Week six of the Kay County Sheriff’s Citizen’s Academy focused on narcotics and drug identification according to the Ponca City News.
Deputies Jon Steiber, John Grimes and Undersheriff Sean Grigsba shared information on the street value of drugs and crime statistics.
Stieber and his K9 partner Zeus showed citizens how drugs are sniffed out.
Deputies explained the differences in weights and street values of drugs.
Undersheriff Grigsba explained the amounts of drugs that constitute trafficking and explained that many offenses are now misdemeanors with laws that went into effect July 1st with the passage of State Questions 780 and 781 last November.
Under SQ 780 the purchase of a CDS within 1,000 feet of a school or park is now a misdemeanor.
Grigsba explained that before the law change, if a thief stole a cell phone valued at $500 it was grand larceny. Now the phone must be valued at $1,000.
He shared a letter written by Denver, Colo. District Attorney Mitchell Morrissey on Oct. 12, 2016 citing higher crime rates since marijuana was legalized in the state in 2013.
In the letter, Morrissey cites that the number of crimes in Denver grew 44 percent and that the murder rate hit a decade high and that Denver Police are dealing with a 900 percent increase in the unlawful cultivation and manufacturing of marijuana.
Grigsba said he believes if marijuana is ever legalized in Oklahoma crime rates will spike here as well.
