Oklahoma gov tells regulators to pull controversial medical marijuana rules

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has reversed herself and said health regulators should rescind controversial rules that threatened to curb the growth of the state’s new medical marijuana program.

The State Health Board last week approved rules banning smokable flower and requiring dispensaries to have a pharmacist on staff. Fallin quickly signed off on the regulations.

But this week the state’s attorney general warned that the board had overstepped its authority in making changes to the state’s voter-approved MMJ law.

Medical marijuana advocates, meanwhile, had filed two separate lawsuits to block the rule changes.

“Because the public didn’t have ample time to weigh in with their concerns on the two last-minute amendments, the Board of Health should rescind them,” Fallin said in her statement Wednesday, according to Oklahoma City TV station KOKH.

“My legal staff and I are analyzing other points made in the attorney general’s legal letter to see what other action might be necessary.”

The health board president said Wednesday his agency would convene a special meeting soon to reconsider the new regulations after the attorney general’s intervention, KOKH reported.