Housing prices, particularly in rural areas, are up significantly since Oklahoma legalized medical marijuana, according to a new study. The study, published in Cambridge University's Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, attributes rising property values to a real estate buying spree from marijuana growers.
Researchers examined people's perceived impacts of medical marijuana legalization and also tried to measure the effects of the industry on the state.
Brian Whitacre, one of the paper's authors and a professor of agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University, told The Frontier that the issue of increased home prices was not on the researchers' radar until people at a community meeting in Okemah brought it up.
"We didn't expect to see a big impact on the housing values, but when we went to Okemah, people were telling us they can't afford to buy a house in the place where they grew up," Whitacre said. "We heard stories of cash offers for places when they weren't even for sale."
Read more at The Frontier