Posts Tagged ‘Michigan’

What Kind of Marijuana Activist are You?

From http://www.theweedblog.com

Despite what big media and conservatives want you to think, marijuana activists are not all the same.  We do not fit into a perfect stereotype, despite attempts by our opposition to label us all as ‘mindless, lazy stoners.’

I’m proud to call myself a stoner, but I respect the fact that not all marijuana consumers feel the same as me.  Once upon a time, I wrote an article called, ‘What Weed Title Do You Use’  I asked readers what they liked to be called, and the responses were very awesome, and at the same time, very different.  The article is a clear example of just how diverse the pro-marijuana movement is.

Below are SOME, but not ALL, kinds of marijuana activists.  If you think of a type of marijuana activist that I didn’t mention, please add one for everyone to see!  Here is my list:

Read more…

Loopholes in medical marijuana law cause problems

OUR VIEW:
Allowing patients with a physician’s “certificate” to legally smoke “medical marijuana” seemed like a good idea to Michigan voters at the time.

They approved the state ballot issue in November 2008.

The concern among many now is, in whose back yard do the marijuana grow places and shops belong?

And what of marijuana “clubs?” Are they legal? And where are they to locate?

To most people, voter approved anything is sacrosanct. Voters were asked if they wanted medical marijuana and they cast the vote.

They said yes.

The only problem now is, to implement it, work out the bugs, develop new laws to cover the loopholes and define what is specifically legal and what isn’t.

Read more…

Muskegon County Medical Marijuana Users Fear Regulation

Megan Hart | The Muskegon Chronicle

MUSKEGON — Muskegon County residents turned out to apply for permits to use medical marijuana Friday, despite possible zoning regulations on growers and dispensers.

The cities of Muskegon, Muskegon Heights and Roosevelt Park recently placed six-month moratoriums on the development of medical marijuana facilities. They are considering zoning regulations on growers and dispensaries, but no specific regulations under consideration have been announced.

The application event, hosted by the Muskegon chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) at the Fairfield Inn on Mount Garfield Road, aimed to help potential patients correctly fill out their paperwork. It was the second event of its kind in Muskegon County, according to Beth Singleton, executive secretary of the Michigan chapter of NORML.

Muskegon resident Vern Ainsworth, who said he was applying for a permit because he suffers from chronic pain from a work-related injury, questioned the city’s decision to consider regulating medical marijuana facilities.

“My only thought is why they didn’t do all this (regulating) before it was (voted) legal,” he said. Read more…

FROM WEB: The Legal but L…

FROM WEB: The Legal but Largely Unregulated World of Pot Merchants Thrives http://nyti.ms/aRkUU2 #mmot

Compelling Reasons for Cannabis Legalization

by doctork

It seems that the DEA and its prohibitionist allies are getting rather desperate in the face of strong and growing support for Cannabis Legalization, the support that is felt not only in California, but across the Nation ahead of the November Ballot Initiative that would Legalize, Control and Tax Cannabis in the State of California. Realizing that the people of this country are becoming way too informed to fall for the stale, washed-out “arguments” that Cannabis is “addictive”, that it “favors the criminal activity”, or that it is a “gateway drug”, the prohibitionists are now singing a new tune, and that is that “there are no good reasons” to Legalize this relatively harmless and widely used substance. “No good reasons…” Well, let’s see. The way I look at it, the California Initiative is not just about anyone’s individual right to “smoke weed”, it is about a fundamental personal liberty of an adult individual to use the less dangerous substance for recreational purposes, when those who “outlaw” it and would love to keep it illegal, use the more dangerous one themselves. I am referring to Cannabis and alcohol, to be certain. Even though the DEA and its allies may have a finely tuned machinery of repression to enforce this sad state of affairs, there is no moral authority on their part to do so. And as most of us know, repression and moral authority are two very different things. But let’s suppose that the simple absence of moral authority Read more…

Obama Prolongs Failed Drug War

Forty years. One trillion dollars. Hundreds of thousands of lives.

That’s the cost of the U.S. war on drugs. And the tab continues to rise.

Last week, President Barack Obama announced that he will send 1,200 National Guard troops to boost security along the U.S.-Mexico border. He also will request $500 million for border protection and law enforcement. That’s a lot of Benjamins for a failed policy.

Like President George W. Bush before him, Obama is sending in the troops to secure the border against illegal immigration. And, like Bush, he’s trying to steer cautiously through the election year minefield that is immigration reform.

He’s not likely to get comprehensive reform done this year. The troops are the backup plan. He has to show that he’s doing something about the problem. In 2006, Bush sent 6,000 National Guard troops to the border. He, too, wanted comprehensive immigration reform. But it was an election year.
Read more…

Lawmakers ask Treasury to let banks do business with medical marijuana dispensaries

Prince of Pot Marc Emery Extradited to US for selling marijuana seeds

Marc Emery was charged by the United States with a crime for selling marijuana seeds.

While he operates a legitimate business out of Canada, he was extradited to the U.S. on May 20 because it is illegal in the U.S. to buy or sell marijuana seeds.

This raises an interesting question that most outside of the medical marijuana community often don’t consider:  “Where do the marijuana plants for patients come from?”  There is an interesting assumption surrounding medical marijuana laws that, upon license with the state as a medical marijuana patient, one just needs to “start growing.”

But growing your own medicine (whether you do so as a patient, as a grower for other patients, or as a dispensary/producer) requires a seed to start that process.  One can clone an already existing plant – but even that plant must come from a seed at some point. Read more…

Our Voice: Drug raid shows the need to revise medical marijuana, forfeiture laws

Our Voice: Drug raid shows the need to revise medical marijuana, forfeiture laws
By The Saginaw News staff
May 23, 2010, 5:18AM

When U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents and the Saginaw County Sheriff’s Department raided Edwyn W. Boyke Jr.’s house on April 15, they confiscated a lot of his property under Michigan’s quarter-century-old drug forfeiture law.

But they left the Weed Wacker.

It must have been an oversight — that, or they don’t call marijuana “weed” anymore.

A car, a TV, two lawnmowers, a little pocket cash, scales, five jars of harvested marijuana, little seedlings and larger plants were taken — and Boyke’s state of Michigan medical marijuana card.

Boyke, who hadn’t been charged with a crime by late last week, is legally allowed under a law Michigan voters passed by a landslide in late 2008 to grow and use marijuana. In his case, to treat chronic pain.

But that law is full of holes.

Read more…

Lansing City Council regulating Michigan marijuana dispensaries

This is old news, but Lansing seems to have had some meaningful discussion on medical marijuana dispensaries.  Hopefully both cities worked independently and came to different conclusions.

It is a shame that so many cities are wasting millions on these constant council meetings and attorney proposals and all else.This is not a local issue. There was a statewide decision to legalize medical marijuana, and now all of a sudden drug enforcement is the one issue that no one can answer… after 50 years of paying for Tri-CountyNarcotics training, one issue that should not take two years to discuss is how to REGULATE .

This needs to be done… done to ensure the safety of the public, to generate tax dollars, and to provide the best quality medicines. Until there is something written or a sudden reversal and unjust crackdown, Michigan “dispensaries” and compassion clubs have no standards other than their own ethical codes to live up to.

I would also like to see something in these ordinances giving preference to Michigan residents. We should not be allowing those who have failed in California and Colorado to flood into our state. There are many showing up here every single day, preparing to take these business opportunities away from local men and women who have stuck with this state during it’s worst recession in history.

Kudos to the Lansing  city council for your forward thinking discussion on these issues. Read more…