With only one vote to spare, the chamber passed House Bill 1482, which seeks to undo part of the progress made in November’s State Question 780.

As amended, HB 1482 would make mere possession of illegal drugs within 1,000 feet of a school a felony. Previous versions of the bill went even further toward locking up more people and robbing the state of the money it needs to fund schools, roads and public safety.

Voters overwhelmingly approved SQ 780, which, among other things, seeks to slow the state’s prison-packing drug laws. While the question included provisions to protect school children and the public from drug dealers, it backed away from laws that filled prisons with people who simply wandered into felony zones with drugs in their pockets.

Simply put, the state can’t afford to keep imprisoning people who are better dealt with in other ways. Drug users need substance abuse treatment and jobs, not incarceration and felony records.

The people of Oklahoma understood that when they approved SQ 780, and they chose the right path. Overturning the people’s decision is arrogant and undemocratic.

If the authors of HB 1482 really believed that the people didn’t understand what they were doing, they would have sent the issue back to a vote of the people. Instead, they are moving to simply reject the voters’ choice and substitute their own regressive thinking. It’s a breach of faith with the public, and, quite simply, wrong.

We call on the state Senate to ignore HB 1482, or better yet, reject it outright. The experience of other states proves that we can’t incarcerate our way to safety. That way only leads to wasted state resources, broken families and poverty.