Pubdate: Wed, 14 Nov 2012
Source: Tahlequah Daily Press (OK)
Copyright: 2012 Tahlequah Daily Press
Contact:  http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2636
Author: Rob W. Anderson

MANY SAY POT-SMOKING SHOULD BE LEGAL

TAHLEQUAH - As voters across the country registered their opinions on 
who should occupy the White House, the majority of voters in Colorado 
and Washington said as far as they're concerned, it's OK to inhale.

Marijuana legalization measures, for recreational use, were passed 
last week in both states.

Medical marijuana is already legal in both states, but private 
possession or consumption was not, until the Nov. 6 election.

According to Colorado's Amendment 64, or the Regulate Marijuana like 
Alcohol Act of 2012, the measure will alter the state constitution to 
provide for regulation of the Schedule 1 drug.

The new law would permit a person 21 or older to consume or possess 
limited amounts of marijuana; provide for the licensing of 
cultivation facilities, product manufacturing facilities, testing 
facilities, and retail stores; permit local governments to regulate 
or prohibit such facilities; require the general assembly to enact an 
excise tax to be levied upon wholesale sales of marijuana; require 
the first $40 million in revenue raised annually by such tax be 
credited to the public school capital construction assistance fund; 
and require the general assembly to enact legislation controlling the 
development of land for growing, processing and sale of industrial hemp.

Specifically for the voter, Amendment 64 means a private individual 
who is 21 or older can possess or consume up to an ounce, or 28.5 
grams, of marijuana, while cultivation limits allow an individual to 
possess six plants, with three or fewer being mature, flowering plants.

The premises must be enclosed and locked, and the plants can't be 
cultivated openly or publicly or made available for sale. Cultivation 
remains banned in Washington.

Nothing in the measure, per Amendment 64, is intended to require an 
employer to permit or accommodate the use or possession of marijuana 
in the workplace or affect the employer's ability to restrict the use 
of marijuana by employees.

In July, Oklahoma Sen. Connie Johnson, D-Forest Park, asked for an 
interim study into medical marijuana and was granted approval, said 
Sen. Jim Wilson, D-Tahlequah.

"The chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, Sen. Brian 
Crain, declined to have the committee hear the study request as of 
Oct. 3. On that date, we -- I'm a member of that committee -- were 
hearing testimony on the benefits of expanding smokeless tobacco 
usage," Wilson said. "You heard right: Sen. Johnson suggested her 
study for legalizing medical marijuana had just as much merit. The 
reply from Sen. Crain was she could not produce experts similar to 
those advocating for smokeless tobacco. Those experts, actual 
doctors, did research paid for by tobacco companies to support their 
initiative."

Neither voters nor the Legislature will take up a measure to legalize 
medical marijuana in Oklahoma, said Wilson.

"Since federal law still sees marijuana as illegal in all forms, what 
I predict is the new laws in Colorado and Washington will be tested 
in the courts and ultimately the Supreme Court will decide if 
marijuana should be legal or illegal nationally," he said. "That will 
take the decision away from Oklahoma, or at least make it a state 
issue, like liquor sales. Will Rogers said about liquor: 
‘Oklahomans vote dry as long as they can stagger to the polls.' 
This appears to be similar."

Rep. Mike Brown, D-Tahlequah, agrees that the likelihood of 
marijuana's being legalized in the state is nil.

"I don't ever see that happening -- at least, not in my lifetime," he 
said. "It's just not going to happen because we're a part of the 
Bible Belt, and most folks feel it's wrong. I probably would not 
support it, but I would support looking at the laws we passed, 
[possibly] changing some of the statutes that we have on sentencing. 
Like changing prison time to community sentencing or some other form 
of punishment, rather than sending them down to Big Mac. We're 
overcrowded right now."

Brown added that marijuana presented in pill form for medical 
purposes may be accepted by voters, if accompanied by proven benefit.

"That'd be the only way the public here would be satisfied with it, 
if it's beneficial in a pill form. That would be the only thing I 
could see people accepting, but I don't believe it'll ever happen in 
Oklahoma," he said.

Cherokee County Undersheriff Jason Chennault noted that regardless of 
voter opinion, marijuana remains a prohibited substance, and he 
believes it will remain as such.

"I don't see it happening here. They're still going to have to deal 
with the federal law, and it would still be considered illegal," 
Chennault said.

"I don't think [medical marijuana will] ever happen here. This is the 
Bible Belt and people are not going to go for it. I don't think it's 
as big a problem as the meth problem. Unless it's a large amount, 
it's a misdemeanor here. We don't see that much marijuana that comes 
out of traffic stops."

Marijuana should be decriminalized and legalized nationally and 
should be regulated and taxed like tobacco and alcohol, said Tony 
O'seland, who responded to the Daily Press' Facebook poll on the 
legalization of pot in the state.

"As a matter of fiscal responsibility, pot should be treated the same 
way tobacco and alcohol is handled: Franchise it," he said.

"If the feds would simply utilize some of the existing agencies and 
expand their purview, it could be grown as a bulk crop, sold on open 
auction like tobacco, manufactured and packaged like cigarettes and 
sold through the same distribution centers that handle alcohol. It's 
a four-way tax benefit: All of the stages are taxed, and consumption 
is controlled by the same laws as beverages."

Shannon Grimes agrees that marijuana "may as well be legal."

"It's not like being illegal is stopping its use. The only thing 
being illegal is doing is empowering the criminal elements that 
capitalize on the prohibition, creating more crime and violence than 
otherwise would exist," he said. "You know, kinda like the mob during 
alcohol prohibition."

Billie Walker believes medical marijuana may present a benefit to 
patients in need, but she does not support easy access.

"Either way, people are going to continue to be stupid. Legal or not, 
they will find a way to get their smoke, but we don't have to make it 
easy for them," she said. "Smoking pot fries your brain, but if 
you're sick or old and sick, I say why not."

Linda Kay Hobbs Baird agrees medicinal marijuana should be made 
available to approved patients in Oklahoma.

"I don't think marijuana should be legalized in Oklahoma, unless 
people really need it for cancer or really severe pain," she said.

Leon Briggs pointed to a study ordered by a former president as 
reason why marijuana should be legalized for medical treatments.

"The public needs to be aware of the Virginia study in 1974 ordered 
by President [Richard] Nixon," he said. "In that study, researchers 
at the Medical College of Virginia, who had been funded by the 
National Institutes of Health to find evidence that marijuana damages 
the immune system, found instead that THC slowed the growth of three 
kinds of cancer in mice -- lung, breast cancer and virus-induced leukemia.

The DEA quickly shut down the Virginia study and all further 
cannabis/tumor research, according to Jack Herer, who reported on the 
events in his book ‘The Emperor Wears No Clothes.'"

Carolyn Hawley believes legalizing marijuana might provide better 
ways of controlling the substance.

"I was thinking about reading some time ago about bootleg liquor and 
how legalizing it helped control it," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom