GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan -- Andy Heglas watched as terminal cancer, chemotherapy and radiation treatments assaulted his friend, Steve, who struggled with nausea, pain and loss of appetite. The cancer started in his lungs, or maybe his bones -- no one knows for sure -- but it spread to both those areas and then his liver and brain before eventually taking his life in April. He had several prescription drugs for various side effects, but Heglas said smoking marijuana was often the only way Steve could control his nausea and pain. Even though Flint voters last year approved a measure to legalize the drug for health reasons, federal and state laws still criminalize marijuana use. [continues 585 words]
As Election Day Nears, Students, Officials Debate Use of Medical Marijuana By Kelly House, The State News When Josh Sattler gets the munchies, he views it as a medicinal property of smoking marijuana, not a fattening side effect of getting high. The hospitality business junior has Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory ailment of the digestive system that causes ulcers in the bowels and can lead to drastic weight loss. "Marijuana helps you eat," he said. "When you have Crohn's disease, you should be eating a lot of food because your body is not able to take in the nutrition that it needs." [continues 658 words]
In the approaching election, Michigan voters will finally have the chance to cast their vote for or against the state legalization of medical marijuana. Nearly half of a million voters signed petitions distributed by the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care, last year, to get the medical marijuana on the ballot, a far greater number than the 304,000 signatures needed. The proposal will be listed as Proposal 1 on the Nov. 4 ballot. Proposal 1 would allow doctors to treat ill patients with marijuana, an illegal drug that has been used medicinally to cure ailments around the world for thousands of years. Under the proposal, marijuana would be administered to registered patients with debilitating medical conditions. HIV, AIDS, hepatitis C, cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease and other medical conditions that cause severe chronic pain, nausea, muscle spasms and/or seizures, are among those listed on the proposal. [continues 530 words]
Part one of Proposal 1 states that Michigan citizens will acknowledge marijuana as a prescription drug. Although not every voter agrees that marijuana can be used as an effective medicine, a majority of us do according to recent polls taken by the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press. Both polls showed over 60 percent support among likely voters for Proposal 1. Most Michigan citizens clearly favor the idea that sick residents with a doctor's prescription should have access to marijuana. And serious medical conditions like cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, hepatitis C and MS are specifically named in the proposal as likely candidates for medical marijuana treatment. So far so good. [continues 475 words]
The paranoia level of some groups concerning the medical use of marijuana is completely baffling to me. Given marijuana's ease of access currently, I can't see how a regulated, controlled therapeutic program could make things worse. I detect the odor of politics here. Charley Gehringer Madison Heights [end]
Use of the derivative of TCP from the marijuana plant by medical prescription has brought out the usual negative propaganda of those who would control others for their own good by forcing terminally ill people to suffer. The federal agencies in charge of monitoring prescriptions have continually failed to provide to the terminally ill the necessary dosages to stop pain and, as a result, most die in agonizing pain. "Stupid is as stupid does" is the rule. Paul A. Heller Washington Township [end]
There is very little that is accurate in Mary Haan's letter (Sept. 18) about the Michigan Medical Marijuana Initiative. The fact that marijuana helps me to cope with arthritis has nothing to do with an "overall strategy to completely legalize all drugs." None of the hundreds of thousands of Michigan citizens who signed the petition were paid for their signature (unless they were also a "needy" signature gatherer). Signatures were collected by both paid gatherers and by unpaid volunteers who donated their time and effort to a worthwhile cause. For accurate information about the medical marijuana initiative visit: www.StopArrestingPatients.org. Bob Heflin Williamsburg [end]
There's a key reason why some groups want to make it legal for some seriously ill patients to smoke marijuana to ease vomiting and nausea. Although there is a pharmaceutical version of marijuana called Marinol that comes in pill form, it doesn't work, according to Dr. Elaine Chottiner. She serves as section head of hematology and oncology at Saint Joseph Mercy Health System, which runs the Saint Joseph Mercy Woodland Center in Genoa Township. "If Marinol worked, nobody would care about legalizing marijuana," Chottiner said. [continues 392 words]
Marijuana has proven benefits in limiting pain and reducing the side effects of other medicines used to treat certain illnesses. Proposal 1 would allow the use of marijuana for these limited medical purposes. Voters should say yes to Proposal 1. Proposal 1 would legalize doctor-prescribed marijuana. The Detroit News has reported that upwards of 500,000 Michiganians with "debilitating medical conditions" -- HIV/AIDS, cancer, Hepatitis C, Crohn's disease, Alzheimers, multiple sclerosis and the like -- will qualify. It can be useful, for example, in controlling nausea during chemotherapy in cancer treatments. [continues 378 words]
Calling it a "pot dream come true for drug dealers," a coalition of state law enforcement, medical and antidrug groups has launched a campaign to shoot down Proposal 1, the medical marijuana initiative on the November ballot. Proposal 1 would allow the use of marijuana statewide for pain relief from chronic illness as approved by a doctor. Users would carry state identification as medical marijuana users and would be exempt from prosecution for using the drug for pain relief. Proposal 1 also would allow registered users to grow their own marijuana. [continues 290 words]
If people who are seriously or chronically ill can convince their doctors that using marijuana will make them feel better, the State of Michigan should not stand in the way. Proposal 1 on the statewide ballot Nov. 4 would allow Michigan residents to cultivate and possess small amounts of marijuana for medical reasons with a doctor's approval. Voters should say yes to this proposal, which was placed on the ballot by a petition campaign that collected almost 378,000 signatures. [continues 427 words]
ESCANABA - A couple of years ago I stepped off a San Francisco cable car when an obviously congenial gent walking with a cane began chatting with me. This pleasant man volunteered "I have the best job in the world." He didn't appear affluent but seemed content, so I asked about his job. He said, "I work at the medical marijuana clinic." Four years ago Ron Reagan, son of the deceased president, addressed the Democratic Convention. He supported increased funding for embryonic stem cell research. It was a transcendental moment. Nancy Reagan also supports embryonic stem cell research. [continues 577 words]
Finding someone in Leelanau County who will admit publicly that they plan to vote "yes" on Proposal 1 in November is not an easy task. The proposal calls for a legislative initiative to permit the use and cultivation of marijuana for specified medical conditions. The ballot proposal was put forward by a group called the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care, which asserts that a new law will strictly limit legal marijuana use to "registered patients" whose doctors have prescribed the drug for conditions approved by the state Department of Community Health. [continues 649 words]
Support appears to be deep and widespread for a measure on the Nov. 4 ballot that would allow for the medical use of marijuana in Michigan. If approved, cancer chemotherapy patients suffering from nausea and vomiting would be able to use marijuana to ease those symptoms. Other patients who might seek this treatment would be those with HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma. Former state lawmaker Dianne Byrum said a recent poll showed 67 percent of voters statewide support the ballot measure. [continues 290 words]
Michigan voters will decided whether or not to legalize medicinal marijuana in a state wide ballot initiative this November. Although polls show there is growing support for the move, getting people to speak openly about the subject can be bit more difficult. According to a September poll by the Michigan Resource Group of Lansing, 67 percent of voters said they would support the proposal, while 29 percent said they opposed it. If passed, the law would permit physician approved use of marijuana for patients with "debilitating medical conditions" including cancer, Glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, multiple sclerosis, as well as other conditions approved by the Department of Community Health. [continues 661 words]
Dianne Byrum has heard the stories about countless individuals in Michigan who are in pain. Byrum has listened to "dozens upon dozens" of terminally ill cancer patients, others dying of AIDS and others in severe pain from multiple sclerosis and glaucoma. "You will hear all kinds of stories off the record," Byrum said, "where you have constant vomiting and people who can barely move they are hurting so much." Each of the personal stories Byrum hears includes a plea for akind of relief that is currently illegal. [continues 579 words]
Kalamazoo County, it's time to wake up! Just as the events of Sept. 11, 2001, permanently changed our perspective on the world, so we ought to be awakened to the alarming influence of today's "culture terrorists." They are wealthy, they are smart and they are real. A media tidal wave is drowning our kids. Television and movies are dripping with violence, sex and alcohol. Nearly 61 percent of all television programming contains violence. Seventy percent of all prime-time programming depicts alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use. Alcohol manufacturers spend $2 billion annually, luring our kids to "drink up." [continues 842 words]
Trying to legalize medical marijuana is an experiment that threatens to work in order to legalize all marijuana. "The campaign to allow marijuana to be used as medicine is a tactical maneuver in an overall strategy to completely legalize all drugs." Quote, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, www.usdoj.gov/dea/ongoing/marijuana.html. If former state Sen. Diane Byrum had not gotten $1.3 million out of state money and hired needy people to buy your signature, we would not be facing this threat. Mary Haan Frankfort [end]
Most of us, if not all of us, know someone who has been diagnosed with cancer. In recent months, I have lost a good friend and my own brother to cancer. My good friend Steve and my brother Mark were each diagnosed with terminal cancer, and within a year, they were both gone. Throughout their treatments, they were in pain from the effects of chemotherapy and radiation. Mark actually had visible burn marks on his stomach from his treatments. Steve found some level of comfort, but my brother was never out of pain and most of the time it was intense. Both of them continued to lose weight throughout their treatments. Loss of appetite was an issue for both. [continues 179 words]
Green Party Candidate Will Fight Killer Cops, Opposes Forfeiture Laws and the "Drug War" DETROIT -- Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is currently the darling of major media commentators and suburbanites who supported the ouster of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Two potential Democratic opponents, attorneys Portia Roberson and Maurice Morton, withdrew from the Democratic primary in April. But Worthy is not without opposition on the November ballot. The sole candidate opposing her will be criminal defense attorney and Green Party member Matthew Abel. [continues 1037 words]
More Than 300 Pot Plants Taken in Bust GARDEN PENINSULA - The Michigan State Police Upper Peninsula Substance Enforcement Team (UPSET) eradicated nearly 380 pot plants from a plot Friday, after an outdoor marijuana growing operation was discovered in the Garden area. Police will continue their investigations. They are not releasing information on any suspects at this time. UPSET Unit Commander and Michigan State Police Lt. Jeff Racine estimated the street value of the marijuana to be around $380,000. "The state goes by $1,000 per plant, but this (marijuana) could be sold for up to $3,000 (per plant) or more," he said. [continues 373 words]
To the editor: My son wrote the following letter in the hopes of having it published in The Allegan County News so people could read it and take his advice. Cheryl Caswell Otsego Dear readers: My name is Rob Caswell Jr. I am currently serving my second prison sentence due to my meth addiction. I want to take this time to apologize to my family, friends and loved ones--especially to my son, Gage Caswell. I love you, son. I have been struggling with this addiction for about 11 years, minus the 40 months I served in prison the first time. [continues 393 words]
Regarding Robert Downes' Aug. 4 column "An End to Reefer Madness," if health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Like any drug, marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best. [continues 85 words]
Recently, while driving through Saginaw, I happened to tune into a radio program featuring an interview with Saginaw County Sheriff Charles Brown, who was railing against the dangers of marijuana. Speaking as a former federal law enforcement officer, I would like to respond. We can argue from now until doomsday whether marijuana is a deadly gateway drug, a simple plant neither inherently good nor evil or a great boon to mankind given by a loving creator. And we can continue to completely miss the point. [continues 445 words]
D.A.R.E. Program Funding Remains In Port Huron Budget Despite fears that Port Huron's schools would go without a Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, the city is paying for someone to oversee it through at least the next school year. Mayor Brian Moeller said the City Council did not cut any of the personnel positions from the police department for the current fiscal year. "The D.A.R.E. officer will be there for at least another year," Moeller said. [continues 297 words]
1) Name two state proposals that received approval to appear on the November ballot after they got enough signatures from voters. Advertisement A. The Nugent Amendment to repeal the ban on dove hunting. B. The measure to lift restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. C. A plan to allow the use of medical marijuana for patients with certain debilitating illnesses. D. The proposal to allow drinking at age 18. 2) What has Ford Motor Co. been allowing employees to do in order to reenergize their confidence in the company? [continues 170 words]
LANSING -- Michigan voters will decide whether to loosen the state's restrictions on embryonic stem cell research and allow medical use of marijuana during November's election. A state election panel gave final approval to the proposals Thursday, clearing their path to appear on the ballot. Supporters of both measures collected more than enough valid voter signatures to qualify. But obeying a Michigan Court of Appeals order, the Board of State Canvassers did not act on a third proposal that would cut the pay of elected officials, throw judges off the bench and downsize the state Legislature. [continues 51 words]
Voters to Decide on Letting People Donate Embryos Michigan voters will decide whether to loosen the state's restrictions on embryonic stem cell research and allow medical use of marijuana during November's election. A state election panel gave final approval to the proposals Thursday, clearing their path to appear on the ballot. Supporters of both measures collected more than enough valid voter signatures to qualify. But obeying a Michigan Court of Appeals order, the Board of State Canvassers did not act on a third proposal that would cut the pay of elected officials, throw judges off the bench and downsize the state Legislature. [continues 242 words]
Backers of State Reform Effort Promise to Appeal LANSING -- The field of statewide ballot proposals for 2008 appears to be set at two -- medical marijuana and embryonic stem cell research -- following approval of ballot wording by a state elections panel Thursday. Advertisement The proposal to permit the cultivation, possession and use of marijuana by patients with certain debilitating illnesses, such as muscular dystrophy or HIV-AIDS, was designated as Proposal 1 by the Board of State Canvassers. A constitutional amendment to lift restrictions on research using human embryos, aimed at seeking treatments and cures for chronic illness and injury, was designated Proposal 2. [continues 169 words]
Speaking as a former federal law enforcement officer, a retired elementary school counselor, a taxpayer and most importantly, a parent, I would like to respond to a recent Express article, "The end of reefer madness?" We can argue from now until Doomsday whether marijuana is a deadly gateway drug; a simple plant like any other, neither inherently good or evil; or a great boon to mankind given to us a loving creator. The true debate needs to be, is prohibition the best way to deal with the dangers, real or imagined, of marijuana? [continues 347 words]
End reefer madness Thank you for your "voice of common sense" in your Random Thoughts article titled, "The end of reefer madness?" While I may not agree with your statement about potent strains causing psychotic reactions (this study was disproved), I do agree with everything else that you wrote. You nailed it with your very first sentence! My body belongs to me! No one has a right to tell me what I can put into my body as long as I am hurting no one by doing it! The sooner that those who are supposed to represent us, and those that are supposed to 'protect and serve' us get this, then maybe we can move on to more important things. It might interest you to know that U.S. companies bought 92% of last year's Canadian hemp crop. That could have been money in our farmers' pockets, and yet, they all seem to be drunk on corn ethanol as the answer to our gas problems. What a shame, but then, it is hard to undo 71 years of reefer madness that seems to be alive and well yet today. I hope and pray that before I leave this earth, we will finally "get it!" Until then, I will keep fighting, I will keep using cannabis, and I will continue to refuse to be treated like a criminal! Change is a comin'! Rev. Steven B. Thompson, executive director Michigan NORML [end]
Do you believe in having the freedom to do as you choose with your own body? Or should government make those decisions for you? That's the fundamental question in many great controversies of our time regarding smoking, prostitution, abortion, stem cell research, marijuana, wearing a motorcycle helmet, the right to die with dignity, the use of steroids, and drug use to name a few. At least half the time, we (ie. society) decide to limit ourselves. If you want to make money by inviting strangers to enjoy your body, too bad -- it's against the law. If you want to hit the ball farther than anyone else on the team by taking steroids, tough luck -- it's illegal. [continues 633 words]
Portage Residents Respond After Heroin Overdose Death PORTAGE -- How can Portage residents keep their children from using drugs? Parents could conduct random drug and alcohol tests on their teens, some said during a two-hour forum Monday. Schools could sponsor talks by young, recovered addicts, others said. The community should provide healthy outlets for bored adolescents, a teenager urged. About 60 people gathered at Portage City Hall for the brainstorming session, motivated by the June death of an 18-year-old Portage woman from a heroin overdose. It was the city's fifth heroin death of a young person in the past few years, according to Portage police officials. [continues 407 words]
Paroled after Michigan legislators, in 1998 and 2003, enacted sweeping reforms reducing lengthy mandatory minimum drug sentences, Angelita Able walked out prison last year and did what she had not done in a decade: She made dinner for her daughters. "The first time they laid eyes on me, we cried together," says Able, now 33, looking at daughters Re-Nae, 15, and Roshinique, 12. "We were a family unit and that was torn apart." Wearing shy smiles, the girls sit across the table from their mom in her sparsely furnished first-floor townhouse on West 7 Mile Road. [continues 440 words]
During World War II, hemp was planted in Michigan for use in making rope. Remnants of those plantings still grow in the state's fertile soil, but it's the cultivated plants that state police are asking outdoor enthusiasts to watch out for. Those cultivated varieties of marijuana are specially selected for their high amounts of the hallucinogenic drug THC, said Michigan State Police Detective First Lt. Dave Peltomaa, who works with the Michigan Domestic Cannabis Eradication and Suppression Program, formerly known as Operation HEMP. The targets range from people who grow just a couple of plants in their backyards for personal use to organized drug rings that grow hundreds or even thousands of plants, often on land owned by others so they can avoid forfeiture. [continues 829 words]
Joseph Hepp's May 28 article on ideas to reduce the use of illegal drugs is certainly commendable but the measures he outlined will do little to abate the problem. Drug use is with us as alcohol use is. When alcohol was prohibited in the 1920s crime and corruption did, indeed, result. Now it is available legally and the gangsterism that was rampant during its prohibition no longer exists. Illegal drugs, particularly cocaine and heroin, can and should be made available to those who must have them at little or no cost at centers scattered throughout well-planned districts. That will immediately make the illegal drug trade totally unprofitable and will largely dry up drug production, especially in Colombia, Bolivia and Afghanistan. [continues 203 words]
Susan LeFevre was an escaped prisoner for more than 32 years, but she was never really free -- not even to work on the cause that she now plans to take up. On the outside, LeFevre, 53, had a California dream life: a loving husband, three great children, and a suburban San Diego home worth maybe $1 million; she had a housekeeper. As a teenager in Michigan, LeFevre smoked pot almost daily and occasionally used heroin. As a mom, she talked to her children about the dangers of drug abuse. [continues 1027 words]
U.S. taxpayers spend at least $60 billion a year on a growing body of state and federal prisons, county jails and local lockups. With jail and prison populations that have increased nearly eightfold over the past 35 years, the United States has become the world's leading jailer. More than one in every 100 U.S. adults is locked up -- and 5 million more are on probation or parole. At any given time, one in 32 adults is under the supervision of the criminal justice system. [continues 1702 words]
Jackson public schools officials are looking into testing students for drugs. Discussions are just beginning and no decisions have been made, officials said. However, members of a school-board subcommittee have discussed a plan where students, with parental consent, would voluntarily sign up for random testing, said school board Trustee Michael Brown, who led the committee. ``Our goal would be certainly preventative. It would not be to play the role of law enforcement,'' district spokeswoman A'Lynne Robinson said. ``It would simply be to make sure our students are healthy and they're functioning at their top possible position.'' [continues 442 words]
Medical Marijuana Use, Government Reform, Stem Cells May Mobilize Voters. Michigan voters will likely decide a red-hot trio of ballot questions in November: a massive overhaul of state government, a plan to ease restrictions on stem cell research, and another that would allow seriously ill people to legally smoke marijuana. In a normal year, the marijuana proposal would trigger the most controversy, experts say. But the other two ballot propositions are laced with such high emotion that the pot proposal may turn out to be the tamest of all. [continues 1339 words]
The once-crowded field of ballot proposals hoping to win voter approval in November dwindled to just three Monday -- two constitutional amendments and one law -- as the deadline passed for submitting petitions. Barring late action by the Legislature to assign another amendment to the ballot, those three will be the only policy decisions facing state voters Nov. 4 (assuming all three survive legal challenges). The two amendments are: . A proposed easing of restrictions on embryonic stem cell research (current state law forbids research that imperils or destroys a human embryo). [continues 99 words]
Dear Editor, Remember my letter about "No Knock Drug Raids" and the murder of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston? Kathryn died in a hail of gun-fire when officers broke into her home, executing a search warrant for marijuana. After the search found no drugs, the police officers planted three baggies of marijuana in her home. Atlanta police officer Arthur Tesler was recently sentenced to 4 1Z2 years for lying to investigators about the raid. Tesler lied to support his partners' claims that they had valid information for a search warrant [continues 330 words]
At the memorial service for the 18-year-old Portage Central High School graduate who died June 28 from a heroin overdose, one of the key messages was forgiveness. Some who are grieving this needless loss will feel anger and guilt, one speaker said, but they need to forgive Amy Bousfield. That's good advice. But we shouldn't be so quick to forgive ourselves. Let's not make it too easy to ignore an underlying problem here. That problem, for lack of a better term, is substance abuse. [continues 383 words]
KALAMAZOO -- Heroin users are younger these days. A decade ago, they were in their mid-30s, said Michael Liepman, an addiction psychiatrist with Michigan State University's Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies. Now, abusers of the highly addictive drug are teenagers and young adults. "There's been a progression of heroin down the age ladder," Liepman said. Portage Central High School graduate Amy Bousfield was just 18 when she died of an overdose of heroin last month, fueling fears that there may be a new wave of drug problems washing into the community. Portage police continue to investigate Bousfield's death. [continues 1087 words]
LANSING - While enjoying the outdoors this summer, Michigan State Police troopers are asking residents and travelers to be on the lookout for indicators of illegal marijuana planting. "With its fertile land and remote areas, Michigan is a popular state for marijuana planting," said Col. Peter C. Munoz, director of the Michigan State Police. "To avoid apprehension and forfeiture of their property, growers often plant marijuana on public land or on the property of others, making it common to find marijuana plants in farm fields, backyards, natural forest openings and the shores of lakes, rivers, streams and swamps." [continues 287 words]
As if our military didn't have its hands full in Iraq and Afghanistan, the head of the Minuteman Project border security group seems to think they might also make good narcotics cops. Minuteman cofounder Jim Gilchrist suggested in recent radio interviews that the U.S. give Mexico 12 months to corral its criminal drug cartels and rising violence, particularly in border towns like Juarez and Tijuana -- or deploy the U.S. Army to do the job. That's the Minutemen. Their remedies for the drug war next door sound simplistic, but at least they're paying attention. [continues 655 words]
The war against the sale and use of illegal drugs has received very little media attention during our current political campaigns - probably because both parties feel that it is politically correct to oppose any form of legalization. It should be an issue because, in spite of the valiant efforts on the part of our law enforcement people, we are not winning this war! Besides not winning, it is costing taxpayers billions and billions of dollars for enforcement, not to mention increased crime. [continues 795 words]
Pain. We all experience it at some time in our life to varying degrees and for varying periods of time. Caused by injury or illness, it is nature's way of telling us that something is wrong. In a majority of cases, modern medicine does an excellent job of relieving our pain. Through treatment of the cause of the pain or simply controlling the pain that is not easily treatable, most patients receive relief from their pain. Doctors, left to their own resources, do an excellent job of improving the quality of life of their patients. Even those patients suffering from chronic pain are able to live a normal life if properly treated. Some of the time, that proper treatment includes narcotic pain medication. Prescribed and taken properly, narcotics provide the only relief for some chronic pain victims. Spinal injuries, deformities and degeneration are some examples that respond well to narcotic therapy. Many times they are the only choice that will provide relief. [continues 738 words]
A home was raided for drugs recently. The homeowner fought with police. Officers were injured. The homeowner was taken to jail, according to a story in the May 23 Kalamazoo Gazette. Many would think, "serves him right, he shouldn't have used drugs." But a search of the house turned up 1 ounce of marijuana and a handgun. So now his kids are taken away and he is in jail facing multiple felonies. His life is ruined. Is this mayhem caused by drug use, or by Big Brother invading hearth and home? All it takes is a tip to the police to destroy someone's life. Bob Schellenberg Kalamazoo [end]
Medical Marijuana Is In, With Stem Cell Research and Government Reform Questions Likely. Michigan voters, who once faced a daunting list of potential ballot questions this November, may decide only a handful of issues after all. The deadline for turning in 380,000-plus petition signatures is only a couple of weeks away and, of the 10 ballot committees that launched campaigns, only a few remain active. Ballot watchers say just two or three are likely to make it to the finish line. [continues 898 words]
Inside Michigan
