A 20-year-old Henryettan was arrested Monday on drug charges at the high school gymnasium parking lot.
seth hammAccording to police chief Steve Norman, Seth Michael Hamm was booked into the Okmulgee County jail on complaints of possession of a controlled dangerous substance and possession of drug Paraphernalia.
Norman said both charges are misdemeanors but, until the passage in 2016 of SQ 780, the drug possession charge could have been a felony since it occurred within 1,000 feet of a school.
“The new law went into effect last July that effectively reduced possession of all drugs from felonies to misdemeanors,” he said. “This doesn’t matter what kind of drug, how many times a person has been convicted before or where you were caught with the drugs.”
The new law was designed to save the state money by reducing the number of people sent to prison for small amounts of narcotics.
Hamm had been arrested on similar charges in September of last year and is on District Attorney’s probation.