Oklahoma prisoner release highlights the failed 'drug war'

The conservative, law-and-order state of Oklahoma is releasing 462 people convicted of drug possession crimes from state prisons in what is among the largest single-day commutations of sentences in U.S. history. In 2016, Oklahoma voters approved a ballot question that reduced drug possession offenses from felonies, carrying potential prison sentences, to misdemeanors, with much shorter local jail sentences. This year, Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a law streamlining the process for people already sentenced to prison for these crimes to apply for commutation and reduction of their charge to misdemeanors. …

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