Marijuana Business Owners Likely To Face Long Waits For Compliance In New Year

Mandate Introduces Unexpected Hurdles

When Oklahoma first mandated that marijuana businesses obtain certificates of occupancy in July 2023, thousands of business owners faced a need they hadn’t expected. The state ventured into a regulated medical marijuana market in 2018, but many of Oklahoma’s 77 counties lacked comprehensive zoning and planning laws. As a result, a rush of investors built grows, processors, or dispensaries without facing hurdles levied by local or county governments.

State Assumes Permitting Role in Unzoned Areas

But in a clarified position from the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, the agency made it clear that, statutorily, the state could and would assume the role of issuing permits in places where no local jurisdiction did.

In practice, this responsibility falls to the State Fire Marshal’s Office, which oversees the certificate of occupancy process. The agency provides a dedicated webpage outlining part of the procedure.

Lengthy Process Frustrates Business Owners

A year and a half later, OBN and business owners acknowledge that the process has been slow.

“It really hit hard for tons of these rural businesses, and getting a certificate of occupancy is expensive,” said J. Kyle Davis, an attorney with Overman Legal Group and Climb Collective, representing clients in Oklahoma’s marijuana industry. “It frequently requires architects and engineers. And then there’s this giant backlog where thousands of applications are pouring into the State Fire Marshal’s Office, which didn’t receive a budget increase when this requirement was introduced.”

Thousands of Farms at Risk of Losing Licenses

In October, OBN reported that of the nearly 3,000 active marijuana farms, about 1,500 risked losing their licenses by the end of the year due to the lack of a certificate of occupancy proving compliance with state fire codes.

Compliance Efforts Keep Some Businesses Open

As of January, the agency said roughly 2,400 farms remain with active licenses. A spokesperson for the agency explained this is because the bureau is working with people who have established a “good faith effort” of trying to get into compliance, versus people who never even submitted a supplemental application packet.

“Some of these businesses have been open for several years and never made any effort to get into compliance with the fire code,” said Mark Woodward, the public information officer for OBN.

Previous news coverage reflects bonafide examples of why the fire code matters. Woodward said fires and explosions have endangered narcotics agents during raids.

RELATED: OBN, OMMA Investigating Logan County Marijuana Operation After Fire Injures 2 People

Fire Code Compliance Is Critical

The importance of fire code compliance has been underscored by past incidents. Woodward noted that fires and explosions during narcotics raids have endangered agents.

No Hard Deadline for Compliance

As for 2025, Woodward said there’s not a hard deadline for getting into compliance; so long as an effort is being made.

“For the applicants who have submitted a packet to get into compliance with the Fire Marshal, we are working with them, and the Fire Marshal’s office, to hopefully get these people up to compliance as soon as possible,” he said.

Despite the leniency, Davis said the delays still weigh on his clients.

“Plenty of clients have gone out of business or are looking to sell their business as a result of what’s going on with the certificate of occupancy,” Davis said. “I hope that a lot of these efforts are rooting out some of the criminal element. I think all of us want that to happen. Seems like there’s probably more efficient ways that wouldn’t take the collateral damage on legitimate small businesses in Oklahoma, because I’m seeing a lot of them shutter.”

Future of Licensing and Applications

News 9 has reached out to the State Fire Marshal’s Office to obtain statistics for the number of marijuana-related applications seeking certificates of occupancy and will update this story when it receives the data.

A moratorium for new marijuana business licenses remains in effect until Aug. 1, 2026.