Pubdate: Fri, 20 Jan 2012 Source: Macomb Daily, The (MI) Copyright: 2012 The Macomb Daily Contact: http://www.macombdaily.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2253 Author: Carol Hopkins, The Macomb Daily LEGALIZE POT IN MICHIGAN PETITION DRIVE UNDER WAY Attorney and marijuana advocate Matthew Abel stood inside a hotel located on the Detroit River and reflected back to the 1920s when rum runners would smuggle booze into the U.S. from Canada during Prohibition. He and a group calling themselves the Committee for a Safer Michigan are trying to end another prohibition -- this time against marijuana. "We are circulating petitions that would repeal prohibition of marijuana for adults," said Abel, who works with Thomas Lavigne at Detroit-based Cannabis Counsel. The committee needs more than 333,000 signatures on petitions with the goal of amending the state's Constitution to legalize marijuana before July 9. Should enough signatures be obtained, Michigan voters would see the proposal on the ballot in November. The proposed amendment, which renders all anti-marijuana statutes unconstitutional, will not apply to or change workplace or driving issues regarding marijuana, organizers said. In 2008, voters approved an initiative that spelled out how people could obtain and use medical marijuana, but since then law enforcement agencies have conducted raids and arrested many who said they were caregivers and medical marijuana patients. Michigan courts are still wrestling with issues surrounding medical marijuana. Abel said the results of arrests and raids spurred the committee to come together for change. "We have a volunteer army upset about how the medical marijuana law has been interpreted by the courts and they're ready to move to the next step," he said. Asked how the committee would deal with the issue of marijuana being regarded as an illegal, Schedule 1 drug at the federal level, a position taken by law enforcement agencies, Abel said law enforcement doesn't have the staff to deal with this matter. "I relish the fight," he said. "Are they going to put an FBI agent on every corner? Congress has not been responsive. This is a first step to ending the federal prohibition." Friday's press conference was held at the Roberts Riverwalk Hotel, formerly the Parke Davis Research Laboratory, where cannabis tinctures were developed and manufactured in the early 19th century, organizers said. Several supporters spoke about the benefits they had received by using marijuana. Charmie Gholson, spokeswoman for the committee and the daughter of a police officer, called the prohibition of marijuana a "failed public policy" and that the sick and dying have been "targeted" by government officials over the past few years in the fight against marijuana. Legalizing the drug would "allow law enforcement to focus on violent crime," she said. Abel said the state's marijuana community backs the amendment. Having legalized marijuana, he said, would be a "boon to the Michigan economy." Lavigne, who co-authored the amendment wording with Abel, said people were tired of "scare tactics" used by law enforcement over the past three years. "Truth is on our side," he said. "This (marijuana) is a plant. Where is the harm in this?" To learn more about this effort, visit www.repealtoday.org - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.