The City of Rochester recently passed a medical marijuana ordinance to regulate the activity in the city of nearly 4 square miles. City Council unanimously adopted the measure at its Dec. 15 meeting after roughly three months of drafting. The measure designates industrial areas on the south side of the city for any potential licensed medical marijuana growing operations. "We're required to provide a place for the legal use of medical marijuana," City Manager Jaymes Vettraino said. "We've been diligent to make sure it's the right place and the right use for our community." The ordinance was modeled after other communities' efforts to regulate medicinal marijuana, such as nearby Auburn Hills and a handful of other municipalities, Vettraino added.

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It's the 100th anniversary of Drug Prohibition and the drug black market courtesies of the Harrison Act of 1914. Bring those hard drugs back into a doctor's care and let's save around $75 billion to $95 billion for enforcement and incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders.

Drug prohibition's purpose should be to save lives. It's turned into something else, the War on Drugs. As with any war on its own people, it can't be won. Let's stop burning witches (addicts) and save their lives through a doctor's care.

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How long-term marijuana use effects the human brain is a pivotal question before any legalization can occur nationally. Although alcohol remains legal despite the massive evidence on the dangers associated with long-term use, the fight to make marijuana available, both for its medical properties (especially important in selectively killing cancer cells) and for non-medical/recreational use, is hinged on claims made about marijuana's effects on the individual user.

The University of Texas recently published research on the long-term effects of marijuana. This research helps dispel the dying myth that marijuana use lowers the IQ and actually provides even more evidence about marijuana's potential role in fighting Alzheimer's disease.

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Lansing - Officials representing law enforcement and health workers urged Wednesday that lawmakers not pass bills that would permit medical marijuana dispensaries and "edible" forms of cannabis during the lame-duck session.

The legislation, which has passed the House and is among many bills pending on the Senate floor, contains too many risks to be adequately addressed during the two days remaining before the Legislature adjourns for the year, they argued at a press conference.

"We're concerned they're rushing this through in lame duck when it should be vetted more thoroughly," said Terrence Jungel, executive director of the Michigan Sheriff 's Association.

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Looking back on 2014, it was a tremendous year for marijuana activists with two more states legalizing, California lowering penalties for low level crime, New York City decriminalizing possession of small amounts, eight cities in Michigan legalizing, Guam voting for medical use, and generally the public opinion numbers kept moving in the right direction. Washington, D.C., legalized, but since the city is a federal district Congress has to approve. However, hardline anti-marijuana Republicans are making that look iffy at the moment.

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Test the Legislature first

Legislators sometimes make fun of a law by calling it "a solution in search of a problem." More often than not, these are proposals fueled by ideological bias rather than the facts, such as the "voter ID" bills intended to battle "voter fraud" - an almost nonexistent problem. (But if it should happen to stop even a small percentage7 of voters who support the Democratic Party, so much the better for the GOP.)

Same goes with the idea of drug-testing welfare recipients, which Lansing's lame-duck session approved last week. You remember welfare recipients, of course. They're those single mothers driving around next year's Cadillacs and pooping out another baby every 10 months to fill up with Faygo on their Bridge cards. Or at least that's what many opposed to welfare would have you believe. Welfare costs money, dammit. And that money should be going to tax breaks for our job creators, or something like that. Any measure that can be dreamed up that might harass welfare recipients, in this context, is worth considering. Even if it costs more money to do so. And even if the problem it purports to solve doesn't appear to exist!

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Two bills to watch

Big things are afoot for medical marijuana in Michigan right now. At least that's what most activists who have their eyes on Lansing believe.

House Bills 4271 and 5104 are widely expected to be passed during the lame duck session before Dec. 18. I'm not a big fan of lame duck legislation in recent years when such things as a Right-to Work bill and anti-abortion legislation have been pushed through. These bills are, however, welcome for the majority of medical marijuana patients.

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How Many of Our Brothers and Sisters Will Get Busted for Pot This Holiday Season?

I remember a Thanksgiving, nearly 20 years ago. At the time I lived in a very low-income neighborhood. Most white people would call it a "bad" neighborhood. Back then, it was almost entirely black and Hispanic people living there. I loved that neighborhood. It was filled with families, good music, and delicious food. The neighbors were always friendly to me. Even the drug dealers were nice. They sold marijuana back then, nickel and dime bags ($5 or $10 sizes).

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Both Sides Look to Hand Off Responsibility

The Controlled Substances Act, which set up the drug schedules in the early 1970s, explicitly places drug scheduling authority in the hands of the attorney general, and even instructs him or her to "remove any drug or other substance fromthe schedules if he finds that the drug or other substance does not meet the requirements for inclusion in any schedule."

The crowning inconsistency of the federal drug control system has always been the classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance under federal law, which makes it among the Worst of the Worst drugs as far as the DEA is concerned - literally as bad as heroin, and worse than cocaine! Drug reform advocates have pushed the DEA to change its position for years, citing decades of research on the relative harmlessness of weed compared with other drugs - including alcohol -- but the agency hasn't budged, even as public opinion has rapidly evolved.

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In the underground world of heroin, there is a legend of an African root called iboga, or ibogaine, that can cure addiction. Those in the depths of heroin use, often as a last resort, seek out the root, which can be dangerous to use. Some go to Mexico or to Europe to take it, as it is illegal here in the United States. It can be an expensive trip for the user, and often one made in a moment of final desperation.

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Both Sides Look to Hand Off Responsibility

The Controlled Substances Act, which set up the drug schedules in the early 1970s, explicitly places drug scheduling authority in the hands of the attorney general, and even instructs him or her to "remove any drug or other substance from the schedules if he finds that the drug or other substance does not meet the requirements for inclusion in any schedule."

The crowning inconsistency of the federal drug control system has always been the classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance under federal law, which makes it among the Worst of the Worst drugs as far as the DEA is concerned - literally as bad as heroin, and worse than cocaine! Drug reform advocates have pushed the DEA to change its position for years, citing decades of research on the relative harmlessness of weed compared with other drugs - including alcohol -- but the agency hasn't budged, even as public opinion has rapidly evolved.

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Crunching the Numbers in Marijuana's March to Legalization

Let's play a little numbers game today. This is not the kind of numbers they played in an illegal lottery that flourished for decades before states started taking over the gambling business.

Back in the 1940s, my uncle was a numbers runner who walked down alleys collecting nickel and dime bets in an illegal lottery that flourished for decades in poor neighborhoods. He couldn't write down the numbers that people wagered on because that was evidence if the police caught him. He had to memorize each number, who bet it, and the amount wagered. It was a tricky and intricate situation where a good memory came in handy.

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We interviewed Jude Angelini, aka "Rude Jude," for our Face Time column in this issue. One thing that struck us about Angelini was his honesty about drugs.

People who use drugs are often not publicly honest about it. They bullshit, they make excuses, they carry shame, or they talk about being "clean" - which insinuates that when they did drugs, they were dirty.

But are drug users really dirty? After all, you can be brilliant and still use drugs - just look at Philip Seymour Hoffman. Or Heath Ledger. Or Robin Williams. Or ... fill in the blank.

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Mt. Pleasant residents have overwhelmingly voted in favor of decriminalizing marijuana.

With a vote of 62-percent to 38-percent, the mid-Michigan city residents voted Tuesday to amend the city ordinance so that nothing in the city's code would apply to the use, possession or transfer of "small amounts" of marijuana on private property by those 21 and over.

Mt. Pleasant's ordinance defines "small amounts" as less than one ounce.

"This is a significant statement in Michigan politics," Ian Elliott said.

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How to Get Involved in the Marijuana Business Without Getting Your Hands Dirty

The tide of change in marijuana is pretty much in evidence across the country - even the most anti-drug states are going for CBD-only or hemp farming laws - and all kinds of businesses are involved in the booming marketplace.

A recent national economic analysis on nerdwallet.com estimates that Michigan would gain $122 million a year in taxes on legal recreational marijuana. That's just the taxes; the overall market in the United States was estimated at $14 billion.

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Marijuana decriminalization proposals are on the ballot in three south Oakland County communities on Nov. 4 and pro-pot organizers have yet to lose such an election.

Election Day in Huntington Woods, Pleasant Ridge and Berkley will show whether the activists' winning streak will continue in Oakland County and elsewhere.

"The poll numbers are somuch in our favor all we have to do is put the issue on the ballot," said Tim Beck, a retired health insurance executive and co-founder of the Safer Michigan Coalition, a statewide marijuana legalization group. "The closest election we've had was in Oak Park in August when we won (with) 53 percent. In Michigan, polls show 65 percent of people support decriminalization."

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In a breakthrough decision for those who say marijuana is medicine and not a dangerous drug, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Friday that workers who are state-approved users of medical marijuana should get unemployment compensation if fired solely for testing positive for drugs.

"It's a very favorable decision for the civil rights of employees in Michigan," said Matt Abel, a Detroit lawyer and senior partner of Cannabis Counsel, a law firm that focuses on marijuana cases.

But Rich Studley, president of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, said the ruling -- and the use of medical marijuana in general -- present "a real dilemma" for employers.

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Despite the fact that medical marijuana is legal in 23 states and the District of Columbia and is legal recreationally in Colorado and Washington state, the stigma of marijuana use sticks to patients and users like the tar and feathers of bygone days.

It sticks despite the fact that medical patients clearly benefit from it. It sticks despite the fact that nearly 90 percent of Americans support medical marijuana, and support for recreational marijuana is nearing 60 percent in recent polls.

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Many years ago, I heard a story that the CIA purposefully allowed the funneling of crack cocaine into Los Angeles and other inner cities across the country in order to fund a war in Nicaragua. It was told to me on the street. I didn't read it. As a young woman living in the Bronx, I heard the story again and again, as matter-of-fact as the sun rises each morning in the east. The CIA, everyone said, knew where the crack was, who it came from, and despite the War on Drugs, the flow was never impeded, rather the lowest level of addict or poorest and most desperate of the pushers were the ones targeted for incarceration.

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If you can't beat 'em at the ballot box, do it with administrative and quasi-legal shenanigans.

That seems to be the way East Lansing City Clerk Marie Wicks and Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum have managed to keep a vote on legalizing marijuana off the East Lansing ballot this fall.

"In 11 other cities the same thing will be voted on," says attorney Jeffrey Hank, chair of the Coalition for a Safer East Lansing, which ran the petition initiative. "They're playing games with democracy. We are pissed off."

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