Oklahoma drug officials have issued guidelines requiring medical marijuana companies to register with the federal government to avoid penalties, including revocation of state registrations.

Donnie Anderson, director of the Oklahoma Office of Narcotics and Dangerous Drug Enforcement (OBNDD), said in a letter to cannabis industry stakeholders on Friday that they are under pressure. complete a new Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration form with that it was launched The Trump administration’s move to federally regulate cannabis.

Citing state law, he said “any registrant who is a distributor or manufacturer of medicinal marijuana products must comply with federal law and, as a result, must obtain DEA registration.”

“Failure to obtain DEA registration may result in OBNDD administrative penalties, including revocation of a registrant’s OBNDD registration,” the letter states. “This is consistent with the requirements currently in place for Schedule Ill registrants regulated by the OBNDD.”

“To ensure compliance with these federal regulations and to minimize the impact on legally operating entities, OBNDD will not consider OBNDD-registered medical marijuana businesses without a DEA registration required to manufacture or distribute marijuana until January 1, 2027. It is strongly recommended that all OBNDD registrants authorized to manufacture marijuana or medical marijuana licensed by OBNDD apply for or be required to register. April 28, 2026 Once After the publication of the permanent Order, upon timely submission of an application to the DEA, the registrant will not be subject to OBNDD administrative action, without DEA registration, to distribute marijuana, DEA applications submitted within sixty days will be distributed in any DEA case and products without DEA registration within the interim period These activities in violation of the Final Order may be subject to OBNDD administrative sanctions until a registrant’s OBNDD registration is revoked.

Anderson concluded by saying, “nothing contained in this letter is intended to be construed as legal advice regarding a registrant’s obligations under federal law or Oklahoma statutes.”

“This letter is simply being issued to inform medical marijuana companies of their administrative responsibilities,” he said. he wrote. “If there are additional questions regarding compliance with federal, state, or administrative law, the registrant should consult with an attorney.”

The Oklahoma Medical Marihuana Authority (OMMA), which licenses and regulates the state’s medical cannabis businesses, released the guidelines separately earlier this week. a recently litigated case of federal reorganization and reform.

“This is an evolving federal conversation, but our focus remains the same: protecting patient health and safety and responsibly regulating the industry,” said OMMA Executive Director Adria Berry. “These announcements have raised many questions, but very few answers. OMMA will continue to relay information released by the DEA and the federal government, but ultimately, we encourage licensees to seek professional advice as they make the best decisions for their business.”

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R), meanwhile, recently suggested that lawmakers should pass one. measure on the ballot to roll back the state’s medical cannabis program. In his State of the State address in February, he said voters should “shut him down”, arguing that “liberal activists” had defrauded the state and “opened Pandora’s box”.

Legislative leaders have pushed back on that idea, however.

Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton (R), for example, initially expressed an open mind, but ultimately decided against it It would be “very difficult” to legalize and unfair to licensed cannabis operators who “invested their life savings into this program” and are “trying to do this for Oklahomans who need this product, not for recreation, but for real medicine.”

“It’s hard to undo that bell,” he said. “What I’m going to suggest to the governor is that we don’t ask questions about the situation, but we continue to push regulations (and) we continue to regulate the industry.”

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So has House Speaker Kyle Hilbert (R). he largely dismissed the possibility of overturning the state’s medical cannabis program. He said Oklahomans have already made a clear distinction: they support medical marijuana and are “very strong” against legalizing adult use, based on past election results.

Stitt is not, however, saying yes in a recent interview “He had great conversations with the House and the Senate.”

“They know it’s a problem. Oklahomans are calling our offices saying it’s a problem,” Stitt said. “So I think we’re going to give something back to the people.”

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond (R) was asked about a call by voters to overhaul the state’s medical marijuana program, and He said he would “like” to eliminate the state’s medical marijuana program.

However, he warned that doing so would result in the return of hundreds of licensees participating in the market, as the state would “take away” a source of income from them.

In 2022, Stitt used his State of the State address as an opportunity to discuss the voter-approved medical marijuana law, arguing that the residents were deceived by the supporters of the voting initiative.

Meanwhile, in November, Oklahoma activists withdraw initiative to legalize adult marijuana They hoped to put it on the 2026 state ballot.

After a brief but aggressive signature push to secure ballot placement, Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action (ORCA) ultimately failed to submit petitions by the deadline, according to the secretary of state.

A bipartisan coalition of 32 members of Congress is urging federal health officials to speed up ongoing reviews of psychedelic therapies.

“For many people, current treatment options are insufficient, deepening an already urgent public health crisis,” wrote lawmakers, Reps. Jack Bergman (R-MI) and Lou Correa (D-CA), chair of the Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Therapies Caucus, in a letter to the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “As members of the House of Representatives, we have heard from countless veterans, clinicians and families seeking evidence-based alternatives.”

The letter to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary says lawmakers are “encouraged” by his recent statement that psychedelic treatments are “a top priority for this FDA and this administration.”

The FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced steps last month that they say will help “expediting” therapeutic access to psychedelics for patients suffering from serious mental health conditions.

That movement a President Donald Trump signed an executive order on psychedelics.

The lawmakers’ new letter said they want the FDA to conduct “expeditious and rapid review of promising treatments,” especially those that address urgent unmet needs in PTSD, traumatic brain injury and other neuropsychiatric conditions, but “understand and respect the agency’s role in ensuring that new treatments meet rigorous safety and efficacy standards.”

They said recent developments, including the public release of documents related to the denial of MDMA-assisted therapy approval during the Biden administration, “highlight the complexity of evaluating innovative treatment modalities and underscore the need for clear and consistent expectations for this emerging field.”

Members of Parliament have several questions for Makary to answer:

• Specific Protocol Assessment (SPA): How does FDA communicate and apply other data concerns beyond clearly defined primary endpoints and control conditions when pivotal trials are conducted in a SPA? Are improvements being made to anticipate regulatory expectations for therapies in developing areas?
• Methodological standards and interagency coordination: What steps FDA is taking to clarify methodological expectations for entactogen- and psychedelic-assisted clinical trials—including strategies to mitigate functional illusion and expectancy effects—and how the agency is coordinating with federal partners, such as the US Department of Veterans Affairs, to meet urgent research needs in populations such as the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans with PTSD.
• Review integrity and subject matter expertise: How does the FDA ensure that reviews of entactogenic and psychedelic-assisted therapies are conducted by qualified experts with relevant experience? What steps are there in the evaluation process to ensure consistency, objectivity and independence?
• Timeline for final guidance: What is the timeline for finalizing the FDA’s June 2023 guidance on accelerated clinical trials of new therapeutics, including entactogen- and psychedelic-assisted therapies?

They are also encouraging clarification in any new FDA guidance on:

• Strategies to mitigate functional desistance and expectancy bias;
• Adverse event monitoring and security reporting rules;
• Provider training, licensing and participant protections;
• The evolving role of psychotherapy alongside pharmacological intervention;
• Generalizability of findings to different patient populations; and
• Consistency of regulatory expectations for entactogenic and psychedelic drug development programs.

“We remain committed to ensuring that veterans and others with treatment-resistant mental health conditions have access to safe, evidence-based care,” the lawmakers said. he wrote. “We respectfully urge the FDA to continue its evaluation of entactogen- and psychedelic-assisted therapies with transparency, urgency, and scientific rigor while the agency fulfills its statutory responsibilities.”

In addition to Bergman and Correa, other lawmakers who signed the letter include: Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), Morgan Luttrell (R-TX), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Nancy Mace (R-SC), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-WI Orden) and Derrick Van Orden (R-WI).

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. HHS Secretary said recently The Trump administration is “very eager” to create a pathway to access psychedelic therapy and that senior officials at federal agencies want to “get it out to the public as soon as possible.”

In an interview with the Joe Rogan Experience in February, Kennedy said he was confident “we’re going to get it,” with plans to develop and finalize rules that would allow patients with conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression to access psychedelic substances like psilocybin and MDMA in a “very controlled environment.”

“Everyone at my agency … is very eager to get a rule that will allow these types of studies and allow access to these products in therapeutic settings, particularly for military personnel who have sustained these injuries,” the HHS secretary said. “We are working on that process now. We are all working and trying to make it happen.”

“I think we’ll make it,” he said.

Last June, Kennedy said that his agency “Fully committed” to expanding research into the benefits of psychedelic therapy. and, along with the head of the FDA, aims to give military veterans legal access to these substances “within 12 months.”

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins also announced in April that he had an “eye-opening” conversation with Kennedy. On the therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicine. And he said he’s open to the government issuing vouchers to cover the costs of psychedelic therapy for veterans who receive services outside the VA while Congress considers avenues for access.

Bipartisan members of Congress introduced legislation this session to provide $30 million in annual funding. establish psychedelic-focused “centers of excellence” at the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facility where veterans can receive new treatments containing substances such as psilocybin, MDMA and ibogaine.

A US Senate committee held a hearing last month on a bipartisan bill Promote research into the therapeutic potential of psychedelics by creating a new office at the VA this would help develop innovative treatments for serious mental health conditions and review the scheduling status of drugs such as psilocybin, ibogaine and MDMA.

Former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) said ibogaine represents ‘amazing breakthrough’ in nation’s current ‘patient care system’ this has left people with serious mental health conditions without access to promising alternative treatments.