A Look At Both Sides Of State Question 780

There are seven measures on the November ballot. Among them, one that hopes to reduce the prison population. But one county prosecutor says voters aren’t getting the whole story. 

Ballot Measure 780 would allow voters to decide whether some crimes, including drug crimes, should be reclassified from felonies to misdemeanors. Cleveland County DA Grag Mashburn says if Ballot Measure 780 passes, someone could bring up to 25-pounds of pot or 19 grams of meth into a school and it would be considered a misdemeanor. 

“It takes 20 grams to be guilty of trafficking,” Mashburn said. “So that's simple possession. Each one of those little shards would get somebody ridiculously high."

Mashburn says under the measure he would have to prove large quantities are for sale and not for personal consumption. 

"If it's individually packaged in small packages and you've got a bankroll on you and you've got your list of clients, then I can prove that you intended to distribute,” Mashburn said. “But if that's just in your pocket, and you go, ‘Hey man, that's just my stash,’ and I can't prove otherwise, it's a misdemeanor."

Kris Steele with The Education and Employment Ministry (TEEM) disagrees. 

"Yeah, it's just not true,” said Steele, who is also the former speaker of the State House of Representatives. “The reality is there is no specified amount within Oklahoma statutes to differentiate between possession and possession with intent to distribute. So it's entirely up to the district attorney whether to charge an individual with simple possession or possession with intent to distribute."

Steele says DA’s are opposed to Ballot Measure 780 because he says there’s profit in prisons. 

“The reality is that the state of Oklahoma has increased, almost doubled the fees and fines that are assessed to people who are justice-involved,” Steele said. “And many of those fees and fines are used to not only fund district attorneys’ offices but also the court system itself."

Mashburn says the real issue is drugs, and not just small amounts of pot either. 

"We’re not just talking about marijuana,” Mashburn said. “This is every drug is a misdemeanor every time. One-tenth heroin possession. One-fifteenth meth possession is gonna be a misdemeanor.”