Anti-pot campaigners were on Wednesday celebrating their win against a better-funded adversary — dubbed ‘big cannabis’ — after Oklahomans soundly rejected plans to legalize recreational weed in the state.
Oklahoma’s Gov. Kevin Stitt, ant-marijuana campaigner Kevin Sabet and others praised the results of the ballot initiative on Tuesday, which saw voters by 61.7 percent to 38.3 percent derail the legalization effort.
Sabet, a former White House drugs tsar who now heads the Smart Approaches to Marijuana campaign, called the victory a win for ‘public safety and common sense’ despite the spending power of the $32 billion cannabis sector.
Oklahoma joins the list of red states that have recently pushed back against the wave of legalization — last year, voters in Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota rejected their own legalization ballots.
