Clerk's Office Will Verify Signatures in Next Several Weeks

Marijuana activists turned in a petition Tuesday with 1,681 signatures to the Port Huron City Clerk Office to get a proposal to decriminalize marijuana on the Nov. 4 ballot.

The ballot proposal was created and signatures were collected by The Coalition for a Safer Port Huron, a subgroup of the statewide Coalition for a Safer Michigan.

The proposal aims to legalize the possession and use of less than one ounce of marijuana by anyone 21 or older.

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Three medical marijuana caregivers are ready to open a shop for their patients now that the Ferndale City Council has approved their plan.

Adam Applebaum, CEO of Meridian Wellness, told city council members he and two other caregivers will service up to five patients each, as allowed under the state's medical marijuana law.

Patients would be serviced by appointment and the facility would host educational seminars and other meetings, Applebaum said.

"It is very hard for a patient to get matched with a caregiver," he said Monday, adding that some patients are hesitant to have caregivers come to their homes. "This way we can facilitate a neutral ground with security."

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A proposal to legalize possession of marijuana won't appear on November ballots in Grosse Pointe Park after all.

Organizers of the effort learned Monday that city officials had found a technicality - an incorrect date of Feb. 27 instead of June 27 on one set of signatures -- that invalided their petition drive.

"It's my fault - I put down a two rather than a six," said Tim Beck, 62, of Detroit, who helped organize petition drives in 16 other cities for marijuana questions headed for ballots this year.

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Marijuana questions could pop up on ballots in at least 17 cities across Michigan this summer and fall.

The questions aim to ease or eliminate local penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana, an approach that supporters call decriminalization.

Last week, volunteers submitted stacks of signed petitions in Frankfort, Huntington Woods, Mt. Pleasant, Pleasant Ridge and Utica; in prior weeks, they did so in Berkley, Grosse Pointe Park, Harrison, Hazel Park, Lapeer, Montrose, Oak Park, Onaway and Saginaw, said leaders of the nonprofit Safer Michigan Coalition, which coordinated the petition drives around Michigan.

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Mount Pleasant voters could see a student-backed proposition calling for the citywide decriminalization of marijuana on the November ballot.

Student Advocates for Medical/Recreational Cannabis have procured enough petition signatures to get the initiative on the ballot. The registered student organization at Central Michigan University got all the necessary signatures a week shy of their deadline.

"It's a step in the right direction," said Ian Elliot, president of SAMRC and a Cheboygan sophomore. "Any policy change that will promote the mission of realizing a responsible cannabis policy is good."

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A group of medical marijuana caregivers wants to open up a shop to dispense marijuana to their patients in Ferndale at a former party store on East Nine Mile.

The company, called Meridian Wellness, is seeking approval to operate from the Ferndale City Council on Monday.

"We're going to see on Monday what the requirements are for the facility and that the applicant has met them," said Mayor Dave Coulter. "Ferndale supports the concept of medical marijuana and supports facilities like this if they are operating legally."

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Pot decriminalization advocates turned in petitions Tuesday to get the issue on the November ballot in Huntington Woods and Pleasant Ridge.

"This is an issue about freedom and liberty," said Andrew Cissell, a candidate running in the Aug. 5 primary as a Democrat to be state representative for the 27th District. "We have done this in every city in the district."

Cissell and volunteers last year got the decriminalization proposal on the ballot Ferndale, where it passed overwhelmingly.

So far this year Cissell has also successfully submitted petitions to get the proposal on ballots in Oak Park, Hazel Park and Berkley.

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Yes We Cannabis!

After a few years' absence since the High Times first brought their Medical Cannabis Cup to Detroit back in 2011, the event is back, this time at Clio's Auto City Speedway. The two-day event combines a pot expo, seminars, a musical performance by Wyclef Jean, and of course the prestigious pot awards issued by High Times' consummate cannabis professionals. To learn more about the event, we caught up with High Times senior cultivation editor Danny Danko (Metro Times Editor in Chief Valerie Vande Panne worked with Danko at High Times).

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One of Macomb County's smallest communities could become a battleground over the enforcement of marijuana laws.

A local group that calls itself Coalition for a Safer Utica filed petitions Friday calling for a city charter amendment that would liberalize marijuana use in the city.

Mike Lumetta, who led the petition drive, said the goal is to reduce the enforcement of marijuana laws to the "lowest policing priority."

Lumetta said his group collected the signatures of more than 180 registered voters. If those are verified, the proposal could go to voters in November.

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On the agenda for the July 15 meeting was a proposed resolution "declaring a 120-day moratorium on the consideration of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city." The Algonac City Council passed the resolution unanimously.

Relying on the federal laws regarding marijuana to trump state and local regulations to avoid "some of the perceived negative impacts of marijuana use and possession" was ruled unconstitutional recently by the Michigan Supreme Court, reported city attorney Jim Downey.

St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon was present at the same meeting for different reasons to give a report of the sheriff's deputy's work for the city and to answer any questions or concerns. When the agenda item for the moratorium came up, he had much to say on the topic.

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The War on Drugs Creates a New Class of People to Be Discrimined

Neil Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), is a dedicated advocate against the War on Drugs. He's participated in it on the police side as a 33-year veteran of the Maryland State Police and the Baltimore Police Department. He's served on drug squads and done undercover work.

LEAP is a national organization of former and current law-enforcement officers who support ending the War on Drugs. Franklin was among those, along with Michelle Alexander (author of The New Jim Crow), who convinced the national NAACP to pass a resolution calling for an end to the War On Drugs in 2011.

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LANSING -- The Legislature has a few session days scheduled through July and August that traditionally have been used to introduce bills and not much more. Roll call generally isn't taken and neither are any votes.

But this year, that might change.

Several committees are meeting Wednesday and a vote might be taken in the full Senate on a pair of bills dealing with access to medical marijuana.

Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, said last week that the two bills, which would allow communities to decide whether they want medical marijuana dispensaries in their town and regulate those businesses, as well as allow for the sale of marijuana-infused products like brownies and oils, will be taken up in the Senate this week.

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Regarding your July 8 editorial, the people of Washington state are way ahead of the politicians in Washington, D.C.

Oregon should follow their lead.

If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success.

The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees.

If the goal is to deter use, marijuana prohibition is a catastrophic failure.

The United States has almost double the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands where marijuana is legal.

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The Macomb Township Board of Trustees recently adopted a resolution opposing the legalization of marijuana for general use in Macomb County communities.

At the July 9 township board meeting, Supervisor Janet Dunn said that the Chippewa Valley Coalition for Youth and Families requested that the board adopt the resolution.

"This resolution does not, it does not relate to any use of medical marijuana that is used in the medical profession. I want to make sure of that, that people understand that they will still be able to get it," Macomb Township Trustee Roger Krzeminski said.

The resolution indicates that ballot proposals to decriminalize marijuana for general use are being considered in 12 Michigan communities and that general marijuana use and possession is not permitted under federal and state laws.

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The legalization of marijuana in the United States seems inevitable. The long-anticipated "opening day" for marijuana retail sales in Washington state will be cheered by some and lamented by others, but the more prudent response for policy-makers should be one of discovery.

We know very little about marijuana use or the implications of lifting prohibition on the drug. Benefits and risks are likely overstated by advocates and opponents of legalization, but we don't know for sure because the federal government has long stood in the way of serious medical research of the drug. That needs to change.

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Marijuana legalization advocates turned in petitions Tuesday signed by Berkley voters to put a citywide pot decriminalization proposal on the ballot for the Nov. 4 election.

The proposal would make it legal for anyone 21 or older to use, possess or transfer up to an ounce of marijuana on private property not used by the public.

Berkley is the most recent city targeted by the Safer Michigan Coalition, which last year successfully passed similar proposals in Ferndale, Jackson and Lansing.

A petition drive is now underway in Huntington Woods and another is expected to start in Pleasant Ridge to also get the proposal on ballots in those communities. Statewide, advocates are eyeing other cities such as Utica, Port Huron, Mount Pleasant and East Lansing.

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Pot and recreation

The eyes of America are on Colorado, so far the only state where legal marijuana for recreational use by adults is available (with Washington state not far behind). And the folks involved in marijuana issues in Colorado and elsewhere are well aware of that.

So, last week, the national organization Drug Policy Alliance held a teleconference marking six months of marijuana legalization. I learned a lot about what's going on there, but the assessment from Mike Elliott of the Colorado Marijuana Industry Group (MIG) seems to sum things up pretty well:

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Volunteers who've walked the streets of Berkley for the last month said Monday they plan to turn in about 700 signatures today aimed at putting yet another marijuana-legalization question before yet another city's voters.

By the time the door-to-door campaigns end, similar questions likely will appear on ballots in nearly 20 communities around the state, from Utica to the U.P., said leaders of Safer Michigan, a Detroit-based nonprofit group coordinating the far-flung petition drives.

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Pot at the Polls.

Michiganders are gearing up for a lot of voting about marijuana over the next several months. In August, folks in Hazel Park and Oak Park will be voting on decriminalization of possession and transfer on private property of up to an ounce of the substance for those 21 and older.

In Oak Park, the Safer Oak Park Coalition had to take it to court to force the city to put the question on the ballot, even though the Safer Michigan Coalition had successfully jumped through all the legal hoops to get it on. Oak Park officials tried to use an administrative maneuver to keep it off. They claimed that the ballot language had to be approved by Attorney General Bill Schuette's office. Schuette is no friend of marijuana decriminalization, and the AG stood mute on the language. Since the AG didn't speak, Oak Park officials said the question couldn't go on the ballot. The coalition sued, and an Oakland County Circuit Court ruled that the question must go on the ballot.

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It is a silent killer. Welcoming young and old, rich and poor, married and single, heroin entices because it promises to reduce anxiety, bring comfort to the afflicted, and sooth the soul. But it can also end one's life.

And even if it doesn't, heroin is extremely addictive.

In 2013 heroin took the lives of 31 Washtenaw County residents. This was 13 more than the death count for 2012.

Given the death rate pace for the first three months of 2014. The number of deaths for this year could eclipse the prior year. Typically the monthly death count rises in November and December; in fact, it doubles.

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