In Oklahoma, a person may possess marijuana (cannabis) so long as they have obtained a Medical Marijuana Patient Card from the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA).
Medical Marijuana patients may possess up to 3 ounces of cannabis on their person at any time, which means they can actually have this amount in their car or in their purse or with them. At home, a person may store eight ounces in their home (which is half a pound).
But not only can a medical card holder buy and possess marijuana in Oklahoma, but they can also grow their own cannabis plants at home.
Rules for Home-Growing Marijuana in Oklahoma
The first rule is that you must have a medical card.
To get a medical card, you need a recommendation from a doctor. You then take that written recommendation, upload it to the OMMA site, along with a photo ID, and pay the OMMA fee. You will then receive your medical card in the mail a few weeks later.
The next rule is that you must either own the property, or have permission from the owner.
So if you rent your house, you simply need to get written permission from your landlord that you may grow cannabis plants on the property. There are a couple ways to do this.
One, at the time of moving in to the new property, you could add a clause to the least that allows you to grow your cannabis plants on the property. If you already have a lease, you could execute an addendum says the same thing. You would simply type up something that says:
“Owner hereby consents to Tenant growing medical marijuana on the property solely for purposes of Tenant’s personal medical reasons.”
However, the absolute simplest way to get written permission would be to send your landlord an email, asking if you have permission. If the person replies back to the email with an affirmative answer, you could print and save that document as proof that you have permission to grow on the premises.
The third rule to growing cannabis at home in Oklahoma is that your plants cannot be visible from any street that touches your property. So make sure that your plants are out of sight from cars and pedestrians traveling past your home. This is also good policy to prevent or deter theft.
The final rule on growing cannabis at home is that you must abide by the legal plant limits. Currently, Oklahoma law allows a patient card holder to have six mature plants and six immature plants.
A mature plant is defined as one that is producing flower. In other words, once your plant has completed its vegetative growth and has begun flowering, it is considered a mature plant. An immature plant or seedling is simply a cannabis plant that has yet to flower and is still in the vegetative growth phase.
Therefore, if you are cloning, you will want to monitor your cloning activity so that you don’t exceed these limits.
Can you grow for Commercial Purposes at home?
So we’ve covered the basics on home-growing for patients. But what about people who want to work from home? The question here is can you grow commercially at your house? The answer is a bit more nuanced.
Land use is locally governed. Land that is within city limits is subject to the city’s zoning ordinances. Most municipalities categorize property as Residential, Commercial, or Industrial. And within those categories, they further break it down, such as R-1 (single family residence), R-2 (duplex), etc.
Your city has the power to limit what you can do on your property based on where it is located within the city and how it is zoned, and this includes commercial cannabis operations. Therefore, if you want to start a cannabis business, you should first check with your city manager or city zoning department on how the local zoning rules apply to commercial cannabis licensees.
If your city prohibits commercial cultivation on residential properties, then you will not be able to grow “at home” if your “home” is considered a residential property. Most cities in Oklahoma require cultivators to operate on either commercially or industrially zoned areas.
However, if you live on land that is outside of city limits, then your next level of authority is your county, and most counties do not have zoning requirements.
Therefore, it is possible that you could get a commercial grower’s license for property that you live on, so long as local laws allow for commercial growing on that particular piece of property.
Generally speaking, those individuals who live in rural areas, outside of incorporated municipalities, may very well be able to obtain a commercial growers license for either an outdoor grow or for an indoor grow if they have a suitable building on their property.
Cannabis Consulting and Litigation
Travis Charles Smith is an experienced trial lawyer and expert on Oklahoma Cannabis laws. If you would like a consultation or need representation relating to cannabis regulations, call 405-701-6016.