Pubdate: Thu, 29 Nov 2012
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Copyright: 2012 The Oklahoma Publishing Co.
Contact: http://www.newsok.com/voices/guidelines
Website: http://newsok.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318
Author: Jarrel Wade
Page: 13A

MEDICAL MARIJUANA STUDY NIXED BY OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL

print State's marijuana advocates will have to wait to be
heard

Marijuana advocates will have to wait another year to try to get their
discussion in front of Oklahoma legislators after a committee chairman
announced this week he would not schedule the interim study.

Following Arkansas' near passing of medical marijuana on Nov. 6,
Oklahoma marijuana advocates - including the leader of the Tulsa
branch of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws -
were in high hopes of getting an interim study approved to discuss
bills put forward by state Sen. Constance Johnson, D-Oklahoma City,
aiming at legalizing marijuana for medicinal use.

"The conversation has to start somewhere," executive director Garret
Overstreet said. "We hoped it would start this year. But we'll be back
the next year and the next year."

Johnson has introduced multiple bills to legalize medical marijuana in
Oklahoma and was trying to get an interim study at the Capitol this
year with the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, Overstreet
said.

The chairman of the committee, state Sen. Brian Crain, R-Tulsa, said
he discussed the scheduling of the study diligently with Johnson but
decided recently not to hold the study.

Johnson did not return multiple calls seeking comment.

Crain said his decision not to allow the study was based on the
Oklahoma Constitution and the U.S. Constitution, which is the supreme
law of the land.

"I don't know how we can proceed with the legalization of medical
marijuana as long as the federal law says the legalization of medical
marijuana is against the law," Crain said.

Overstreet said advocates had met several standards Crain set for an
interim study, such as making available a medical researcher who could
answer questions about the medicinal uses of marijuana.

Overstreet said he was surprised by Crain's reasoning for not allowing
the study to take place.

"Much like with alcohol prohibition, things didn't change on the
federal level," Overstreet said. "They changed on the local level. ..
In regard to federal enforcement, states are able to pass their own
laws. We need to maintain states' rights."

Against the law

Currently, 18 states permit marijuana for medicinal use and 14 -
including some of the same states - have decriminalized marijuana use,
according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws website.

Arkansas, which many see as a natural link to Oklahoma due to similar
voting patterns and its proximity, almost passed laws making medical
marijuana legal.

The vote failed Nov. 6 with 51 percent against and 49 percent for the
law.

In Oklahoma, possession of any amount of marijuana as a first offense
is subject to up to one year in jail and a second offense carries a
penalty of 2-10 years, according to NORML's website.

Further, the sale of marijuana in any amount up to 25 pounds is
punishable by a sentence of two years to life, according to the website.

In 2011, 7,779 Oklahoma adults were arrested for possession of
marijuana, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of
Investigation.

In Tulsa, 502 arrests were made by Tulsa Police Department officers
for possession of marijuana.

More than five times as many arrests were made in 2011 for marijuana
possession than for possession of opium, cocaine and cocaine
derivatives, which totaled 1,354 arrests in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control spokesman
Mark Woodward said a majority of arrests for marijuana possession do
not end up in jail but go through a pleading process that gets
offenders into drug court, which is a good thing because of the
success rate of keeping drug users clean.

"You look at some of the headlines we've seen in the news lately about
kids dying in drug homes," Woodward said. "If we legalize it, it
continues to tell parents that they can continue to do drugs."

Woodward focused on the effects drugs already have on children in the
state, who are found living in homes where drugs are regularly used.

"All we have to do is look at alcohol and prescription drugs, and they
are two of our biggest problems in terms of addiction," he said.
"Legalizing it is a message to kids that it's OK to get high and get
stoned."

Although many draw a link between marijuana and alcohol, Woodward said
a drink of alcohol does not impair someone as much as one hit of
marijuana. Also, legalizing marijuana does not hurt the drug trade, he
said, because alcohol and prescription drugs - despite being legal -
are often used illegally and get traded on the black market.

"Probably 90 percent of the marijuana in the United States is grown
and transported into the U.S. from Mexico by the cartels," Woodward
said. "But we're seeing more and more patches grown on this side of
the border over the last three to five years."

Tulsa's NORML organization stands by legalizing marijuana for
medicinal purposes and giving patients access to marijuana for pain
relief and appetite stimulation, Overstreet said.

However, Overstreet said decriminalizing marijuana would allow
authorities to focus on more harmful street drugs while bringing
marijuana off the black market and into a regulated, taxable system.

"Everyone wants the same thing," Overstreet said. "Some people just
may think that we have different motives. ... It's not like legalizing
it will invent marijuana. It's already there."

Contributing: Staff Writer Curtis Killman, Tulsa World
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