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Bill would add felony back to some drug possession convictions

The FDA's new health warnings covered dozens of widely used painkillers.
The FDA's new health warnings covered dozens of widely used painkillers.

The bill's author says his constituents have told him they didn't know what they were voting for in 2016.

A proposed state law would again make simple drug possession a felony in Oklahoma after several offenses, thus rolling back part of a state question voters approved in 2016.

The bill would make a fourth simple possession conviction a felony in the state.

The bill passed the legislature’s public safety committee, 9-3, along party lines.

Sen. Michael Bergstrom of Adair, who authored SB 108, said people in his have told him they regret it State Question 780, which made simple possession of all drugs a misdemeanor.

“I cannot tell you the number of people in my district that have come to me since that vote and have said, ‘I did not realize that this is what I was voting for,” Sen. Michael Bergstrom (R-Adair) said about his bill in committee.

But Democratic Sen. Carri Hicks (D-Oklahoma City) said she could not in good conscience vote against the outcome of State Question 780.

“To subvert the will of the people, in this particular piece of legislation, is something I’m not willing to do,” she said.

Bergstrom has introduced his bill as Oklahoma voters prepare to decide if marijuana should be recreationally legalized in the state. The state will hold a special election March 7.