Okie voters will set tone for red-state drug-war legislation

For mostly historical, family reasons (both sides of my family are from the Texas Panhandle, with ties to Oklahoma), Grits has always enjoyed ribbing our friends from Oklahoma, contending for example that the best thing ever to come out of the state was I-35 and arguing to build a border wall along the Red River instead of the Rio Grande.

But I've got to give our Okie neighbors credit where it's due: Their Legislature A ballot initiative put two measures - Props 780 and 781 - on the November ballot to reduce penalties for low-level drug possession from a felony to a misdemeanor and divert the savings to counties "to provide community rehabilitative programs, such as mental health and substance abuse services." If passed, Oklahoma's felony threshold on property crimes would be increased to $1,000, according to Ballotopedia, compared to $2,500 in Texas, which increased its threshold amount in 2015. See coverage from Fusion and commentary from Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy.

Oklahoma's Republican Governor Mary Fallin has been much more of a leader on these issues than Greg Abbott, vetoing tough-on-crime legislation, championing clemency, and implementing ban the box policies at state agencies.

These ballot measures would put Oklahoma ahead of the curve compared to Texas regarding smart-on-crime policies on the drug war, but still much more regressive on property-theft thresholds. Still, perhaps Texas may soon lose its (sometimes overstated) reputation as red-state criminal-justice reform leader if the Sooner state passes these measures on a ballot topped by Trump/Clinton and Gov. Fallin continues to champion these and similar causes. OTOH, if the ballot measures lose it could set red-state decarceration reform back five years. Important vote.

MORE: From Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform.