But a moratorium is not likely, said Adria Berry, the director of the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, which oversees the industry and reported nearly $138 million in revenue from retail, state and local taxes this year, through November, on the sale of cannabis.
Ms. Berry, an early opponent of medical cannabis, says the industry is here to stay and that the state’s marijuana law effectively restrains her agency from limiting the number of new licenses it approves.
On the ground level, that means that the number of Oklahoma cannabis busineses keeps on surging.
Mr. Pederson, the transplant from Seattle, had served in the Army and was looking for a new career when he learned earlier this year about growing cannabis in Oklahoma. Despite being new to the industry, he moved on his own to Keota to supervise the small, five-person farm, which he said was supplying dispensaries in the state.
“There’s culture shock for outsiders,” Mr. Pederson said about moving to a tiny Oklahoma town. He said he plans to stay in the state for at least the next five years.
Signs of the explosive growth are hard to miss. There are now towns with far more dispensaries than food stores. And cannabis operations now outnumber wheat and cotton farms. The industry has also created thousands of jobs in a state that remains among the poorest in the country. Supporters of the industry also argue that the less punitive approach to possession of marijuana and other drugs, along with other sentencing reforms, has eased pressures on the state’s prisons.