Kingfisher County Sheriff Dennis Banther, along with his counterparts across the state, will be eligible to apply for funding to combat illegal marijuana growing activities, thanks to a new state law signed by Gov. Stitt last week.

Rep. David Hardin, R-Stilwell, and Sen. Darrell Weaver, R-Moore, authored House Bill 3530 which will create a grant program for county sheriffs and which passed by wide margins in both chambers.

“Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority compliance inspectors are being met with resistance at medical marijuana facilities across our state,” Hardin said.

“They are just trying to do their jobs and make sure everything is done by the book, but they aren’t law enforcement officers.

“They don’t carry a weapon and are often met by people carrying firearms telling them to leave a property.

“This grant program will allow for one full time deputy to be totally dedicated to assisting OMMA compliance inspectors.”

HB 3530 creates an annual grant program funded by $5 million from the OMMA budget.

The program would provide county sheriffs close to $65,000 for one year and would require one deputy to be assigned to assist OMMA compliance inspectors.

County and law enforcement officials are praising the signing of the bill.

“HB 3530 is an enormous boost to public safety for the counties in Oklahoma,” Cleveland County Commissioner Rod Cleveland said.

“County sheriffs are the chief law enforcement of the county and are central to keeping law and order.

“Increasing state funding to each sheriff’s department is a huge win for law enforcement in combating illegal grow operations and assisting legal grows.

“This is a huge victory for the state of Oklahoma.”

Ray McNair, executive director of the Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association, added:

“HB 3530 will provide our most rural sheriffs the resources to combat illegal marijuana operations in their county.”

The bill comes after OMMA compliance inspectors were denied access to properties 181 times between April 2021 and February 2022.

This accounts for 9.6% of all inspections during that period.