OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A Senate committee on Monday defeated a proposal to legalize the medical use of marijuana in Oklahoma, but the bill’s author said she considers it a victory that the measure was even granted a legislative hearing.
Members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted 6-2 against the measure in a party-line vote with Republicans in opposition.
“I consider it a victory for the citizens of this state,” said Sen. Constance Johnson, D-Oklahoma City, who has introduced several bills over the last six years to allow for the medical use of marijuana or ease the penalties for possession of the drug. “I think it’s a step in the right direction in terms of moving it forward and getting some indication of what people’s reservations are so we’ll know what to address.”
The bill would have allowed a qualified patient or designated caregiver to possess up to 8 ounces of dried marijuana and 12 plants.
Among those who testified before the committee was Mike Evans of Oklahoma City, who said he is prescribed Marinol, a synthetic version of marijuana, to treat his Crohn’s disease. He said without health insurance the prescription costs him $850 each month.
“Why can’t I have the all-natural version that doesn’t cost nearly as much?” Evans said.
Sen. Dan Newberry, who voted against the bill, expressed concern that allowing medical use of marijuana could lead to its abuse by recreational users who take advantage of the law.
“You know you are authorizing people to grow marijuana in their backyards … even for something as slight as a migraine?” asked Newberry, R-Tulsa.
Sen. Brian Crain, chairman of the committee, said that while he personally opposed the idea, he agreed to hear the bill because of Johnson’s persistence.
“I’m doing this more in consideration of the work Sen. Johnson has put into this issue,” said Crain, R-Tulsa.
Under Senate rules, the bill or any similar measure on medicinal marijuana cannot be introduced in the Senate for the next two years.
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For Example: Paraplegic Jimmy Montgomery was sentenced to life in prison – later reduced to 10 years – after being caught with two ounces of medical pot in his wheelchair. After considerable public outcry, Montgomery was eventually granted early release on medical parole – though he later lost a leg from an ulcerated bed sore he developed while in prison.
Meth lab deaths are nothing new to Oklahoma. In a 2004 Oklahoma report published by the Injury Prevention Service of the Oklahoma State Department of Health says that almost 3,000 Oklahomans were sent to burn centers as a result of a meth lab explosion in between 1988 and 2002. Four hundred and thirty four of those people died as a result of the burns they suffered and/or the toxic smoke they inhaled from the meth lab fire. Children included.
So-now here in the allergy capital of the world-individuals purchasing products containing pseudoephedrine will only be allowed to buy 7.3 grams per month, 60 grams per year, and 3.6 grams per day. A single box of 10 pills containing pseudoephedrine equals about 2.4 grams. Yet no extended jail time laws have been initiated by Mary Fallin. Only 42-57% of meth arrests result in prison time & averages a 9yr sentence.
You'll fair better if you do meth, in OK, is the message our legislators are sending.
0 people in recorded history have ever died of marijuana use alone. THC is one of the safest chemicals known to man. You would have to smoke 5lbs of it in 50min for it to kill you...impossible.
As a 34yr old woman I can say I'm sick of these old useless ways of thinking...being told my husband can't use marijuana to ease the effects of chemo & radiation due to cancer or just in general to take the edge off. We are grown people & can/should make our own life choices. It's called freewill. It's time we use it & get rid of our backwards thinking governor & anyone else who stands in our way. FREE THE WEED!!!