Oklahoma Sheriff to auction confiscated pot farm

An illegal marijuana farm is being auctioned off on an auction website, and police officers from an Oklahoma sheriff’s office are the ones selling it. After a surge in both legal and illegal cannabis deals, confiscated assets remain.

The Johnston County Sheriff’s Office in Tishomingo, Oklahoma, posted the confiscated farm on Bidz4Assets.com, a Maryland-based auction website showing a 19.24-acre property near Coleman. Bids can be placed in an online auction from September 11th to 13th.

Other confiscated items are also sold out. The list of confiscated assets includes grow lights, light controls, HVAC systems, wall fans, water pumps, refrigerators, etc.

Opening bid is $755,006 and entry requires a one-time deposit of $25,035.00 including a $35 non-refundable processing fee. Deposits must be received by Bid4Assets here no later than Wednesday 6th September.

“We are looking for buyers who will take ownership of this property and use it responsibly, which was certainly not the case among previous owners,” Johnston County Sheriff Gary Dodd said in a statement. “Put the word across the county that if you use your farm for illegal cultivation, we will confiscate and sell it.”

The offer contains the following disclaimers: “The Johnston County Sheriff’s Office reserves the right to reject any offer for any reason. The Johnston County Sheriff’s Office may withdraw this property from auction at any time before or during the sale. The Johnston County Sheriff’s Office reserves the right to cancel the sale of any property at any time prior to the issuance of the deed.”

Local and state law enforcement agencies routinely raid illegal grow operations and seize millions of dollars worth of illegal cannabis. At a farm near Coleman, authorities reportedly seized about 20,000 illegally grown cannabis plants worth over $30 million.

The Oklahoman reports that Bid4Assets said in a press release it had been “working together” with sheriffs and attorneys to pass legislation allowing foreclosures to be conducted online.

On May 25, 2022, Governor Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 976 into law, led by Senator Casey Murdock, R-Felt.

The black market for cannabis in Oklahoma was a big problem.

In 2021, a senior Oklahoma senator requested millions of dollars in federal funding to combat illegal cannabis cultivation in the state.

According to local television station KFOR, Senator James Inhofe, a Republican, requested $4 million in federal funding to help Oklahoma drug enforcement officers fight illegal operations.

The illegal operations have frustrated the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. KFOR reports that the bureau’s director, Donnie Anderson, has expressed concerns that international drug organizations and cartels may be entering Oklahoma to exploit medicinal cannabis.

According to Anderson and other state officials, these organizations and cartels obtain a legitimate license for the medicinal cannabis they use to grow, and then sell the product to surrounding states that still have marijuana bans in place.

Oklahoma’s Cannabis Oversupply

Oklahoma voters legalized the use and sale of medicinal cannabis when they approved State Question 788 in 2018, a ballot measure that created the most loosely regulated legal cannabis market in the country.

Fox 23 reported that Oklahoma produces 32 times the amount of cannabis it actually needs. The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) has released a study showing that Oklahoma produces far more cannabis than consumers can handle.

“The study found that the supply-to-demand ratio in Oklahoma was 64 grams of regulated medicinal cannabis per gram of need by a licensed patient,” the study states. “The study states that a ratio of 2 grams of supply per 1 gram of demand is a healthy market, which puts Oklahoma’s functional supply-demand ratio at 32:1.”

In May 2022, Oklahoma lawmakers passed House Bill 3208, which introduced a two-year pause in issuing new licenses to medical cannabis companies. Mark Woodward, public relations officer for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN), said at the time the state had licensed more than 2,200 medical cannabis dispensaries, making oversight of operations by state regulators a major logistical challenge.

“That’s a tremendous number of pharmacies,” Woodward told KTUL in Tulsa. “That’s more than California, Oregon, Alaska, Washington, Nevada and New Mexico combined.”

Some measures are taken to control the market.

Oklahoma lawmakers passed a dozen bills last year aimed at tightening regulations for the state’s medicinal cannabis industry, including requiring new dispensaries and grow-ops to be at least 1,000 feet from schools.

Last March, Oklahoma voters rejected a state issue that would have allowed adult use of cannabis after strong opposition from faith leaders, law enforcement officials and prosecutors.