Medical marijuana won’t fix Oklahoma’s budget problems

The movement to legalize marijuana is riding high. This year voters in California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada joined Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska in legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, while Arkansas, Florida, Montana, and North Dakota voted to allow… Read more [More...]

Sonya’s story as a child of incarcerated parents

Sonya (her name has been changed due to the sensitive nature of her story) grew up as a child of incarcerated parents and went on to be Valedictorian of her high school class, student council president, and drum major of the… Read more [More...]

Does Oklahoma rely too much on foster care to prevent child abuse and neglect?

Tara Grigson was an OK Policy summer intern. She is a psychology and Spanish major at the University of Tulsa and previously worked as a Mission Impact Intern at YWCA Tulsa. Nearly 11,000 Oklahoma children have been removed from their… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma has an efficient way to make sure everyone has health care… if we choose to fund it

We’ve written before about why Oklahoma’s federally-qualified community health centers (FQHCs) are a foundation of our health care safety net. FQHCs have to meet very specific criteria: they have to reach an underserved area or population, provide comprehensive services, have… Read more [More...]

Inconvenient alcohol laws are no substitute for funding addiction treatment (Capitol Updates)

Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1991. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol. You can find past Capitol Updates archived  on his website. State Agencies are working on… Read more [More...]

New Census data shows Oklahoma improves on poverty and uninsured rates but still lags behind nation

New Census data shows Oklahoma made some progress in reducing the percentage of families living in poverty in 2015. In 2014, nearly one out of six Oklahomans (16.6 percent) were making less than the poverty line ($24,000 a year for… Read more [More...]

At the intersection of hunger and health (Guest Post: Effie Craven)

Effie Craven serves as the State Advocacy and Public Policy Director for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, where she advocates for programs and policies that promote access to nutritious foods and… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma is missing a big opportunity to improve mental illness and addiction treatment

One of the most successful ways that’s been found to help people escape from opioid addiction is through medications that partially mimic the effect of more dangerous opioids while causing less intoxication and less physical dependence. Despite the success of… Read more [More...]

New report shows what Oklahoma’s missing by refusing Medicaid expansion

Three years ago, a central provision of the Affordable Care Act kicked in – the option for states to expand their Medicaid programs for the low-income uninsured via a substantial infusion of federal funds. While 31 states and Washington D.C.… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma drug law enforcement agency moves toward ‘treatment option’ to combat addiction (Capitol Updates)

Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1991. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol. You can find past Capitol Updates archived  on his website. There was an important announcement… Read more [More...]