‘GHOST OWNERS’ MAY BE TIED TO QUARTER OF OKLAHOMA MEDICAL MARIJUANA BUSINESSES

[NationalMatch]

Three Oklahoma attorneys are accused of enlisting state residents to pose as “ghost owners” of medical marijuana businesses from out-of-state. The practice, according to state drug investigators, has galvanized black-market drug production in Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics has accused Eric Brown and Logan Jones of the Oklahoma City-based Jones Brown firm, and Matt Stacy of Stacy Legal Group in Yukon of orchestrating so-called “ghost owners” license deals.

“We believe this ‘ghost’ ownership fraudulent structure and documentation is the number one reason Oklahoma now leads the nation in black market marijuana,” said Mark Woodward of OBN.

Oklahoma marijuana businesses are required to be 75% owned by in-state residents to be licensed. The OBN is investigating “well over a thousand, if not close to two thousand” marijuana growers that may have obtained licenses despite the in-state owner having no actual role with the company.

There are 7,400 licensed growers in the state, according to the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority.

“Almost 25% of the farms that are operating in Oklahoma are potentially operating under the same fraudulent business scheme,” Woodward said.

http://www.newson6.com/story/63520e...rter-of-oklahoma-medical-marijuana-businesses

 

[sklfco]

Wait, criminals don’t obey the law?

 

[NationalMatch]

This is a nightmare in the works. I've got farmland south of Tulsa and am seeing some of these "grows."

One place in particular is unbelievably filthy. The growers surrounded by trash, waste, and no supervision. The FDA and USDA would be involved in inspecting for heavy metals, human waste (as fertilizer) and toxic chemicals going into the consumable product.

But, it's illegal federally, so there's no such oversight. And the lawmakers in Oklahoma are so short sighted as to not give the above any consideration.

People wanna get high? I get it. But for Oklahoma to allow even the possibility of okies ingesting contaminated products is unconscionable. And I've seen it first hand. Some of these "grows" are worse than some third world countries I've visited.

 

[NationalMatch]

Wait, criminals don’t obey the law?

Yeah! Of all the nerve!

 

[bubbaturbo]

Check out this list. 590 pages of growers.
https://oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/omma/docs/business-lists/omma_growers_list.pdf

 

[retrieverman]

Some of these "grows" are worse than some third world countries I've visited.

That’s probably because the folks owning or running them came from third world countries.

The chicken business is similar. Asian folks have taken over the industry, and most of their farms are just plain nasty.

 

[Louro]

Wait, criminals don’t obey the law?

Is all in the name of racial justice and social equity.

 

[TedKennedy]

People wanna get high? I get it. But for Oklahoma to allow even the possibility of okies ingesting contaminated products is unconscionable. And I've seen it first hand. Some of these "grows" are worse than some third world countries I've visited.

Really? How regulated do you think the weed that's been sold here for decades is?

 

[GC7]

This is how those Chinese run weed farms got into the news a while back. They're all foreign slave labor from California who got tricked into working on a farm in OK.

 

[Glocktogo]

Really? How regulated do you think the weed that's been sold here for decades is?

Because it was underground and hidden, most of it was probably produced in grows that were much less environmentally harmful, with fewer chemicals and contaminants.