Question: How Did Number 46 become Number 30? Answer: Oklahoma!

The Sooner State, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain, just made the big leap to the Big Leaf.

Headline Translation: on June 26th, 2018, The Great State of Oklahoma - the 46th state in the Union - legalized cannabis for medicinal purposes, becoming the 30th state to

do so.

Boy oh boy, our friend Marvin is going to be so happy!

"The controversial ballot measure, ominously named State Question 788, passed by an impressive margin, with 56 percent voting in favor to 43 percent opposed. The measure makes Oklahoma the 30th state in the US to legalize cannabis for medicinal purposes," writes Jonathan Small in Greentrepreneur Magazine (a new section of Entrepreneur Magazine dedicated to cannabis, btw.)

Small notes how hard the Deep Red prohibitionists tried to keep the medicinal bounty of The Plant out of the hands of Oklahomans (as if they couldn't get it whenever they want!), noting that

"... Republican Senator James Lankford essentially called State Question 788 a ruse "by outside groups that actually want access to recreational marijuana, adding that "legalizing medical marijuana would be harmful to the social fabric of Oklahoma.”

Hard to fathom what social fabric the good Senator thinks he's keeping safe, in a state where, "...in 2015, [medical] providers wrote 101.7 opioid prescriptions per 100 persons (3.97 million prescriptions); a state where

over 17% of high school boys use chewing tobacco and dip; and a state that ranks 6th in the nation for alcohol-related mortality.

None of these statistics is affirming; we bring them up merely to demonstrate the hypocrisy of those who want to maintain cannabis prohibition with fear tactics, while real killers are available over-the-counter. (Important note: no one has ever died from ingesting cannabis medicinally in thousands of years of human civilization.)

Oklahoma, welcome to the 21st Century!

Image source: Flickr/CrayolaMom