Pubdate: Thu, 29 Nov 2012
Source: Tulsa World (OK)
Copyright: 2012 World Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.tulsaworld.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/463
Author: Jarrel Wade
Page: A1

POT STUDY UP IN SMOKE

A State Official Nixes the Research, Saying Legalization Would Oppose 
Federal Law.

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," said Garret Overstreet, 
executive director of NORML Tulsa. "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 with Johnson but decided 
recently not to move forward with 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.

"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 state's 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 NORML's 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 two to 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 arrest records provided by 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.

Pros and cons

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 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 one alcoholic drink 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 like marijuana.

"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 its 
medicinal purposes and giving patients access to marijuana for pain 
relief and appetite stimulation, Overstreet said.

"One of the things we don't want to do is break the law," 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."
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