{"id":469793,"date":"2026-10-18T15:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T15:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/469793\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T15:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T15:48:14","slug":"mazzei-munson-walk-fine-line-on-oklahomas-marijuana-freefall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/469793\/","title":{"rendered":"Mazzei, Munson walk fine line on Oklahoma’s marijuana freefall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

The future of Oklahoma’s marijuana industry is unclear, but whoever is elected governor will play a major role in what takes shape.<\/p>\n

NATHAN J. FISH\/THE OKLAHOMAN<\/p>\n

USA TODAY Network, Reuters<\/p>\n

When the state’s marijuana boom soared and grow houses dotted eastern Oklahoma, pecan grower Robert Knight stopped by a diner in Mounds for a meal. He saw luxury Bentleys and Mercedes parked outside. <\/p>\n

“There were all of these characters that were, like, out of a Quentin Tarantino movie in there,” he said, “and there were cars outside that were way out of place. You would think it would be F350s.”<\/p>\n

But the Bentleys are gone now, Knight said. Oklahoma’s medical marijuana industry fell by more than 73%, from more than 13,000 licenses in 2021 to approximately 3,500 licenses now. State officials have reported as many as 6,000 sites closed, leaving behind hundreds of abandoned operations across the state. <\/p>\n

The rise and fall of the marijuana industry all unfolded during the eight years in office of Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt. His successor will now inherit what regulators are warning is a growing environmental and legal mess. <\/p>\n

The Nov. 3 election comes at an inflection point for Oklahoma’s medical marijuana industry, as regulations tighten and thousands of illegal grows are being busted or driven out of business. <\/p>\n

As a local grower, Knight said he would like to see the candidates do something about cleaning up the sites of former grow operations. He said he would also like to have normal banking available to legitimate medical marijuana businesses to help curb black market sales and criminal activity. <\/p>\n

“If the weed’s legal, then the banking should be legal too, but I don’t know if the governor could pull that off,” he said.<\/p>\n

With less than a month to Election Day, issues tied to Oklahoma’s medical marijuana industry are being handled carefully by the two leading candidates in the race, Republican Mike Mazzei and Democrat Cyndi Munson. Both are walking a line between voters who are possibly upset about the marijuana industry, and those who support the right to it.<\/p>\n

Munson declined to be interviewed by The Oklahoman regarding her stance on the legal marijuana industry. Mazzei answered one question about the industry but declined a standalone interview about the issue.<\/p>\n

Neither was asked about Oklahoma’s medical marijuana industry during their only debate, which aired on the state’s public television network, OETA.<\/p>\n

However, both candidates staked out claims on the issue prior to the current home stretch of their campaigns. <\/p>\n

Stitt’s call to shut down marijuana industry sparks debate<\/p>\n

Stitt set off the widening debate over the industry’s future when he delivered his last State of the State address in February. He called for Oklahoma’s medical marijuana business to be completely shut down, saying good-natured Oklahomans were sold a “bill of goods” when voters legalized the industry in 2018.<\/p>\n

“Out-of-state liberal activists preyed on the compassionate nature of Oklahomans,” Stitt said in his address in February. “\u200aThen it opened up Pandora’s Box.”<\/p>\n

According to law enforcement, industry analysts and state-based marijuana business owners, Oklahoma’s lax licensing at the beginning brought in a flood of out-of-state and even international owners, who flooded the landscape with illegal grows and dispensaries with scam owners and black-market trade. Even now that the marijuana industry has downsized considerably, Stitt said Oklahoma still has more pot dispensaries than medical pharmacies.”Think about that,” he said. “\u200aThese storefronts hide an industry that enables cartel activity, human trafficking and foreign influence in our state.”<\/p>\n

Stitt’s call to make the industry illegal again was met with a strong counterstatement from Munson, one of his chief critics as the top Democrat in the state House. <\/p>\n

On Feb. 20, she said that if she were to be elected governor, she would protect the industry and those more than 300,000 licensed patients who use medical marijuana from being recriminalized. <\/p>\n

“First, as governor, I would veto any effort to recriminalize medical marijuana or take away a program that Oklahomans have already voted for,” Munson said. “Second, I would make sure our laws respect our voters and what they approved at the ballot box. That vote matters, and it should not be chipped away year after year.”<\/p>\n

Munson, 41, said enforcing existing laws does not conflict with requiring normal compliance within the industry. <\/p>\n

“We can be serious about enforcement and compliance without being reckless,” Munson said. “If there are illegal grows or criminal activity, those should be shut down, but patients and legitimate businesses should not be treated like criminals for following the law.”<\/p>\n

Mazzei’s comments came on the campaign trail months ahead of the June 16 primary election. He and many other Republican candidates running for governor decried foreign land ownership in Oklahoma, particularly by Chinese entities operating marijuana grows. <\/p>\n

At an April forum for Republican candidates, Mazzei, 61, said he would raise the cost for those getting into the industry.<\/p>\n

“As governor, I will sign executive orders on day one to jack up the cost of a marijuana grow and restrict the amount of land they can grow on and executive orders to enforce the Oklahoma Constitution, which forbids the foreign ownership of land,” Mazzei said. <\/p>\n

He made the marijuana industry an even bigger part of his campaign after he advanced to the GOP primary runoff election against state Attorney General Gentner Drummond. <\/p>\n

In a statement on his campaign’s Facebook page four days before the Aug. 25 runoff election, Mazzei called for stricter enforcement of the industry and to shut down illegal grows.<\/p>\n

“Oklahoma made the rules and never built the enforcement to back them up,” Mazzei said. “Criminal operations found the gap, and rural Oklahoma has been paying for it ever since. Verify who owns the ground. Shut down the illegal grows. Give the businesses following our law a clear path and give the rest nothing.”<\/p>\n

Drummond had also tried to appeal to voters by pointing to his agency’s record of shutting down illegal grows. <\/p>\n

Outside of his state office role, Drummond is the majority owner of Blue Sky Bank, which provides banking services to licensed marijuana producers and distributors for the state. <\/p>\n

In a testimonial from Kyle Hensley, the proprietor of Main Street Meds, a dispensary in Jenks, the bank’s website quotes Hensley saying he can “sleep better” now without having to worry about having large amounts of cash around.<\/p>\n

Yet Mazzei seized on the bank’s marijuana business line as a key point of attack. During a televised debate, Mazzei said Drummond’s shutdown efforts don’t pass “the smell test” because Oklahoma is still the top producer of marijuana in the U.S., but also that Drummond’s banking business was problematic for the state’s attorney general.<\/p>\n

“I think all the voters of Oklahoma should know that Gentner Drummond is chairman of a bank that publicly brags on its website that they lead the region in marijuana banking,” Mazzei said. “Now, this is a huge conflict of interest for the attorney general who talks about all this progress in the marijuana industry.”<\/p>\n

Drummond attempted to explain the nuance to the TV audience.<\/p>\n

“Hundreds of Oklahomans have invested all of their life savings to be legal operators in the marijuana grow facilities,” he said. “If I’m going to shut down the bad guys, I need to open up a portal for the good guys, and we take their cash directly to the Federal Reserve so we can get that cash into the currency and circulating, not hidden under a mattress in a locked building.”<\/p>\n

Drummond lost the runoff to Mazzei, who had been endorsed by President Donald Trump, by about 2,000 votes.<\/p>\n

What industry leaders hope to see from new governor<\/p>\n

Many political observers and industry insiders had expected Drummond to win, as he had been the presumptive frontrunner for more than a year.<\/p>\n

Matthew Phillips, a board member of the Oklahoma Cannabis Industry Association and the owner of a marijuana testing lab, said he had hoped Drummond would be the candidate because of his experience on both sides of the marijuana debate, with the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, and also with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.<\/p>\n

“\u200aI don’t necessarily think he would have been excellent for the industry because he has a bank that has a relationship with the industry,” Phillips said. “I think he would have been excellent for the industry because he’s worked alongside OMMA and OBNDD for the last several years, and he knows what it’s like to be on the inside of these conversations.”<\/p>\n

Mazzei advancing has left more of an unknown over what the industry could expect under his administration if he were to defeat Munson in November.<\/p>\n

In an interview in early October, Mazzei told The Oklahoman that Chinese marijuana operations and Mexican cartels were responsible for Oklahoma’s high ranking for violent crime.<\/p>\n

He said he has heard Donnie Anderson, the director of the state’s drug enforcement agency, say the top threat to public safety “is still the Chinese money involved with land and drugs and the Mexican cartels.” <\/p>\n

“Part of that has developed because of these loose land purchase loopholes that have allowed foreign entities to buy up a lot of Oklahoma land for these large marijuana grow facilities.”<\/p>\n

But Mazzei stopped short of turning back the clock and moving to repeal the industry altogether, as championed by Stitt in his State of the State address. Lawmakers have also rejected the idea.<\/p>\n

“\u200aI’m a small business owner. I believe in the free markets,” Mazzei said. “There are well-meaning Oklahomans that started businesses to provide services and products for the legitimate folks out there that have licenses for medical marijuana. And I have no plans to negatively affect what they’ve invested in and built to be good small business owners in the state of Oklahoma.”<\/p>\n

Phillips said he believes the way forward for any governor is clear. The state must reconcile its law-and-order roots with a legal statewide industry.<\/p>\n

“My prayer is that the industry begins a transition away from enforcement and a focus on compliance instead,” he said. <\/p>\n

Editor’s note: The Oklahoman is spending the next year reporting on the current state of the marijuana industry, and what is left behind after its peak. This is the latest installment in a continuing series of stories. The reporting is supported by a grant from The Kirkpatrick Foundation. The Oklahoman retains complete editorial control.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Mazzei, Munson walk fine line on Oklahoma’s marijuana freefall<\/p>\n

Reporting by Ben Fenwick, For The Oklahoman \/ Oklahoman<\/p>\n

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

\"Oklahoma Oklahoma Governor candidates. Cyndi Munson (D), left, and Mike Mazzei (R). Oklahoman Staff USA TODAY Network, Reuters \"In In this panoramic photo illustration, an abandoned marijuana grow site on the property of Pat Foor is pictured in Holdenville, Okla., on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. NATHAN J. FISH\/THE OKLAHOMAN USA TODAY Network, Reuters \"Marijuana Marijuana is grown under LED lights at the Kush House medical marijuana grow site in Hydro, Okla., on Monday, Aug. 24, 2026. NATHAN J. FISH\/THE OKLAHOMAN USA TODAY Network, Reuters <\/p>\n

Copyright Reuters or USA Today via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

This story was originally published October 18, 2026 at 5:03 AM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The future of Oklahoma’s marijuana industry is unclear, but whoever is elected governor will play a major role…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-469793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}