one of several states to see efforts to unwind cannabis legalization.
A prominent anti-legalization organization is bankrolling long-shot campaigns to end adult-use marijuana sales in several states.
But Republican governors are also getting into the act. Most notably, an expensive multistate operator-funded push to legalize adult-use cannabis in Florida appears to have failed, thanks in part to opposition from the state.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration fought Trulieve Cannabis Corp.-funded Smart & Safe Florida’s ballot initiative campaign tooth and nail, going as far as to arrest campaign workers on fraud allegations.
But Oklahoma’s war on its state-legal industry is unique, Kurtz said.
“I have not seen anything like this,” she told MJBizDaily.
“Based on the evidence, they’re just shutting them down.”
Chris Roberts can be reached at chris.roberts@mjbizdaily.com.
