In California, sandwich-board walkers advertise where to get legal marijuana for medicinal reasons and what symptoms will get you a prescription.

In Oklahoma, a proponent of medical marijuana can't get a hearing from the conservative state legislature on her bill. Sen. Constance Johnson, D-Oklahoma City, remains optimistic.

"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.

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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.

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Recently, a brave soul introduced a bill in the Oklahoma Legislature to legalize medical marijuana. Without going into the merits of such an undertaking, or its broader implications and possibilities, I would like to comment on one group strongly opposed to any such legislation: the drug cartels and street gangs.

Anyone opposing the legalization of marijuana has the narco-terrorists block firmly at their back. They know any intelligent revision of the current criminal statutes would do the most harm imaginable to their existence. Certainly more so than any quasi-military or police efforts are doing.

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Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, said Saturday he would oppose a proposed interim legislative study into the medicinal use of marijuana.

"I don't support legalizing marijuana, and I don't think the Oklahoma legislature will support it," Anderson said.

Anderson's comments were in response to a petition from Sen. Constance Johnson, D-Forest Park, filed with the Senate Health and Human Services Committee for an interim study into legalizing the medicinal use of the drug.

Johnson's petition is the latest in a long string of attempts to bring the medicinal marijuana issue before the full Senate. Johnson has introduced a medicinal marijuana bill every year since she first was elected in 2005, but has yet to receive a hearing in committee.

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Regarding "OKC raids disrupt meth ring, net arrests" (News, July 17): The meth addicts and meth producers arrested will soon be replaced. They always are. I have a simple solution that would eliminate 99 percent of the illegal meth labs. The solution is Desoxyn, the pharmaceutical form of methamphetamine legally available in local pharmacies for less than $2 per dose with a doctor's prescription. Start selling it at local pharmacies without a prescription - with no questions asked - to any adult just like we do with tobacco products - except there should be no advertising or promotion of the product.

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Gov. Mary Fallin has agreed to early release for inmate Patricia Spottedcrow, a young mother whose story of a lengthy sentence for a small marijuana deal was featured in a Tulsa World series on Women in Prison.

Under the governor's stipulations, Spottedcrow will be required to complete 120 days at a community-level Department of Corrections facility before she is released.

Spottedcrow, 27, was originally handed a 12-year sentence in a blind plea before a judge for selling $31 worth of marijuana to a police informant. It was a first-time offense, but because children were in Spottedcrow's home when she was arrested, a charge was added for possession of a dangerous substance in the presence of a minor.

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On Thursday, representatives from Health Advocates Rejecting Marijuana (HARM), spoke to an audience at the conference center at Choctaw Casino in Durant about the danger and prevention of marijuana use. The conference was hosted by the Bryan County Turning point Drug Free Community Coalition and the Wichita Mountains Prevention Network.

The goals of HARM are "to decrease the accessibility/ availability of marijuana-related paraphernalia and to minimize messages that encourage, normalize or trivialize marijuana use" and "to reduce marijuana use by youth, to lessen the problems associated with the accessibility and use of marijuana by youth and to change the perception that marijuana is harmless."

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I saw an image on the Internet the other day that says "Marijuana Never Hurt Anyone." I thought to myself, "You've got to be joking!"

After all, there's got to be a reason it's illegal in most countries. They couldn't all be wrong.

In only a few minutes of research I found more data on the dangers of pot than I could print here.

Beyond that, a missionary friend of mine sent word just a few days ago of some very disturbing news that happened just across the U.S./Mexico border. Here is part of what he said: "23 people were killed yesterday (May 4) in Nuevo Laredo, just across the line from Laredo, Texas. Nine bodies were found hanging from a very busy bridge. 14 decapitated heads were delivered to city hall in coolers. The 14 bodies were found in a car left by one of the bridges to the states."

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Seizure of $40K just latest in over $800K seized by sheriff's office over last 3 years

Muskogee County Sheriff's Deputy Jeff Gragg says 80 percent of crime leads to drugs in some way.

Gragg says best way to stop the illegal flow of drugs is on the highway.

"Because what happens is the drugs come in on the highway and end up in the smaller cities, and at that point it's almost too late," Gragg said.

A state law allows law enforcement officers to seize money and property suspected of being the fruits of illegal activity. The person is given notice of the seizure and is allowed the opportunity to prove it was not part of illegal activity.

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TEWKSBURY, Mass. - Russ Caswell, 68, is bewildered: "What country are we in?" He and his wife, Pat, are ensnared in a Kafkaesque nightmare unfolding in Orwellian language.

This town's police department is conniving with the federal government to circumvent Massachusetts law - which is less permissive than federal law - in order to seize his livelihood and retirement asset.

In a lawsuit, the government is suing an inanimate object, the motel Caswell's father built in 1955. The U.S. Department of Justice intends to seize it, sell it for perhaps $1.5 million and give up to 80 percent of that to the Tewksbury Police Department, whose budget is just $5.5 million. The Caswells have not been charged with, let alone convicted of, a crime.

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WASHINGTON - Amelioration of today's drug problem requires Americans to understand the significance of the 80/20 ratio. Twenty percent of American drinkers consume 80 percent of the alcohol sold here. The same 80-20 split obtains among users of illicit drugs.

About 3 million people - less than 1 percent of America's population - consume 80 percent of illegal hard drugs. Drug trafficking organizations can be most efficiently injured by changing the behavior of the 20 percent of heavy users, and we are learning how to do so. Reducing consumption by the 80 percent of casual users will not substantially reduce the northward flow of drugs or the southward flow of money.

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WASHINGTON - The human nervous system interacts in pleasing and addictive ways with certain molecules derived from some plants, which is why humans may have developed beer before they developed bread. Psychoactive - consciousnessaltering - and addictive drugs are natural, a fact that should immunize policymakers against extravagant hopes as they cope with America's drug problem, which is convulsing some nations to our south.

The costs - human, financial and social - of combating (most) drugs are prompting calls for decriminalization or legalization. America should, however, learn from the psychoactive drug used by a majority of American adults - alcohol.

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OKLAHOMA House Bill 2388 pits taxpayers against tax consumers, conservatives against liberals, one drug policy against another drug policy and ideology against pragmatism.

Article Gallery: TANF drug-testing proposal should be vetted by courts first

How can one bill do all that? By mandating drug tests as a condition for getting welfare benefits. Private firms test job applicants for drugs. Why shouldn't the state? This seems like an easy call. It's not.

Matters of public policy should themselves be subject to testing: What's broken that needs fixing? What would the policy cost? How much money, if any, would it save? Who would be helped by the policy? Who would be hurt?

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In response to B.G. Nolen (Your Views, March 16): Many judges and prison wardens have said that 70 percent to 80 percent of all property crime and violent crime is drug-related. Actually, nearly 100 percent of all so-called drug-related crime is caused by drug prohibition policies - not drugs. When Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine and sold for 5 cents a bottle, the term "drug-related crime" didn't exist. Neither did drug lords, drug cartels or even drug dealers as we know them today.

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"Addiction costs Oklahoma an estimated $7.2B a year" (News, March 10) was a nice addendum to your continuing coverage of Oklahoma's drug problem. Unfortunately, it isn't possible to solve a demand problem by spending money on the supply side. Consider how well the Volstead Act worked to stop the consumption of alcohol in the United States in the 1920s. Or how well the "War on Drugs" is now working. In the 1880s, Philadelphia economist Charles Sumner wrote this in regard to alcoholism: "Social evils tend to eliminate themselves."

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The Rev. Pat Robertson recently caused an uproar when he stated that marijuana should be made legal, like tobacco and liquor. Years ago I would have thought that Robertson had lost his mind. However, after 30 years of watching the "War on Drugs" fail to slow down the use of illegal drugs, and watching our prisons fill with drug users, I believe Robertson is right.

Society would be better off if certain illegal drugs were legalized. I was born in the 1930s and have never taken a single illegal drug, so I'm not a drug user wanting a change for any personal benefit. My family has watched a family member's life destroyed from illegal drug use. So I know all too well the damage that illegal drugs can do to a user.

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Pro-Drug Legalization Forces Are Gaining Clout

For the first time since the United States launched its "war on drugs" four decades ago, there are signs that the forces supporting legalization or decriminalization of illegal drugs are gaining momentum across the hemisphere.

Granted, this is a debate that is just starting at government levels, and that will take years to produce concrete results.

But there are several new factors, including a reduction of U.S. anti- narcotic aid to Latin America proposed by the Obama administration in its 2013 budget announced earlier this month, that are beginning to pose an increasingly serious challenge to the traditional interdiction-based U.S. anti-drug strategies.

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I agree with B.J. Brockett (Your Views, Sept. 7) and his solution to the drug problems. This has been my solution for many years. It's impossible to keep people from using drugs so let them have all they want and they'll take care of the problem by themselves.

It would save the lives of people getting killed or injured buying and selling drugs and end robberies of homes of innocent people. There would be no more drug dealers trying to sell drugs at schools and no more pharmacy holdups.

Bobbie Turney, Edmond

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NORMAN -- Editor, The Transcript:

As my colleagues fly around in helicopters, pedophiles are not being caught in the Internet chat rooms, as they entice young teens to "meet in real life." My profession shrinks by the day, and chasing after a green plant should be at the bottom of our priority list.

In my experience, marijuana is too dangerous to leave in the hands of criminals and cartels. It should be handled like alcohol. Can anyone explain how marijuana prohibition is helping our young people, since it is easier for them to buy pot than whiskey?

Det./Officer Howard Wooldridge (retired)

Norman

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NORMAN - The continuing drought makes it easier for Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics agents to spot suspected marijuana plots from the air. The plants are often the only areas that appear to have been watered. From 1,000 feet up, the green shine stands out among dead grass and weeds.

The bureau displayed its equipment and firepower for law enforcement, community leaders, judges and the media at Max Westheimer Field on Wednesday. Director Darrell Weaver said marijuana eradication is a community issue and should not be solely the concern of law enforcement. Indeed, it is a community problem that will take a changing mindset. Marijuana cultivation is big business in some areas of the state. Most of the larger growing operations are located in the eastern parts of the state, but Cleveland County has numerous plots.

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