www.oklahomawatch.org
Oklahoma Watch will host a public forum previewing what could be one of the most controversial issues on a statewide ballot next year: State Question 788, which would legalize medical marijuana.
The “Oklahoma Watch-Out” forum, titled “The Marijuana Question,” will be held from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 7, at Central Center at Centennial Park, 1028 E. 6th Street, in Tulsa.
The featured panelists will be Dr. Kevin Taubman of Tulsa, president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association, and Chip Paul, also of Tulsa, co-founder of Oklahomans for Health, a nonprofit that led the effort to put medical marijuana on the ballot. The event is free and open to the public; those interested in attending are encouraged to register online.
Oklahoma Watch Executive Editor David Fritze will moderate the discussion, and audience questions will be allowed.
Register for the Forum on Medical Marijuana
SQ 788 would legalize the licensed cultivation, use and possession of marijuana for medical purposes. To obtain a license, a patient would need to get a signature from a board-certified physician, and then could possess up to three ounces of marijuana on their person and eight ounces of marijuana at home. The law would require no specific conditions to receive medical marijuana from a doctor.
Licenses also would be required for dispensaries and growing and processing operations. A 7 percent tax would be levied on marijuana sales.
Medical marijuana is now legal in 29 other states and the District of Columbia. The measures have passed by a wide margin of voters or legislators in some states.
Advocates say medical marijuana would benefit Oklahomans who suffer from a wide range of illnesses, including epilepsy, Crohn’s Disease, Alzheimer’s and post-traumatic stress disorder. Opponents say not enough research has been done to prove that marijuana is effective as a medicine, and suggest proponents’ ultimate goal is to legalize pot for recreational use.
SQ 788 will appear on the Nov. 6, 2018, general-election ballot unless Gov. Mary Fallin places it on the June 26 primary ballot.
About the Panelists
Chip Paul
Chip Paul is one of the co-founders of Oklahomans For Health, a social-welfare nonprofit that led the effort to place medical marijuana on the ballot.
Paul and his wife Cynthia Paul founded GnuPharma Corp., which sells dietary supplements containing herbs that are “formulated to nutritionally support the endocannabinoid system,” the firm’s website says. The couple previously owned Palm Beach Vapors, which they described as the nation’s first brick-and-mortar e-cigarette franchise. He also owned a franchise in-home care business.
Paul has toured the country researching other states’ marijuana laws. He received a bachelor’s degree in math at the University of Oklahoma.
Dr. Kevin Taubman
Dr. Kevin Taubman is a vascular surgeon who is president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association. He is assistant professor of surgery at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine. He also directs the vascular surgery fellowship program there.
Taubman graduated from the University of Tulsa with a bachelor’s degree in the biological sciences in 1993. After completing medical school at the American University of the Caribbean in 1999, he entered general surgery residency training at the University of California San Diego–Kern Medical Center program. In 2005, he moved to Hershey, Pennsylvania, to begin fellowship training in vascular and endovascular surgery at the Heart and Vascular Institute at the Milton S. Hershey Penn State University Medical Center.
Taubman maintains a practice at OU and at St. John Medical Center in Tulsa.
