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Newsbrief:
Marijuana
Decriminalization
Bill
Dead
in
Oklahoma
3/26/04
A bill supported by the Oklahoma
Department of Public Safety that would have made possession of up to an
ounce of marijuana a ticketable offense was defeated in a House committee
vote Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.
Capt. Van Guillotte, legislative
liaison for the DPS, told AP the agency wanted the bill passed because
arresting people for simple pot possession was a waste of Highway Patrol
officers' time. If an arrest is made, it could take two or three
hours to transport and book the person, he said, and the cops often just
don't bother. "In some cases, the evidence, the marijuana, is just
thrown on the side of the road and destroyed, and the person is given a
verbal warning and allowed to go on," Guillotte said. Heck, said
Guillotte, if the bill had passed there might have been more prosecutions
for marijuana possession. "Right now, if the oral warning is given
and the product is thrown on the side of the road, nothing is recorded,"
he said. "This bill never changed the penalties, it only changes
the method."
But legislators shied away
from anything they thought might be perceived as soft on crime. "I
know clearly where we're headed with the bill, but I also understand politics,"
said Rep. Jim Newport (R-Ponca City). "As soon as the highway
patrol campaigns as aggressively for this bill out in my community, the
same way I have to campaign when it's perceived by my opponent that I'm
soft on crime, then I will vote for the bill," he told the AP.
The bill was defeated 4-2
in the House Criminal Justice Committee, effectively killing it for this
session.
-- END --
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Issue #330, 3/26/04
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