State Rep. Jeff Irwin recently made Cannabis Business Executive's list of "100 Political Influencers in Cannabis." It's no surprise; Irwin has been the biggest cannabis supporter in our state legislature. Over the years, the Ann Arbor Democrat has introduced or supported various decriminalization or legalization bills in Lansing. And he's consistently spoken up about marijuana legalization at the annual Hash Bash. Irwin doesn't seem to care much one way or the other about being named as a political influencer on the subject. [continues 1177 words]
A new study put out by University of Michigan researchers suggests that over time, marijuana use dampens the response of the area of the brain that responds to rewards. Researchers with UM's Addiction Research Center and Department of Psychology found over time marijuana use shifts the brain's reward system so that a person may need more of the substance to get that level of satisfaction they would normally get from "natural rewards," such as food. "This kind of suggests that marijuana may be biasing the brain's reward system away from things the brain would normally find pleasurable," said the study's Senior Researcher and UM Assistant Professor Mary Heitzeg. [continues 543 words]
Detroit - Several medical marijuana caregivers and patients have filed a class-action lawsuit alleging the Michigan State Police crime lab intentionally misrepresented test results that expose thousands of people to possible felony charges. The civil rights lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Detroit, alleges the state police acted in concert with the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan (PAAM) and other law-enforcement agencies, including the Oakland County Sheriff's Office. The lawsuit was triggered by an alleged ongoing policy by the state to produce inaccurate test results that show marijuana seized during criminal investigations contained the synthetic cannabinoid Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which is responsible for marijuana's psychoactive effects. THC has little or no psychoactive effect when a marijuana plant is converted to an oil or edible, according to the lawsuit. [continues 350 words]
"I had a run-in with Vicodin; that turned into a habit that I had to kick," said Laurent. "Opiate withdrawal - I never want to deal with that again." Laurent isn't this Detroiter's real name. He didn't want to use it because he uses marijuana both medically and recreationally, and because he's young and hopes to become a social worker - maybe a substance abuse counselor - and doesn't want this column to pop up in some employer's search. [continues 1360 words]
Roadside Drug Testing Is a Back Door Prohibition on Marijuana, a Nightmare for Medical Users Before breaking for the summer, the Legislature approved an extra-constitutional one-year pilot program that allows police officers to conduct roadside saliva testing on drivers they suspect might be under the influence of a variety of drugs. It's the kind of legislation that sounds beneficial, but threatens privacy and due process rights. Gov. Rick Snyder should veto a bill that is bound to be a litigation machine. [continues 420 words]
MI Legalize's Lawsuit Challenges Law, Policy That Nulls Signatures Lansing - A Michigan group seeking to put a marijuana legalization question on the November ballot is taking its fight to court. MI Legalize on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the state in the Michigan Court of Claims, challenging a law and policy that effectively invalidated its petition signatures collected outside of a customary 180-day window. Attorneys Jeff Hank, Thomas Lavigne and Matthew Abel, members of the MI Legalize board, argue the law and policy are inconsistent with the Michigan Constitution, which allows for initiated petitions but does not specify a time limit for signature collection. [continues 680 words]
Lansing - A group seeking to legalize marijuana in Michigan submitted an "insufficient" number of valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot after collecting outside of a traditional 180-day window, state elections officials said Tuesday. In a staff report, the Bureau of Elections recommended the Board of State Canvassers reject the MI Legalize petition at its Thursday meeting. The activist-led group last week submitted an estimated 354,000 signatures, more than the 252,523 required to make the ballot, but the bureau said only 146,413 were collected within 180 days of the filing. State law, updated Tuesday to tighten that window, had treated older signatures as "stale and void." [continues 456 words]
MILegalize is still kicking. The effort to legalize recreational marijuana in Michigan turned in more than 350,000 signatures in its attempt to put the question on the fall ballot. It was the only group out of a number of petition efforts to actually turn in their petitions with the qualifying 252,523 signatures. To the organizers, activists, petition circulators, and petition signers, I say: "Well done." But the main question being asked now is: Was it done quickly enough? MILegalize spent a year collecting signatures, and overcame numerous obstacles, from challenges to the petition print size, to a lack of money and no support from national organizations. That's something the Michigan Cannabis Coalition's competing ballot initiative couldn't do. Neither could the Committee to Ban Fracking in Michigan and a handful of others. [continues 1115 words]
Lansing - Michigan marijuana activists on Wednesday submitted more than 350,000 petition signatures in hopes of putting a recreational legalization question before voters this fall, but the prospects of making the November ballot remain cloudy. "It was a huge effort," Jeff Hank, executive director of MI Legalize, told reporters outside the Michigan Secretary of State's Office. "We had thousands of people volunteer to circulate petitions, and we had all sorts of people donate small amounts of money." MI Legalize needed to submit at least 252,523 signatures by Wednesday, but it's unclear how many of its signatures will be considered valid because the group collected well beyond a traditional 180-day window written into state law. [continues 316 words]
When the MILegalize petitions proposing the legalization of recreational marijuana in Michigan hit the streets last summer I signed the first one that came my way. That was sometime in July. Now my signature probably won't count. That's the big issue facing the folks who organized the legalization effort right now: whether or not petition initiative signatures collected outside of a 180-day window are valid. And it doesn't look good. The most immediate answer to that question will be rendered by Gov. Rick Snyder when he decides to sign, or not sign, S.B. 776, the recent legislation that sets a hard 180-day window for collecting signatures on a petition initiative. [continues 1181 words]
Lansing - An increasingly long-shot effort to put a marijuana legalization measure on Michigan's 2016 ballot suffered another setback Thursday, when the Board of State Canvassers deadlocked on a policy revision for proving the validity of old signatures. The two Republicans and two Democrats on the board were at odds over state Bureau of Elections recommendations that would have updated and eased the state policy for "rebutting" and rehabilitating signatures collected outside a traditional 180-day collection window. The proposed updates stalled in a series of 2-2 votes. [continues 633 words]
One of the burning questions about cannabis use is: How high is too high when operating a motor vehicle? It's befuddling to the legal system, as driving law is not moving as quickly as marijuana law. Many want to establish a "per se" level of THC in someone's blood that indicates being under the influence. That comes from loosely equating alcohol and marijuana intoxication. In Michigan, the per se blood alcohol content for driving under the influence is .08. Regardless of a person's behavior, if his or her blood alcohol level is .08 or above, they are legally under the influence. With marijuana, it's not clear what that level is. [continues 1220 words]
With the legalization of marijuana possibly being added to the state's November election ballot, police are speaking out about the dangers of recreational use. Flat Rock Police Chief John Leacher has been meeting with Downriver groups to ensure there is an "educated election this coming fall." "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result," Leacher said, commenting on the legalization of marijuana in Colorado in 2012. Colorado Amendment 64, which amended the state's constitution, outlined a drug policy for marijuana that passed with 55 percent of the vote. [continues 580 words]
We're in the midst of the cannabis holiday season. The Ann Arbor Hash Bash and Monroe Street Fair were a few weeks ago, and the Global Marijuana March is May 7 (Grand Circus Park in Detroit). Smack dab in the middle was 4/20. The first place I hit was the B.D.T. Smoke Shops in Hazel Park, which proudly notes that it has been there since 1973. The folks there held a pig roast in the parking lot, and visitors played on fowling lanes from the Fowling Warehouse - throwing a football at bowling pins - and were medicating with cannabis as they munched their pork sandwiches. 89X FM had a booth, and retired Red Wing Darren McCarty was there hanging out and signing autographs. [continues 1080 words]
GAYLORD - Two more suspects were arrested Friday follow the March 10 Otsego County medical marijuana dispensary raids, bringing the total arrest number to four. According to Detective Lt. Ken Mills, unit commander for the Straits Area Narcotics Enforcement (SANE) team, a 21-year-old male and a 56-year-old male, both owners of Gaylord medical marijuana dispensaries, were arrested Friday. The names of both men are being held pending their arraignment. Mills said the 21-year-old was arrested and lodged at the Otsego County Jail and was released after posting bond. The 56-year-old man turned himself in at the Michigan State Police Gaylord post, posted bond and was released without being lodged. [continues 316 words]
GAYLORD - It's been nearly six weeks since all of the medical marijuana dispensaries in Otsego County were raided by law enforcement officials, resulting in two arrests and an ongoing investigation. As of Friday afternoon, the execution of search warrants at nine dispensaries in Gaylord and one in Vanderbilt March 10 have been proceeded with the arrest of two men, including [name1 redacted], 45, of Gaylord, and [name2 redacted], 36, of Gaylord, though more are expected to be made, possibly by the end of the month. [continues 706 words]
Will the marijuana game change this year? There has been a good bit of speculation that President Obama will reschedule marijuana before he leaves office. I first heard that concept a couple of years ago from somebody at one of the national marijuana policy organizations. I took it for wishful thinking. We can wish Obama reschedules marijuana, but that doesn't make it true. But maybe we can stop holding our breath about that. Last week the Washington Post reported that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) sent out a memo to lawmakers that it plans to decide in the first half of 2016 if it will reschedule marijuana. I'm assuming that the "first half of 2016" means by the end of June. [continues 1267 words]
The Iconic Stoner Chats With Us About Detroit, Cancer, and Donald Trump It's a Friday morning, and Tommy Chong is about to ride up John R in a replica of The Love Machine, the 1964 Chevy Impala from Up in Smoke. He has one hand on the chain link steering wheel and what Cheech Marin might call a Led Zeppelin-sized joint in the other. When asked if he wants to blaze, though, the most iconic of stoners declines. "It's still Michigan," he says. [continues 1307 words]
The Family Trees dispensary near Seven Mile and Plainview sits within eyeshot of a vacant liquor store and small storefront church, which are less than 1,000 feet away. As of April 1, that means Family Trees is breaking the law. While the business has provided marijuana to patients at the location for two years without incident, owner Reginald Venoy, like many of Detroit's dispensary operators, faces an uncertain future. Will the police kick down his door and seize his marijuana and assets? Or will he answer a knock at the door to find he's being served? Or will nothing happen? [continues 1492 words]
The Justice Department recently announced that it is resuming the "equitable sharing" part of its civil asset forfeiture program, thus ending one of the major criminal justice reform victories of the Obama administration. Civil asset forfeiture is a legal tool by which police officers can seize and sell private property without a convicting the owner of any crime, and equitable sharing is a process by which state and local police can circumvent state restrictions on civil asset forfeiture and take property under the color of federal law. [continues 472 words]