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OK Passes Bill Providing for Life Sentence for Converting Pot to Hashish

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:









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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.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Senator Tibbs has been smoking something herself (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by Dadler on Thu Apr 21, 2011 at 12:27:12 AM EST
    And it ain't no peace pipe.

    Good lord, ma'am, but who is selling you this B-movie plot?  High-potency pot zombies craving hash?  Banana-nut bread more likely.

    Can someone explain to her what the DT's are, please.  And point out the hundreds of liquor stores between that statehouse and her own house.

    The "good" senator has more dangerous sh*t in her purse, I will bet you monopoly money.

    Actually, the sh*t in her HEAD... (5.00 / 2) (#2)
    by Dadler on Thu Apr 21, 2011 at 12:33:42 AM EST
    ...is infinitely worse for you than any drug.

    Parent
    Yeah (none / 0) (#5)
    by cal1942 on Thu Apr 21, 2011 at 01:40:10 AM EST
    Now you got it Dadler.

    We get the politicians we have because we are ignorant, have no idea how to set priorities and are criminally inattentive.

    On the other hand elected officials are supposed to be leaders.

    We stopped producing leaders decades ago.

    Parent

    Peace pipe? (none / 0) (#7)
    by Thanin on Thu Apr 21, 2011 at 04:29:30 AM EST
    Was that necessary?

    Parent
    Forgive me (none / 0) (#12)
    by Dadler on Thu Apr 21, 2011 at 11:22:35 AM EST
    The hookah of hope.  The brotherhood bong.  

    Parent
    Well this Stoner 1st Class.... (none / 0) (#10)
    by kdog on Thu Apr 21, 2011 at 09:49:28 AM EST
    does crave me some hash glorious hash...but that's beside the point:)

    If not in her purse, there is most definitely more dangerous sh*t in her head...and I'd put more than monopoly money on that bet, I'll bet a nugget of the finest Lebanese, Afghani, or Morrocan!

    If it is true that you get the government you deserve, Okies musta done some truly awful things in their past lives to deserve this winner.

    Parent

    What's terrible is that they gave (none / 0) (#11)
    by observed on Thu Apr 21, 2011 at 10:02:18 AM EST
    California the government they DON'T deserve (dust bowl migration).

    Parent
    All I can say is . . . (none / 0) (#3)
    by nycstray on Thu Apr 21, 2011 at 12:54:56 AM EST
    thank ye Mother Nature for blue states . . .

    that's just effin' insane.

    Oklahoma is not "OK" (none / 0) (#4)
    by shoephone on Thu Apr 21, 2011 at 01:06:08 AM EST
    It's just plain nutty. What century are those people living in, anyway?

    They're part of this century (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by cal1942 on Thu Apr 21, 2011 at 01:44:02 AM EST
    No doubt about that.  We, as a people, have gone stark raving mad over the last few decades.  The regressive insanity of the past two years alone will become legend. IMO.

    Parent
    'Second childhood', ignorance or spite? (none / 0) (#8)
    by SeeEmDee on Thu Apr 21, 2011 at 07:26:54 AM EST
    Seems to me all three at work, here.

    By her 'reasoning', every distiller of spirits in this country should be in prison for life.

    Just like people too old to drive, some people in the lege need to be retired before their incipient dementia causes suffering for their constituents...

    Real Bad Hash Problem in OK ? (none / 0) (#9)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Apr 21, 2011 at 09:10:12 AM EST
    How many people do they bust a year converting weed to hash, like 3, 2 of which weren't bright enough to realize they were trying to convert oregano to hash.  I know a lot of people who have done a lot of very stupid things, but I never, ever heard of anyone getting busted for converting, or is not illegal every where else ?

    If I am not mistaken, isn't Oklahoma one of the states with serious meth production problems ?  Maybe she's a secret meth head who's trying to divert resources for a real problem to a made-up one.  Or she's straight-up crazy.


    if you watch the video (none / 0) (#13)
    by Jeralyn on Thu Apr 21, 2011 at 12:05:38 PM EST
    you will see the first question by a fellow legislator was whether she would accept an amendment to add that pseudoephedrine should be added as a schedule III controlled substance because of its relationship to cooking meth. They had a discussion about whether it was germane to the hash bill, she moved to table his motion to amend, which passed, so it didn't get added.

    Interesting that they are more concerned with hash than meth. And that the legislator who proposed the amendment wasn't quick enough on his feet to answer the "germaneness" was that the bill addresses manufacturing, and just as pot is used to manufacture hash oil, pseudoephedrine is used to manufacture meth. Instead he started rambling about both being related to public safety and the Chair cut him off, practically laughing. A lot of dim bulbs in OK.

    Parent