Court Case Puts Marijuana Prohibition on the Stand This might be the big one for medical marijuana and marijuana legalization advocates. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., has agreed to hear Americans for Safe Access vs. Drug Enforcement Administration, which challenges the federal classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug. The Schedule I classification is one of the biggest arguments against medical marijuana nationwide because Schedule I drugs are defined as having no accepted medical use. Marijuana, heroin, ecstasy, LSD and GHB (the so-called date rape drug) are all classified as Schedule I substances. Marijuana was placed in that classification of the Controlled Substances Act in 1970 on the advice of Assistant Secretary of Health Roger O. Egeberg. In 1972, President Nixon's National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse reported "there is little proven danger of physical or psychological harm from the experimental or intermittent use of the natural preparations of cannabis," but it didn't make any difference. Ignoring the wisdom of his commission, Nixon kept pot on Schedule I and created the War on Drugs to get at political opponents and bolster his stance as the law-and-order guy. [continues 947 words]
These Michigan Dispensaries Are Nondescript, Businesslike and Law-Abiding Maybe there are marijuana dispensaries where clouds of smoke drift through the air behind beaded curtains as loud music pounds from speakers, dancing girls gyrate and heavy lidded smokers nod while reclining on overstuffed pillows. Those kinds of places may exist, but I didn't see anything like that when I visited the People's Choice medical marijuana dispensary in Ann Arbor and the Trans Love Compassion Collective in Detroit. They are among the approximately 80 facilities currently operating in Michigan after last year's Court of Appeals decision in a Mount Clemens case prompted many of the nearly 400 outlets then in Michigan to shut down. (Some see a state Supreme Court readiness to hear an appeal of the appeals decision as an indication that the high court has a kinder disposition regarding dispensaries.) [continues 1249 words]
Why Industrial-Grade Hemp Should Be a Vital Part of Our Economy The United States government has cried wolf about cannabis so many times that its credibility on the subject must be at an all-time low. Nowhere is that more apparent than when it comes to hemp. Hemp is a strain of cannabis sativa, but is sort of the nerdish, boring, industrious cousin of the plants people use for medicine, and to just get stoned. Hemp doesn't get you high at all, but it is useful in many other ways as textiles, paper, food, fuel and much more. A Jan. 19 paper from the Congressional Research Service titled Hemp as an Agricultural Product estimates that the global market for hemp includes some 25,000 products. [continues 1127 words]
Working Against the War on Drugs - All Across America Last week marked the 41st anniversary of President Nixon's declaration of the War on Drugs - a policy so bad that not only has it failed, it has helped create thriving international crime syndicates. So it was very encouraging to hear about the upcoming Caravan for Peace, which will seek an end to prohibitionist policies in Mexico and the United States, and draw attention to related violence on both sides of the border. [continues 1180 words]
Would Detroiters vote to, practically speaking, legalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana by adults on private property? That choice may be on the November ballot if the Committee for a Safer Detroit (CSD) gets a favorable ruling from the Michigan Supreme Court. CSD's case against the Detroit Election Commission stems from a 2010 petition initiative to put the question on that year's ballot. The Detroit Election Commission refused to put the question on the ballot claiming that the proposal conflicts with state law and therefore couldn't be on the ballot. The CSD sued the city in Circuit Court and the judge ruled in favor of the city. CSD then appealed the decision and the state Court of Appeals ruled against the city 2-1 saying it wasn't up to the commission to decide if the proposal is against state law. Now the city has appealed to the state Supreme Court. [continues 1096 words]
Last Week, We Got Some Stuff Wrong - but Here's The Straight Dope In my last column I stepped in a pile of doo-doo regarding the implications of the April 17 state Court of Appeals decision in People vs. Koon. I said that a strict interpretation of the ruling meant that any medical marijuana patient could not legally drive. That is not true. Quite a few medical marijuana activists took me to task about that, most pointedly attorney John Targowski of Kalamazoo. There are several potholes and nuances here that I didn't take into account. In addition, I didn't know about a key 2010 state Supreme Court decision. [continues 1157 words]
Controversy Over Interpretation of Ruling on Medical Marijuana and Driving Update: Since this column was published on May 2, it has generated a heated debate among people with more than a casual knowledge of medical marijuana law and how it is applied in our legal system. The prevalent opinion is that my statement that medical marijuana patients cannot legally drive is wrong. Attorney John Targowski pointed out that, before June 8, 2010, THC-COOH, the metabolite derived when the human body processes THC, was considered a Schedule 1 drug. However, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in People v. Feezel that THC-COOH is only a byproduct of how your body processes THC and is not psychoactive, "Thus, anyone can drive with any amount of THC-COOH, patients or not" and not be legally impaired. [continues 2105 words]
Did Cop's Use of Informant Lead to Her Death? This is an ugly story. It's tragic and damning of the War on Drugs. The story seems like the plot of a television detective series such as The Closer or Law and Order but it is sadly a true tale of law and disorder. Michelle "Shelley" Hilliard went missing in the early hours of Oct. 23. Nearly three weeks later, her burned, dismembered body was found near I-94 on Detroit's east side. Once the body was identified, the killing was at first considered a hate crime because Hilliard was transgendered and there had been a recent trend of attacks against gays where burning was involved. [continues 1091 words]
After Court of Appeals Loss, City Tries Again to Keep the Question From Voters Marijuana is a political football in any Michigan municipality, but in Detroit the ball is getting more slippery of late. Take the Court of Appeals decision on the Coalition for a Safer Detroit (CSD) vs. the Detroit Election Commission case a couple of weeks ago. A three-judge panel ruled two-to-one in favor of CSD. That means the city Election Commission has to put the question of legalizing possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana on private property for adults in Detroit on the ballot of the next regularly scheduled election. If successful, this initiative would essentially legalize individual marijuana use in Detroit - although I'm guessing opponents will find some convoluted way of squirming around implementing it if it's passed. [continues 1127 words]
Fuming Over How Many Months It Takes for the State to Issue Medical Marijuana Cards The heady atmosphere of the early days of medical marijuana in Michigan seems to have dissipated. Back then, there was a celebratory atmosphere as dispensaries were popping across the state and money from ganjapreneurs in Colorado and California flowed in as they expanded into the newest market to welcome their wares. But Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette was less welcoming and led the charge against medical marijuana, particularly dispensaries, which have been raided and shut down in numerous areas of the state. Individual patients and caregivers have been prosecuted and found guilty when they believed they were in compliance with the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act. [continues 1157 words]
A State Vote on Legalization May Not Win, but Could at Least Start an Important Dialogue The No. 1 story about marijuana in Michigan in 2011 was the wrath anti-drug warrior Attorney General Bill Schuette unleashed on medical marijuana facilities and users. Schuette used his bully pulpit and legal resources to intimidate dispensaries, people who work at dispensaries, people who grow marijuana and medical marijuana patients - working with friendly county prosecutors (particularly in Oakland County), federal authorities and state legislators to try to put the medical marijuana genie back in the bottle. [continues 1160 words]
After $1 Triilion Dollars Wasted on Failed Policies, This Whole Medicinal Weed Thing Really Makes Sense When I started writing this column a little more than a year ago, I thought medical marijuana was a thinly veiled cover for folks who wanted to legalize the substance. Not that I opposed the notion, nor did I doubt that marijuana has medical value - I've seen it stop nausea in people who couldn't keep any food down and I've seen people who were wasting away get an appetite. But I saw the overall marijuana drama as something of an amusing middle-class cause that really didn't mean much in the big picture. I also saw an explosion of marijuana-related storefronts around town and thought there was money to be made. [continues 1156 words]
State Governors Unite and the Closing of Big Daddy's Punishes Patients Newt Gingrich is flying high in the polls for the Republican presidential nomination. So what does the erstwhile speaker of the House have to say about marijuana? As Gingrich seems to have an opinion about everything, it's not hard to find his pontifications on pot. Just a few weeks ago, he said that medical marijuana is a "joke" and that government should pursue the War on Drugs more aggressively. He also supports the death penalty for "high level" dealers. [continues 1123 words]
And Kalamazoo Voters, in Chater Amendment Question, Holding Firm To legalize marijuana in Michigan or to decriminalize it, that is the question. Whether it is nobler in the state to suffer the indignity and second-class citizenship of decriminalization, or to take up arms and fight for full legalization. The fight over medical marijuana in Michigan is truly Shakespearian, with opposing sides both believing they are right, a menacing federal government hanging in the shadows and ground skirmishes in the foreground. [continues 1243 words]
It's a surprise to hear that Dr. Isaiah "Ike" McKinnon, Detroit's former top cop, believes that marijuana should be legalized and is speaking out on the issue. "I've never taken a public position on this, but I think it's time to do so," McKinnon says. "We have to stand up for things we believe are right. ... My position is, let's look at this realistically and honestly. Too much law enforcement money and resources are being used on this. There are better things to spend our money on." [continues 1330 words]
Attorney General Bill Schuette Leads His Stormtroopers Against Medical Marijuana If this were Star Wars, what has happened with medical marijuana in Michigan recently would be analogous to The Empire Strikes Back - wherein Darth Vader, played by state Attorney General Bill Schuette, with the state Court of Appeals collectively playing the evil emperor in the background, has led his stormtroopers in an offensive that has his opponents on the run. On Aug. 23, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled against Compassionate Apothecary, LLC, of Mount Pleasant, saying that patient-to-patient sales of medical marijuana were not legal. Judge Joel P. Hoekstra wrote this about the voter-approved Michigan Medical Marihuana Act: "[T]he 'medical use' of marihuana, as defined by the MMMA, does not include patient-to-patient 'sales' of marihuana, and no other provision of the MMMA can be read to permit such sales." [continues 1084 words]
AG Would Define Law So Narrowly You'd Need a Foot in the Grave To Qualify Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette came out swinging against medical marijuana a couple of weeks ago when he held a press conference to announce what could well be called his "Swiss cheese offensive." Surrounded by a group of legislators, law enforcement officers and health care professionals, Schuette said that the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act had been "hijacked" by drug dealers and profiteers, and that the law has "as many holes as Swiss cheese." [continues 1183 words]
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People passed a resolution calling for an end to the War on Drugs in no uncertain terms a couple of weeks ago during its national convention in Los Angeles. "These flawed drug policies that have been mostly enforced in African American communities must be stopped and replaced with evidenced-based practices that address the root causes of drug use and abuse in America," the resolution read. In one move, the NAACP stepped into the fray of one of the most contentious issues affecting communities of color at a time when many question the relevance of the 102-year-old civil rights organization. The resolution cites evidence showing that African-Americans are 13 times more likely to go to jail for the same drug-related offense than their white counterparts. [continues 990 words]
Opposing How Prohibition Divides Families and Hurts Kids Robin Schneider remembers Christmases as a young child: sitting in a visitation cell at a federal prison in Indiana, chatting with a father she saw only two or three times a year. The visit was short. The drive with her mother and two brothers was long. Her father had been busted and imprisoned on a marijuana conspiracy charge when she was 3 years old. "I had a really tragic childhood because my father was incarcerated on a marijuana-related charge," say Schneider. "It destroyed my childhood. It ruined my brother's life and ruined my mother's life. Taking away a parent who has committed no violent crimes, putting him in jail, is a disservice for American families, having to spend Christmases in a visitation cell instead of around a Christmas tree." [continues 1095 words]
The Dean of Pot Growing Comes to Town Ed Rosenthal has been the longest and strongest voice talking about how to grow marijuana over the past 30 years through his "Ask Ed" column in High Times and Cannabis Culture magazines. On top of that he has written and published more than a dozen books on the subject, with more than 2 million copies sold worldwide. What's he got to say for himself after decades of growing, writing and teaching about marijuana? [continues 1160 words]
Oakland County a Frontline in the Battle Against Medical Marijuana Oakland County continues to be one of the toughest battlefronts around medical marijuana in the state. There seem to be more high-profile cases around the issue there because County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper and County Sheriff Mike Bouchard have decided to take on medical marijuana in a very high-profile manner. But maybe they're just taking cues from the head guy. Last week, during a Michigan Town Hall Meeting in Troy, sponsored by the Oakland Press and cablecast on CMNtv, County Executive L. Brooks Patterson appeared via video saying, "That medical marijuana law is the worst piece of legislation I've ever seen." [continues 1108 words]
The Recreational and Medicinal Communities Get Together - Somewhat Since I started writing this column last October, I've been amazed at the number of organizations and events, and the complexity of marijuana activism. The most recent event to appear on my personal horizon is the May 7 Cures Not Wars Cannabis Liberation Day. The fact that it is taking place is no surprise. What surprises me is that it has been going on since 1994 in New York, and in Detroit since 2001. I never heard of it before and apparently it has not been big in the media. [continues 1059 words]
Ann Arbor Fills With Revelers and Speakers, but Who's Blowing Smoke? There were googobs of people out at the 40th annual Ann Arbor Hash Bash on Saturday, the celebration of all things cannabis. One news report I saw put the number of revelers at 6,000. I'm not sure how that number was calculated, but I say there were googobs of people who defied the chilly weather and laws against the public and recreational use of marijuana. "It was the most successful one we've had in the past 10 years," organizer and emcee Adam Brook told me after the bash. "There've been some years when the weather was bad that we didn't have very many people, but when the weather is good we've had up to 12,000 people out there." [continues 1177 words]
Gersh Avery has a thing for hemp. He's not one of the folks trying to get industrial hemp legalized so we can enjoy the economic benefits of producing and selling the hundreds of items that can be made from the fibrous substance. They want to create clothing, biofuels, skin creams and more from the hemp plant. There are plenty of those kinds of hemp advocates around. On the other hand Avery's hemp focus is strictly for its medicinal value. Avery calls himself a medical marijuana specialist, because he is a registered patient, grower, activist and student of what he calls the archaeology of marijuana. [continues 1180 words]
What looks to be Michigan's biggest medical marijuana expo to date is set for this weekend at the Suburban Collection (formerly Rock Financial) Showplace in Novi. Mostly sponsored by Michigan-based organizations - MINORML, the American Medical Marijuana Professionals (AMMP) certification clinic, Brighton Area Compassion Clubs, High Times magazine, and others - the Medical Marijuana Expo 2011, THC (treating health concerns) in Michigan seems to be a solid event with about 100 vendors. Big Daddy's Hydro and Metro Times have hosted smaller events of this nature before, but this one looks to take it to a higher level. [continues 1111 words]
Judge Rules Private Employers Can Fire Medical Marijuana Patients Well the first shoe has dropped on a high-profile medical marijuana case and it made a big, ugly clunk to the ears of activists. U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker ruled in favor of Wal-Mart and threw out the reinstatement suit brought by Joseph Casias. Casias, a brain cancer patient who lives in Battle Creek, was fired by Wal-Mart after he tested positive for marijuana use. Casias is a registered medical marijuana patient who contends that he never went to work high. Wal-Mart's policy does not condone the use of marijuana for any reason. The judge concurred. [continues 1150 words]
Efforts to Liberalize Hemp Growing Could Offer Jobs and Revenues Back in the 1970s, a friend of mine was headed to Missouri on a motorbike. Due to the low horsepower and speed of his vehicle, he stuck to the back roads. As he cruised through rural Indiana he looked over and gosh-a-mighty there was a field of marijuana as far as the eye could see. Feeling like he'd hit the jackpot on a one-armed bandit he grabbed as much as he could carry and headed on down the road. [continues 1222 words]
Legal Battles Over Drug Testing, Grow Operations and Ordinances Continue Even though it's not an election year, when it comes to medical marijuana, you have to consider Michigan a battleground state. The battles over who, where, when and how medical marijuana can be used and distributed are being fought in the courts, and although some of them may be settled this year, it will probably take another couple of years before all of the present cases are finally put to rest. [continues 1225 words]
The War on Drugs has been fought from corner to corner in black communities across the United States. Although African-Americans make up only 13 percent of the general population, 40 percent of drug offenders in federal prisons and 45 percent of offenders in state prisons are black. It's not that blacks make up 40 or 45 percent of American drug users. A study of New York drug arrests from 1997 to 2006 by sociologist Harry Levine and drug policy activist Deborah Small found that 18-to-25-year-old whites are more likely than blacks or Hispanics to smoke marijuana, yet blacks were five times and Hispanics three times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession. [continues 1133 words]
Poring Over the Tens of Thousands of Scientific Papers on Pot Welcome to the world of science. I didn't do well in high school science and have pretty much avoided addressing scientific subjects formally until now. That's because I've been delving into the science of marijuana to try to figure out some of the hows and whys of medical marijuana's workings. There are some 20,000 published scientific papers analyzing marijuana and its parts. So don't let anybody tell you there is too little known about marijuana to make a call regarding its usefulness. [continues 1125 words]
When Is a Person 'Too High to Drive'? It should have been easy to see that driving under the influence was going to come up when voters gave the thumbs up to medical marijuana in Michigan. Marijuana is an intoxicant that has some effects similar to alcohol and opiates. It would seem to be a good thing for medical marijuana patients to not drive while under the influence of the medication. That's a matter of public safety, and not just because police have been reported to lay in wait near compassion centers where marijuana smoking takes place in order to arrest drivers suspected of intoxication. Other patients have been charged with DUI after having been stopped for other traffic violations and divulging that they were medical marijuana patients. [continues 1117 words]
Can Conservatives and Liberals Agree on Legalizing Weed? Could medical marijuana be the issue that brings us all together? I'm not talking about everybody sitting in a circle, passing a joint around and swaying back and forth to Michael Franti tunes -- although that wouldn't hurt anything either. I'm talking bipartisan politics. Something almost all politicians talk about but toss into the trash the minute anybody actually tries to get something done. Rabid partisanship has dogged our political process pretty much since the Civil Rights Act was signed in 1964. The issue of drugs and marijuana has played into that since Richard Nixon used it successfully as part of his core platform in his 1972 re-election bid. Neither side wants a soft-on-drugs image, but the liberal wing of the Democratic Party has pushed its politicians further on medical marijuana. [continues 1085 words]
Compassion Clubs Embrace New Statewide Group It was a display of the worst behavior - publicly taunting a 7-year-old girl in the late stages of Huntington's disease on a Facebook page. However, in the wake of that atrocious act by a neighbor, the outpouring of support for Kathleen Edwards, the young Downriver girl, was an equally heartening outpouring of the best of human kindness. Kathleen was showered with donations from around the world, a trip to an Ann Arbor toy store, and a couple of thousand people attended an Oct. 23 rally in her support at Trenton's Elizabeth Park. Among Kathleen's gifts there was a $350 gift card and a five-day trip to Kalahari Resorts in Sandusky, Ohio, donated by the Michigan Association of Compassion Centers. [continues 1095 words]
The Pot Boom Helps Grow-Shops Grow Anyone who thinks medical marijuana is just a nudge-and-wink cover for pushing legalization should speak with Rick Ferris, who has all the fervor and sincerity of a man who got a second chance in life. As Ferris tells it, he worked in construction for 20-plus years, about 13 of those as a foreman pouring concrete floors, pillars and other industrial applications. In 2001, he injured his right foot, which led to deep-vein thrombosis (a blood clot) in his leg. Ferris then developed lymph edema, a painful condition of the lymphatic system that causes localized retention of fluids and tissue swelling, in his leg. [continues 1108 words]
Just because the Detroit Election Commission chose not to put the question of legalizing marijuana on the Nov. 2 ballot doesn't mean there's no cannabis drama in this election. At least for Michigan medical marijuana activists, the contest for attorney general is crucial. "We're concerned about the potential election of Bill Schuette as attorney general," says Tim Beck of the Detroit Coalition for Compassionate Care, an organization that supports the use of medical marijuana. "He is obsessed with destroying the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act. He led the opposition back in '08. There's a lot of stuff that he can do that is pretty damaging. We've got some people who are actively helping David Leyton, not that he is a person that wants to give joints to everyone. He believes the will of the voters should be respected. Under Bill Schuette it would be lucky if terminally ill people had access to medical marijuana." [continues 1090 words]
Here's a thought to make you wonder what kind of radical nut job Larry Gabriel is: What about legalizing marijuana in Michigan and making hemp a part of our agricultural and industrial economy? I'm not talking about creeping up on the idea in increments. I'm talking full-blown twisting up a doobie and publicly puffing your day away without recrimination. Buying and selling marijuana for recreational purposes is already a huge part of our underground economy, or black market if you please. [continues 1164 words]
Gabriel of Cottonwood is a rancher and is South Dakota's Secretary of Agriculture. He was a long time majority leader in the S.D. House of Representatives. Federal law classifies industrial hemp as a Schedule 1 controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act of 1972 and it is therefore illegal to cultivate. The issue of allowing the cultivation of industrial hemp in South Dakota has been addressed by the S.D. Legislature in the past two legislative sessions and defeated in both attempts. The Department of Agriculture has carefully analyzed the research regarding industrial hemp and cannot support the efforts to legalize its cultivation. [continues 526 words]
Trying To Make Sense Of Ecstasy There's a lot of talk about Ecstasy these days. That's 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine, or MDMA, the drug that in most users triggers the "rapturous delight" that so entices them, and so frightens parents and law-enforcement officials. From fairly benign takes in the New York Times Magazine and Rolling Stone to a long, mostly knee-jerk report in the Detroit Free Press, Ecstasy has been making the journalistic rounds. There was a first of its kind "State of Ecstasy" conference in San Francisco in February, drawing users, therapists and law-enforcement officials. During that same month in Seattle, an Academy of Forensic Sciences convention spent a day discussing Ecstasy. Let's just say that the pill is on the tips of a lot of tongues these days -- of both users and haters. [continues 1143 words]
