Pubdate: Fri, 27 Feb 2004
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright: 2004 Detroit Free Press
Page: 2B
Contact:  http://www.freep.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/125
Author: Cecil Angel, Free Press Staff Writer
Cited: Detroit Coalition for Compassionate Care http://www.mmdetroit.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Detroit+Coalition+for+Compassionate+Care
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Tim+Beck
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

SIDES PREPARE FIGHT OVER MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

Detroit Voters Go to the Polls in August

With roughly six months to go before Detroit voters weigh in on a
ballot measure on whether to legalize the medical use of marijuana in
the city, the issue is picking up steam.

Supporters have raised $30,000 in campaign funds and that number is
steadily rising as donations pour in from across the country.

Some of the city's best-known names -- including U.S. Rep. Carolyn
Cheeks Kilpatrick, the mother of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, City
Councilwomen Maryanne Mahaffey and JoAnn Watson and U.S. Rep. John
Conyers -- have endorsed the proposal, according to the Web site for
the Detroit Coalition for Compassionate Care, which sponsored the initiative.

Even so, "we're not taking anything for granted," Tim Beck, chairman
of the group, said Thursday.

The proposal's staunchest opponent is the Partnership for a Drug-Free
Detroit, an anti-drug agency that focuses on education to prevent drug
abuse. The co-chair of the group is City Councilwoman Alberta
Tinsley-Talabi.

"It's not what this city needs. It's not what this country needs,"
Tinsley-Talabi said Thursday.

Today, members of the partnership and others are to meet in the
mayor's office to develop a strategy to defeat the initiative,
Tinsley-Talabi said.

If voters approve the measure at the polls in August, Detroit police
would not be able to arrest anyone with marijuana who has a doctor's
note saying there is a medical need for the drug.

The local ordinance would not prevent Wayne County Sheriff's
Department deputies, the Michigan State Police or federal agents from
arresting anyone with marijuana in Detroit, even if they have a
doctor's note.

"We need to get the message out that this is about sick people," Beck
said. "This is not about partying teenagers."

A key reason for legalizing marijuana for medical use, he said, is
that at least 200,000 people in Detroit don't have health insurance.
Medical marijuana is a cheap and effective alternative to expensive
pain medications, he said.

"We're not here to give drugs to kids," Beck said. "It's strictly
medical."

Next month, state Sen. Hansen Clarke is to introduce a bill to
legalize the medical use of marijuana, Beck said. Clarke aide Kim
Bowman said the senator is trying to get talk show host Montel
Williams to come to Michigan for the formal announcement of the bill.

Williams uses marijuana for treatment of multiple slerosis.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free Detroit plans to counter the efforts
of Beck and other supporters by campaigning on radio talk shows,
television, town hall meetings and other means to let the public know
the law change is too risky, Andre Johnson, program manager for the
Partnership for a Drug-Free Detroit said.

Studies show that communities that have enacted medical marijuana laws
have an increase in teens using the drug, he said.

"It's dangerous," Johnson said.

Jacqueline Sledge, 49, who works with a social services agency in
Detroit that works with teens, said she opposes the proposal.

"It's going to do everything but heal our children," Sledge said. "We
already have alcohol legal and look where that has gotten us."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake