Growing Under Fire: Talking Oklahoma's Cannabis Reality with Mike Khemmoro
When you look at Oklahoma’s cannabis industry from the outside, it can be tempting to reduce it to headlines about raids, loopholes, and political backlash. But if you talk to operators who have built real businesses here, a different picture emerges - one shaped by compliance, patient access, employee livelihoods, and the constant pressure of changing rules. That’s exactly what came through in this conversation with Michael Khemmoro, co-founder and COO of Mango Cannabis.
Mike started in Michigan’s caregiver system, moved to Oklahoma when the market offered a real chance to build, and helped grow Mango into a ten-location company employing hundreds of Oklahomans. In this post, we’ll break down what that journey reveals about the Oklahoma cannabis industry, why regulation is more complicated than it looks, and why operators say the real story is being missed.
How Mango Cannabis Went From Caregiver Roots to a Multi-Location Oklahoma Brand
Mike’s story starts long before Mango became one of the most recognizable dispensary chains in Oklahoma. Like many people in cannabis, he came up through the plant itself - starting as a caregiver in Michigan, working on the cultivation side, and helping patients access medicine on a small scale. That early experience matters because it shaped how he thinks about the industry today. He didn’t start as a polished executive stepping into a hot market. He started hands-on, in the dirt, trying to do right by patients and build something real.
When Michigan’s market shifted from a caregiver model to a more formal licensing system, he and his partner tried to expand there. They went through the merit-based application process, only to miss by a few points. Instead of waiting years for another chance, they looked elsewhere. Oklahoma stood out for one simple reason: accessibility. At the time, the state offered a faster and cheaper path into the market than most of the country. For entrepreneurs with cannabis experience and retail instincts, it created a rare opening. Michael described it as a chance - which is all they wanted - and that was enough to move on. That decision became the foundation of Mango Cannabis. The company launched in Oklahoma in 2018-2019 and grew steadily from there, eventually building out a multi-store operation across the state.
Michael’s story is a reminder that the cannabis industry in Oklahoma was never about easy money. For some people, and many readers and listeners will probably resonate with this, it was about having an opportunity, and finally getting a seat at the table.
Why Running a Cannabis Business Is Harder Than Most People Think
One of the biggest themes in the conversation was simple: cannabis is not easy money.
Mike pushed back on the public image of cannabis as a fast, loose, almost casual business. The reality, he said, is much closer to running any other highly regulated retail business - except with fewer banking options, more compliance risk, and a much more unstable market structure. That means business owners are dealing with several pressures at once:
Retail expectations from customers who have choices
Regulatory rules that can change quickly
Limited access to banks and financial services
Constant compliance obligations
Price compression in the wholesale market
Unpredictable inventory and margin pressure
In other words, even if your store is busy, you may still be operating on thin margins. Michael also pointed out a problem that many outside the industry don’t see: the market itself is now deflationary.
Early on, cannabis in Oklahoma could be priced high because supply was limited and demand was rising. But once more producers flooded the market, prices started falling fast. That creates a brutal business environment. Operators who stocked inventory when prices were higher suddenly had to sell into a compressed market. Products that once seemed profitable became harder to move. Inventory planning got riskier. And businesses that didn’t prepare for that shift got squeezed out.
The hidden cost of compliance
Michael also made an important point about how quickly a business can be disrupted by changing rules. It might be something as small as a new warning label requirement. But if you’ve already ordered packaging months in advance, that one change can make your inventory unusable. For a business operating at scale, those kinds of surprises hit hard. That’s why compliance in cannabis isn’t just paperwork. It’s a moving target with financial consequences. And unlike many other industries, cannabis operators often don’t have multiple banks, insurance carriers, or vendor options to choose from. They’re already operating in a narrower lane. When a rule changes, the ripple effect is bigger.
What Oklahoma’s Regulatory Overcorrection Means for Good Operators
Another major thread in the interview was the tension between bad operators and good operators - and how the state often lumps everyone together.
Mike’s view was clear: meaningful regulation is not the problem. In fact, good operators welcome it. They want clarity. They want standards. They want a level playing field. The problem is what happens when regulation arrives late, inconsistently, or in reaction to bad behavior that wasn’t properly policed early on.
Oklahoma’s early market structure created a situation where there was a lot of access but not enough oversight. That allowed illicit or sloppy operators to get entrenched. When the state later cracked down, the pressure didn’t just land on the bad actors. It also hit the businesses that had been trying to do everything right from the beginning. That dynamic changes how honest operators make decisions. Mike and I discussed we now have a market where even legitimate business owners are now anxious about technical mistakes, documentation issues, or administrative missteps that could trigger serious consequences. The compliance burden has become so intense that it feels like the whole industry is being treated with suspicion.
That creates real consequences:
Operators slow expansion
New stores, hires, and capital investments become riskier.
Businesses spend more time on defense
Instead of focusing on growth, they focus on avoiding problems.
The industry loses confidence
When everyone feels like they’re one typo away from trouble, it chills investment.
Patients and consumers can feel the impact
Less expansion can mean fewer access points and fewer options.
Mike’s point wasn’t that regulation should disappear. It was that enforcement should distinguish between the businesses trying to operate responsibly and the ones exploiting loopholes.
Why the Cannabis Stigma Still Shapes Policy in Oklahoma
A particularly sharp part of the conversation was about public perception. Mike and I both pointed out that cannabis businesses in Oklahoma are still carrying a heavy burden of stigma - even though the state has had medical marijuana for years and patient use is widespread. Mike’s frustration was not just about bad headlines. It was about how those headlines shape policy. When leaders describe the industry only through the lens of raids, illicit grows, and public safety threats, they erase the everyday reality of regulated cannabis businesses. They also ignore the people the industry serves.
Mike emphasized that Mango serves a broad cross-section of Oklahomans. There is no single stereotype for the customer walking through the door. Patients come from all walks of life, and many are looking for relief from pain, appetite loss, seizures, cancer treatment side effects, or other serious conditions. He shared a personal example too: his grandfather, who had been skeptical of cannabis, eventually tried a gummy because he was dealing with pain and appetite issues. That experience became one of the most meaningful memories he has of his grandfather. Stories like that are easy to miss when the public conversation is dominated by enforcement optics.
Why patient stories matter in the policy debate
The patient perspective is often missing from political speeches and regulatory headlines. But it should be central. For many Oklahomans, medical marijuana is not an ideological issue. It’s a quality-of-life issue. It’s access to relief. It’s an alternative or supplement when other treatments have fallen short. That’s why Michael believes the industry needs to do a better job of telling its own story as a factual counterweight to the fear-based narrative. If policymakers only hear about the worst examples, it’s only natural we will keep seeing policy around the worst examples.
Why the Industry Needs a Unified Voice
If there was one call to action that came through repeatedly, it was this: Oklahoma cannabis operators need to organize.
Michael said the industry has too many fragmented associations, too many internal rivalries, and too little shared advocacy. That fragmentation makes it harder to respond when the state takes a hard line.
His argument was not that every operator has to agree on everything. It was simply that the industry should be able to rally around a few core principles that protect legitimate businesses and patient access.
Mike also talked about the importance of showing up politically, even when it’s expensive or uncomfortable. In his view, operators can’t just build businesses and hope the policy environment takes care of itself. If the industry wants longevity, it has to participate in the conversation. That includes lobbying, trade associations, and direct communication with lawmakers.
Why this conversation is important now
The Oklahoma market is no longer in its startup phase. The easy money era is gone. The consolidation phase is here. Licensing, transfers, and expansion are harder than they were before. That means the decisions made now will shape what the industry looks like for years. If “good operators” don’t have a voice, they will keep absorbing the costs of policies they didn’t help shape. Mike’s point was blunt: the industry can’t afford to be passive anymore.
Listen to the complete podcast:
