Tulsa City Council To Consider Moratorium On Marijuana Growing Permits

The Tulsa City Council is scheduled to take up a couple of big topics today during their 5 p.m. meeting at City Hall.  One is a consideration of a temporary stop to marijuana growing permits.

There was a large turnout for the meeting, with a lot of people signed up to speak.

Tulsa City Council agenda

City Councilors will be discussing a moratorium on permits for any growing operations or processing facilities for medical marijuana until they can discuss zoning, but many people say they are upset by this idea, especially since licenses are already being approved across the state.

If passed, the moratorium would temporarily prevent any grower or processing facility from getting any type of permit from the city.  The city council says they want to let the city come up with suitable regulations before moving forward.

Some cities, including Broken Arrow, are already in legal disputes over marijuana regulations.

A Broken Arrow man says he leased a building in an industrial area to set up an indoor greenhouse, where he wanted to grow marijuana, but not process or sell it on site.  He says the city created so many permit requirements that he now cannot open.

9/25/2018 Related Story: Fees, Restrictions To BA Medical Marijuana Businesses Illegal, Attorney Says

His attorney, Ron Durbin, says a city can't set up unusual restrictions specifically for medical marijuana.  He promises to also sue the City of Tulsa if the moratorium is approved.  However, he says he's hopeful that the councilors will do the right thing.

"I am encouraged that they are going to listen and think about this rationally and not do the wrong thing, and be a model for all the cities in the state of Oklahoma," said Durbin.

Also on the agenda, the council will discuss officially adopting the new Tulsa flag, after it was re-designed and voted on by the public last year

9/25/2018 Related Story: City Council To Consider Officially Adopting Tulsa's Unofficial Flag