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Oklahoma Senate Passes Life Sentence for Hash Making

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #681)
Politics & Advocacy

The Oklahoma Senate Wednesday passed a bill that would mandate a sentence of up to life in prison for making hashish out of marijuana. The House has already approved the measure, but it must go back to the lower chamber for a final vote.

Making this could get you life in prison in Oklahoma if a current bill becomes law (Image via Wikimedia.org)
The measure sailed through the Senate with little debate, passing on a vote of 44-2. The House also approved the measure by a large margin, passing it on a vote of 75-18.

The bill, House Bill 1798, creates a new felony of converting marijuana into hash. A first conviction could garner a $50,000 fine and prison sentence of two years to life. And that's a mandatory minimum two years. Second or subsequent convictions would net doubled penalties.

Oklahoma legislative analysts said the bill would cost the state $56 per day, or more than $20,000 a year, for each day someone is imprisoned. At that rate, if Oklahoma imprisoned five hash makers for 10 years each, the bill to taxpayers would be one million dollars.

The bill was the brainchild of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (OBNDD), which says on its web site that its mission is "to serve the citizens of Oklahoma in the quest for a drug-free state."

According to the Tulsa World, OBNDD said there have been "few" cases of hash making in the Sooner State. But OBNDD spokesman Mark Woodward said the goal of the bill is to "send a message" that illegal drugs won't be tolerated in Oklahoma.

Neither, apparently, will common sense or a sense of proportionality.

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

MJ (not verified)

Life for making hash!!? Adding the corn beef must get you the chair! WTF is wrong with those inbred's? Asked and answered. Is someone looking into the connection of these legislators to the private prison industry? The public needs to know what drives this insanity.

Mon, 04/25/2011 - 6:54am Permalink
Rev. Mick (not verified)

In reply to by MJ (not verified)

INBREDS!!! having lived here on and off for the last 30 years, I can tell you that is exactly the problem... that and too much religion... MOST of the people here are great folks, easy going and not worried about what you are doing... but they're stuck on stupid! and can't do anything without consulting a bible.

Fri, 04/29/2011 - 9:42am Permalink
Mantram (not verified)

I really don´t think a civilizised society should lock people up for life for using God´s gift to humanity.

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 2:28pm Permalink
HA! (not verified)

Drew has been smoking too much weed. He read the first line of that guy's comment and went off on an extremely unnecessary tangent...haha, twas hilarious though...

Oh and OK is full of RAtards.

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 2:37pm Permalink
OKlaretarded (not verified)

 I know what state i will never ever move to. as if oklahoma wasnt bad enough. now the retards on the senate are just finding ways to keep people out.

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 2:41pm Permalink

I was molested as a child by a family member. But it was more than that, it was an attack on my body, something that I am very fortunate didn't physically scar me for life and negatively impact my sexual function.

 

How long do you think that bitch stayed in jail?

 

The answer is, she didn't. She got a year's probation.

 

So let me get this straight. Violate a child, assault her sexuality, risk her normal function, NO JAIL. Make a drug that doesn't result in, from what I know, ANY health consequences let alone fatal, and it's A LIFE SENTENCE?

 

There's something wrong with this picture, correct?

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 2:45pm Permalink

I was molested as a child by a family member. But it was more than that, it was an attack on my body, something that I am very fortunate didn't physically scar me for life and negatively impact my sexual function.

 

How long do you think that bitch stayed in jail?

 

The answer is, she didn't. She got a year's probation.

 

So let me get this straight. Violate a child, assault her sexuality, risk her normal function, NO JAIL. Make a drug that doesn't result in, from what I know, ANY health consequences let alone fatal, and it's A LIFE SENTENCE?

 

There's something wrong with this picture, correct?

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 2:47pm Permalink
Lacy Roberts (not verified)

Sick, sick, sick.. I've lived in Oklahoma my whole life, and it seems that the drug laws are only getting more and more strict. Sending someone to prison for life for making hash is shameful. I see so many people walking around tweaking or high on pills...we need to focus on meth labs and prescription pill abuse. Those two will kill you, not marijuana.

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 3:01pm Permalink
grego the hemp… (not verified)

NO WONDER THE AMERICAN INDIANS HAD THE TRAIL OF TEARS THEY PREDICTED THESE POLITICAL BASTARDS OF TODAY RUINING OUR NATION,WHAT KIND OF COUNTRY ARE WE LIVING IN DO WE JUST STAND BACK AND LET THIS OCCUR I SAY NO' IT'S TIME TO FIGHT BACK WE MUST PREVAIL AND LEGALIZE CANNABIS!

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 3:14pm Permalink
Alen Turajlic (not verified)

WOW!!!!  Which idiot republican asshole suggested that this be passed or brought up at all? 

Life in prison for making hash, when you have corporations raping the country and you wont give them a life in prison. You also have companies leeching all sorts of chemicals into the environment but you wont give them a life in prison. There are companies mining on native land and not paying attention to the sovereignty they received in the 1800's and basically raping their land. There are charity organizations giving immunizations full of mercury to people who need help and yet there is no life in prison for these people. White folks beating their kids and men killing their wives and getting a few years in prison. 

Im from vermont and let me tell you where most of our people of color are, in prison. for what? marijuana use. But in this state the largest user of drugs are whites. Systematic, institutionalized, structuralized  racism. Its a way of controlling a certain group of people whether it be the poor, the natives, mexican, puerto rican, cuban, arab, brown, yellow, black, or disadvantaged or disempowered. 

 

Marijuana is one of the least addictive drugs in the world, caffeine is more addictive than marijuana. This country is fucked in so many ways. Its my job to do anything and everything to make peoples lives better.

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 3:25pm Permalink
marika (not verified)

Dangerous drug?!! Whaaa?!! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha..........sorry I can't do anything but laugh after I ve smoked

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 4:34pm Permalink
marika (not verified)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH...........Sorry, I can't do anything but laugh after I've smoked.....Yeah I'm dangerous....

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 4:37pm Permalink
nonyabizniz (not verified)

this is absolutely crazy!  and it makes me ashamed to be an American.

 

i think the people running the government should get life in prison and mental help.

 

i say to all the pot smokers.... you have every right to protect your freedom! shoot to kill anyone who trys to take it away for smoking a stupid joint

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 4:48pm Permalink
Brittannica Junior (not verified)

In the most blatant form of hypocrisy, In the early 1960's the United States of america passed a law that the Peyotist Religion of the Native American's southwestern US was to be considered ILLEGAL, because the Indians would eat peyote cactus and smoke marijuana in a religious ceremony that lasted all night long - I read about it 40 years ago, and I have never heard anyone challenge the law yet. This law violated the first amendment. GOVERNMENTS ARE BREAKING THEIR OWN LAWS for their own purposes and creating human slavery for their own purposes. I THOUGHT LINCOLN FREED THE SLAVES. This is 2011, wake up!  

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 10:00pm Permalink
wrennk (not verified)

If oklahoma seriously thinks this is justice, then they have another thing coming, there will be protections against this Im sure this wont pass if it does, then I think US in general needs to have a sit down over what harm hash really does? 

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 11:46pm Permalink
Carpenter2099 (not verified)

We just need to wait for these old, primitive, simple minded phuckers to die out already so our generation can move forward and actually make some progress with this country.  Or perhaps we can start taking them out now?  Anyone up for starting a Project Mayhem?.

Tue, 04/26/2011 - 11:51pm Permalink

I would like to know just who these people are making laws like that.    They are out of their minds and have not given any thought to what they have ruled in.    I think these people are just wanting to have control authority over others.   One thing about it these law makers have to live in the same state as the people.   Will be nice when people start letting the law makers know how they feel in person at the local grocer store.....  Fight Back I say to the people of Oklahoma!   Take your state back.   There are over 16 states now that have legalized for Medical Marijuana use and more to come.   Oklahoma law makers need to move their greedy ass right on out or make the right decisions for the people!

Wed, 04/27/2011 - 3:40pm Permalink
Anonymous1968 (not verified)

It will be interesting to see if this sentencing holds up under scrutiny of the Eighth Amendment for cruel and unusual punishment.  I agree that if someone who commits rape or homicide gets a lesser sentence that this seems a bit over-zealous and short-sighted.

Even with the balance of power in the US Supreme Court the way it is now, it still seems unlikely that even they could justify allowing this to stand, especially if there are currently people serving lighter sentences for cooking crack, which amounts to the same thing only with a different drug.  It is very narrow minded to think that having a law like this in the first place might be the deterrent or even the incarceration for a number of years if the current laws do not have the same effect.  Two years for the first sentence?  What are the current sentencing guidelines?  If they are already two years or more, having the "or life" added to this new legislation becomes a joke.  The answer is clearly not in the changing of words.

It seems that a better use of the money would be spent with mandatory rehab for convicted felons, counseling/therapy, or better education of non-users.  Consider how much more effective a seminar in high school or college might be if the one conducting it was a rehab coke or mary jane user.  Spending more money for education of younger children and their parents and researching newer, out-of-the-box methods also seems like a better use instead of the money that is already wasted in the writing / debate / passing of this law, its cost to the state trying to enforce it, and the most probably money spent trying to defend it.

Wed, 04/27/2011 - 6:10pm Permalink
Tanker10 (not verified)

F'en RED NECKS  why don't they pass a law , if you are a cop and get drunk and beat your wife , you go to jail for life after the second time. won't see that because they are above the law . The war on drugs is a joke , they won't end it , to many cops would be out of a job, then they would end up on welfare and food stamps , I really wonder how some of them passed the test, they must ask one thing on the test , Do you like DRUGS , GEE GALLY NO WAY , Good your hired .

Thu, 04/28/2011 - 10:27am Permalink
HashPappy (not verified)

I grew up in Oklahoma. What a dreadful place it has become. If you want to see what our entire country would be like under Republican domination then visit there. Guns? Everywhere. It's rated as The eighth most violent state to live in. Plies, as a rule are haters.
Thu, 04/28/2011 - 11:14am Permalink
Adjutant (not verified)

this is another reason that the whole world has grown tired of republicans. they cant even hold a rally without getting the big boo. that is what we tell our dogs when they do bad. isolate and outlaw the republican party and we can be a blessed nation again

Thu, 04/28/2011 - 12:17pm Permalink
Jack Grabit (not verified)

The lawmakers in Oklahoma make me feel shame to call myself an American. Oklahoma sucks, at least the idiots passing the laws in Oklahoma suck!

Thu, 04/28/2011 - 2:09pm Permalink
jerry bierens (not verified)

As usual the idiots are in gear trying to save people from victimless crimes. The problem is that these things (marijuana, cocoa plants and the poppies that are turned into heroin) are way better than the synthetic crap that the government at the behest of the large "drug" manufactures for profits can't duplicate.

Thu, 04/28/2011 - 2:22pm Permalink
Dave Woodson (not verified)

i mean, seriously!!! hash is sold in medical stores. and is just another form of the great plant. wtf crawled up their ass. life sentence for this BS! holly shit!! this country is going to SHIT

Thu, 04/28/2011 - 3:52pm Permalink
noydb (not verified)

These legislators are all obviously related from the in-breeding of direct descendants of puritanical witch hunters.

Enacting such a law by an overwelming majority in the house and senate is indeed the definition of insanity.

Fri, 04/29/2011 - 10:10am Permalink
quixilver87@gm… (not verified)

Just noting that the ones who voted against it were probably the only ones who read it and actually knew what they were voting on.   Do you have any idea how much text is in each 'proposition' that gets brought in our government..  Even with a slew of assistants, these people really only understand 2 things-

 

the laws they are working on writing themselves

what the public screams in their face.

 

the national government is even worse.  plus, these officials are all probably high on prescription pills, or alchohol... and could never see themselves or their immediate family making hash, so the law will never 'directly' effect the people enacting it.  And above that, they face absolutely no repercussions for passing unjust laws.  What reason do they have to pay attention..  They get paid just to show up and raise their hand.  if everyone else is, why the fk not?

 

 

and PLEASE FOLKS, I beg you, stop reffering to it as 'victimless crimes'..  as they aren't.. They are 'victimless actions' or 'activities'.  just like smoking a cig, just like growing your own tobbacco, or brewing your own beer...  I don't see a difference.

Fri, 04/29/2011 - 10:43am Permalink
quixilver87@gm… (not verified)

our laws only punish the small portion who get caught.    Though everyone in the business knows that there are risks, it effects relatively few of them..  We have to stop thinking we can punish everyone who doesn't do as 'we' say.

 

we have to stop thinking that punishing one person is going to effect the others.

 

if your doctor told you, on your next visit, that he can no longer prescribe to you the ONLY medication that's ever come close to working for you cause 'some asshole in congress testified that he "turned into a bat and flew around the room" ' - harry j Anslinger,    You'd think he was joking.    and then you'd find another way to get your meds.

 

Pot doesn't destroy lives, pot policy destroys lives.  all of the Con's of Marijuana are direct results of prohibition.

Fri, 04/29/2011 - 10:54am Permalink
Anna (not verified)

hello...the Bible also speaks of "Cannabis Seeds popping on the atlar along with the Cannabis oil for annoiting

Sun, 05/01/2011 - 5:25am Permalink

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