As Oklahoma Early Voting Begins On Legal Marijuana Ballot Measure, Report Highlights Criminalization’s Toll
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As early voting begins this week on an Oklahoma marijuana legalization measure on Tuesday’s ballot, the campaign behind the initiative is promoting a new report detailing the costs of criminal prohibition and highlighting an endorsement from a former police chief. The goal is to make the case to voters that prohibition hasn’t prevented cannabis use in Oklahoma but has instead taken tolls on individuals lives, families and futures. Former Chief of Police, Stephen Mills asks #Oklahoma voters to support #SQ820, so law enforcement can prevent serious crime. Minor #marijuana offenses waste resources, and the current system is broken. We deserve better, said Chief Mills. #YesOn820https://t.co/uEZKFja8Va — Yes on 820 Campaign (@YesOn820) March 1, 2023 More than 4,500 people in the state are arrested annually for cannabis possession, according to the new report from the group Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform. And while the number of criminal cases filed in the state has dropped sharply since state voters legalized medical marijuana in 2018, thousands of misdemeanor and felony charges are still brought each year. OK Justice Reform What’s more, despite similar use rates across racial lines, Black men in the state are five times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than their white counterparts. Black men are also twice as likely to be sentenced on marijuana-based charges. “Oklahoma’s law enforcement community is wasting its valuable time and resources on chasing down adults who use marijuana and charging them with petty offenses,” Damion Shade, the group’s executive director, said in a press release about the new report. Those thousands of Oklahomans are mothers & fathers, daughters & sons, and trusted community members. By incarcerating them, we are tearing apart families, hurting our local economies, and forcing law enforcement to waste their time and resources that could be better directed /3 —…

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Source : As Oklahoma Early Voting Begins On Legal Marijuana Ballot Measure, Report Highlights Criminalization’s Toll

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