The Oklahoma Senate yesterday passed a bill increasing the maximum penalty for converting marijuana to hashish to life in prison. A spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs said "the goal of the bill is to "send a message" that illegal drugs won't be tolerated in Oklahoma." The bill previously passed the OK House, then went to the Senate where a non-pertinent amendment was made. It now goes back to the House for enrollment.
Conviction of a first offense of cooking hashish would result in a prison sentence from two years to life in prison. Sentences would be doubled under a second offense, and those convicted would not be eligible for a suspended sentence or probation.
The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 44 to 2. The earlier version, substantially identical, passed the House by a vote of 75 to 18.
The bill is HB 1798. In plain English, according to the House Report on the bill:
The measure provides that it is unlawful to manufacture or attempt to manufacture any controlled dangerous substance by cooking, burning, or extracting and converting marihuana or marihuana oil into hashish, hashish oil or hashish powder.
In legalese, Section H provides:
Except as authorized by the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Act, it shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture or attempt to manufacture any controlled dangerous substance by cooking, burning, or extracting and converting or attempting to extract and convert marihuana or marihuana oil into hashish, hashish oil or hashish powder.
The penalty:
Knowingly violating the provisions of subsection B or subsection H of this section is hereby declared, as to the owner, or person in possession of such lands, to be a felony and punishable as such by a fine not to exceed Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) and imprisonment in the State Penitentiary custody of the Department of Corrections for not less than two (2) years nor more than life. The fine provided for in this subsection shall be in addition to other punishments provided by law and shall not be in lieu of other punishment.
Any person convicted of a second or subsequent violation of subsection B or subsection H of this section is punishable by a term of imprisonment twice that otherwise authorized and by twice the fine otherwise authorized. Any sentence shall not be subject to statutory provisions for suspended sentences, deferred sentences, or probation, except when the conviction is for a first offense.
Who introduced this doozy of a bill? Republican Sue Tibbs, a quite elderly female member of the OK House. Watch the video and listen to what she says:
She says:
What is happening is people have smoked marijuana for so long that their bodies have become used to it and now they need something stronger for a better fix. They are breaking down the marijuana into hashish oil and then they place that oil on a marijuana cigarette or a regular cigarette and it makes it 80 times more potent than a marijuana cigarette.
She explains further, "It is a manufacturing charge for the oil."
A fellow legislator asks her: "Why the excessive sentence of up to life in prison?" Her answer:
Because this is a manufacturing offense. The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs thinks it deserves this penalty and that this kind of penalty will stop the manufacture of this potent drug.
Next question: "I didn't understand the penalty for a second conviction. Is it two life sentences?" Her answer: "Well, yeah. That can happen."
I'm surprised they didn't add life plus cancer as the penalty for a third offense.
Oklahoma is a joke. So is Rep. Tibbs, who appears to be nothing but a foil blindly doing the bidding of the OK Narcotics Bureau.
