I hope everyone who buys an Olive is warned about the size and strength, I didn't know how strong snakes were until I got my first one. I have a 22 month old MD who is only about the thickness of a 20 cent coin, and while I was at the computer the other day, he was sitting on my shoulder, then went down and wrapped himself around the armrest of the chair. He was pulling me over, I was surprised at how strong he's become. An Olive could do much better than that.
I personally don't handle any large snakes without somebody else being around, even if it's a snake I trust (although I don't trust them 100%). I think some people can let their guard down if they haven't had many or any problems with a snake, but that's a dangerous game to play. A friend of mine has a 2 year old Olive that's about 6ft, and I told her never to handle it when nobody else is there... I hope she listened! As long as you put yourself in a situation like that you should be fine.
On first look at seeing an Olive in the same category as highly dangerous venomous snakes it looks funny, but taking into account some people's lack of intelligence I can see why this has been done. I'm surprised Olives are on a basic license down here too, if somebody get one for a first snake things might get too overwhelming for them and then the snake has to get stressed out and end up in another home. :?