Pubdate: Thu, 19 Jun 2014
Source: Tucson Weekly (AZ)
Copyright: 2014 Tucson Weekly
Contact:  http://www.tucsonweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/462
Author: Brad Poole

OH! OKLAHOMA!

A Sooner State Senator Stands Up for Sanity

"And God said, 'Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, 
which is upon the face of all the Earth, and every tree, in the which 
is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."

Genesis, 1:29

When the insurgents from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria brutally 
swept through the northern portion of Iraq recently, they informed 
the public that their strict version of sharia law is now in effect. 
Women should stay indoors, they said, and thieves risk having their 
hands cut off.

Sharia, in its most corrupted forms such as that espoused by ISIS, 
can be a very, very draconian affair with punishments wildly out of 
proportion to the offenses, by most standards. We've all heard news 
stories about abuses of sharia -women stoned to death or gang-raped 
for dishonoring their families, tongues cut out, limbs surgically 
removed. We don't have sharia in America, and that's probably a good thing.

But we have Oklahoma.

Right here in America, in a place that literally touches Colorado, 
where cannabis is legal, judges have the authority to send you to 
prison for life for selling even small amounts of marijuana. I'll 
write that again, just to be sure you read it right. Judges in 
Oklahoma can sentence you to life for selling small amounts of marijuana.

Now, don't get any more alarmed than you have to. No one is going to 
face life for having an ounce of pot. The penalty for a first-time 
possession of small amounts is up to a year in prison and a fine up 
to $1,000. Even a second offense is "only" punishable by a maximum of 
10 years and a fine up to $5,000. But if you sell that ounce, 
suddenly the maximum penalty is life.

Sentences like that ruin lives, affect minorities disproportionately 
and clog prisons with minor offenders, so Oklahoma state Sen. Connie 
Johnson has been trying for a while to change it. In February, 
Johnson introduced a bill to legalize recreational use for adults.

"As taxpayers, we're spending over $30 million each year policing, 
jailing and incarcerating our citizens on marijuana-related offenses, 
yet marijuana is almost universally available," she said. "It's time 
for a smarter approach."

Yes, it is. But her effort has yet to see a vote in the 
Republican-dominated Public Safety Committee. It seems unlikely to 
ever see the light of day, so Johnson is taking the issue to voters. 
Citing Genesis 1:29 as her guidance, Johnson last week submitted a 
petition to legalize marijuana and regulate it like alcohol. It might 
have a better chance than you think.

Oklahoma has roughly 1.9 million registered voters, of which about 
885,000 are Democrats. Just 856,000 are Republican. To make the 
November ballot, the petition needs about 170,000 signatures of 
registered voters. They have roughly 90 days to get them.

The law would allow personal cultivation and possession for 
recreational use, and it would tax cannabis sales. It's becoming a 
boilerplate process - try to pass legalization in your legislature, 
then if that fails, let the people decide. And it's starting to work 
- -it worked in Colorado and Washington (though it narrowly failed in 
Oregon), and a lot of people expect it to work in Alaska in November.

I'm not here to advocate wholesale, unregulated and unpunished black 
market sales of marijuana, but Oklahoma is a shining example of why 
we need to change our marijuana laws and I'm behind Sen. Johnson's 
effort to change it. It's a travesty that in a place literally one 
step away from where the maximum penalty for selling an ounce of 
marijuana is three years, the potential penalty for the same crime is 
life in prison. It doesn't matter that Oklahoma judges don't sentence 
people to life for selling small amounts of marijuana.

It matters that they can.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom