An effort to get the possession of small amounts of marijuana considered a
misdemeanor instead of a felony went up in smoke Monday, when the Oklahoma
House of Representatives voted down the measure.

The House voted 84-13 against the Senate-passed bill that supporters said
would help cut down on crowded court dockets and free up law enforcement
agencies to investigate more serious crimes.

"It's a significant burden to the court system," said the measure's author,
Rep. Bill Nations, D-Norman.

Opponents countered that reducing the criminal status of possession of
small amounts of marijuana would also reduce the deterrent effect of a
felony charge.

"We are in no way endorsing the use of marijuana," Nations said.

Nations said the bill is similar to a city ordinance in Norman that makes
possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana a misdemeanor.

Language that would make the change was stripped from the measure in the
Senate, but would have been restored when it reached a joint House-Senate
conference committee, Nations said.

"I'm looking for significant alternative penalties," he said.

Nations kept the measure alive by holding it for reconsideration of the
vote in the next three legislative days. Nations said he plans to send the
bill back to committee for more work.

"It is a political firecracker," Nations said.

State Rep. Jim Wilson, D-Tahlequah, voted for the measure, but said it and
any other measures like it are unlikely to be passed in the Oklahoma
Legislature, for fear by many lawmakers of being perceived as "soft on crime."

"We're going to do everything we can to lower the jail population," said
Wilson, who last week cited statistics that indicate by 2004, 10 percent of
Oklahoma's population will be in prison.

Many of those prisoners are incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses
under mandatory sentencing laws.

A study by the Oklahoma Sentencing Commission released last month found
that 20 percent of the 7,324 offenders who were sent to prison in 2001 were
sentenced for drug possession. The average prison sentence for drug
possession was five years and four months.

The Sentencing Commission has recommended that possession of small amounts
of marijuana be a misdemeanor. Officials said reducing the severity of the
offense would relieve overcrowding in the state's courts and prison system.

The commission said the recommendation is supported by the Department of
Public Safety, which said troopers would rather write citations for minor
marijuana possession offenses than take the time needed to book a felony
offender.

"It takes three or four hours to get the paperwork done," said Wilson. "The
troopers would rather just write them a ticket."

Tahlequah Police Chief Norman Fisher said his officers usually prefer to
consider possession of small amounts of marijuana as misdemeanors, as long
as the offenders don't appear to be dealing.

"Mostly, what we do is run them through the city court on a citation," said
Fisher. "I usually leave it up to the officer, and he can usually tell if
they're dealing, but if they've got less than 3 ounces or so, we just run
them through city court."

Fisher prefers to concentrate on changing marijuana smokers' behavior,
rather than simply punishing them.

"Most of them, you can usually talk to and get them back on the right
track," said Fisher. "And that's really what it's all about-- getting them
off that stuff and getting them on the right track."

Cherokee County Sheriff Delena Goss also said that her officers often write
tickets for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

"We've done it both ways," said Goss. "With small amounts, I'm seeing
tickets now more than anything else. But if they've got paraphernalia or
meth, or traffic charges, we'll probably take them to jail."

Under current state law, first offense possession of marijuana can be
either a misdemeanor or a felony. Second and third offenses are felonies
punishable by as little as two and as many as 20 years in prison.