Pubdate: Sun, 29 Jul 2012
Source: Tulsa World (OK)
Copyright: 2012 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.tulsaworld.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/463
Author: Sean Murphy, Associated Press

STATE SENATOR SUPPORTS LEGALIZED MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Sen. Constance Johnson Believes Attitudes Are Changing.

OKLAHOMA CITY - A longtime proponent of medicinal marijuana, state 
Sen. Constance Johnson, acknowledges she has few open advocates in 
the conservative Oklahoma Legislature.

But the Oklahoma City Democrat said she remains optimistic that 
attitudes toward easing Oklahoma's tough marijuana laws are shifting, 
and she said her hopes are buoyed by the possibility of the 
Republicancontrolled Senate approving a study on the benefits of 
medicinal marijuana.

Johnson, D-OklahomaCity, has introduced a medicinal marijuana bill 
every year since she was first elected in 2005, but has yet to 
receive a hearing in committee. Now she is petitioning the Republican 
chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee to allow a 
study before the Legislature reconvenes in February.

"The legislative process moves slowly. It's taken seven years just to 
get a study, and even that's not a given," Johnson said. "I'm an 
eternal optimist, and I'm optimistic that it will get a hearing one 
day. Things are changing.

"More and more people are going to speak up and speak out, and that's 
how change happens, when it happens at the grassroots level."

Supporters of the legal use of marijuana for medicinal purposes say 
it eases the pain of those who suffer from cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, 
chronic pain and other diseases.

Despite Johnson's optimism, it's unlikely the bill will get far in 
the Oklahoma Legislature, which just last year passed a bill allowing 
a sentence of up to life in prison for a first-time offender who 
attempts to convert marijuana to hashish. The state has some of the 
toughest drug penalties in the country, including mandatory 
life-without-parole sentences for certain drug traffickers and a 
required felony charge for second-time drug offenders, even for 
simple possession of marijuana.

"With our Legislature, it's always a race to the draconian finish 
line," said Chad Moody, an Oklahoma City defense attorney who 
specializes in drug cases. "If one lawmaker says we need a $100 fine 
for jaywalking, the next one says they want the death penalty because 
they want to be tough on crime.

"I don't understand why this Republican Legislature doesn't want 
liberty across the board."

Several pro-marijuana advocates planned to meet with Johnson on 
Saturday to suggest experts to testify at any interim legislative hearing.

Sen. Brian Crain, the chairman of the Senate Health and Human 
Services Committee, said he is "lukewarm" to the idea of an interim 
study on medicinal marijuana, but that he will decide whether to have 
a hearing after listening to what Johnson has planned.

"I still have not made a decision," said Crain, R-Tulsa, a former 
prosecutor. "I have a lot of questions and not many answers. If she's 
got some new information and there's something that sounds like it 
merits a discussion, then let's do it.

"If we're talking about medical marijuana for recreational use, I'm 
opposed to that."

Officials with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs 
fiercely oppose any effort to allow medicinal marijuana in Oklahoma, 
but a spokesman for the law enforcement agency said they welcome the 
opportunity for an interim study.

"Marijuana is not medicine," said OBN spokesman Mark Woodward. "We 
would welcome the opportunity to get to the truth about what's behind 
medical marijuana."

Woodward said he believes those pushing for medicinal marijuana also 
support the legalization of marijuana, and that recreational use 
becomes more widespread in states that legalize medicinal marijuana.

"It's not about patients or health care or two joints for a cancer 
patient," Woodward said. "We're talking about 60 pounds of high-grade 
marijuana going out the back door of these medicinal marijuana stores 
stuffed into the trunk of a car on its way to the East Coast."

But Jeff Pickens, a medicinal marijuana advocate, disagrees.

"That's ridiculous," said Pickens, the president of the Drug Policy 
Reform Network of Oklahoma. "Medical marijuana, where it's available, 
is provided to anyone with a doctor's recommendation. That is 
completely different than legalization."

"Just because people take advantage of a good service doesn't mean 
the service isn't good. Almost anything that benefits the public, 
people take advantage of it, but that's no reason to deny people 
relief from suffering."

It's clear the push for greater use of marijuana is expanding. 
Eighteen states and the District of Columbia currently have medicinal 
marijuana laws enacted, according to the National Organization for 
the Reformation of Marijuana Laws. A push is under way to have a 
medicinal marijuana state question on the November ballot in 
neighboring Arkansas, and voters in Washington and Colorado are 
expected to vote in November on whether to legalize small amounts of marijuana.

Medicinal marijuana advocates say the Arkansas initiative will be a 
bellwether for Oklahoma because of the state's common border and 
demographic similarities. If advocates there are successful, Pickens 
said, Oklahoma could be next.

"We will move forward with a ballot initiative in Oklahoma, whether 
the Oklahoma Legislature helps us or not," Pickens said.
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