FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: State Rep. Steve Kouplen
Phone: (405) 557-7306

House Democrats Release Statement Calling for Special Session

OKLAHOMA CITY – Minority Leader Steve Kouplen, D-Beggs, released the following statement today after Gov. Mary Fallin signed the emergency rules for State Question 788. The rules, which were passed Tuesday by the Oklahoma State Department of Health, forbid “smokeable” marijuana and require a pharmacist to be on staff in medical marijuana dispensaries.

“Today, the House Democratic Caucus stands together to urge Governor Fallin to reverse course and call the legislature into a special session so that we can setup a structure for legal medical marijuana.

We are glad to see the Speaker and the incoming majority leader of the Senate have committed to upholding the will of the people. We support the idea of a bipartisan working group only if a date for special session is chosen. Otherwise, we feel that the working group would be nothing more than a political stunt to ease the justified outrage of Oklahoma voters. If the Governor refuses to lead on this issue, we are calling on our Republican colleagues in the House and Senate to stand with us and use the two-thirds provision in the state constitution to bring the legislature back into session.

Although the majority of our caucus supported state question 788, we do have some members that did not. However, even those members stand with us today to say that the will of the people must be protected and that we cannot have a government that disregards election results. All members of the House Democratic Caucus feel that allowing the Oklahoma Department of Health rules to stand would be an act of complicity by this body to undermine the will of the people, and we feel that is unacceptable.”

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