Pubdate: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 Source: Daily Tribune, The (Royal Oak, MI) Copyright: 2005 The Daily Tribune Contact: http://www.dailytribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1579 Author: Michael P. McConnell, Daily Tribune Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) CITY TAKES NO ACTION TO BLUNT LEGAL POT PLAN FERNDALE -- City Council has refused to pass a measure opposing a ballot proposal to legalize marijuana for medical use. Councilman Mike Lennon -- who is against Proposal D -- asked his fellow elected officials to join him in a resolution against the ballot proposal but failed to gain any support. "The bottom line is that marijuana is illegal at this time," Lennon said, "and I don't know if Ferndale is the place to start (to legalize it). Maybe the state is." Councilman Craig Covey, who supports city Proposal D, said Lennon should have brought the issue up during the regular agenda of Monday's City Council meeting rather than introduce it at the end when officials make comments. "Friends can disagree," Covey said. Mayor Robert Porter has said a city ordinance to allow the use of marijuana under a physician's direction still doesn't address the illegality of the drug -- and of obtaining it. However, Porter, Covey and Councilman T. Scott Galloway have said they believe the marijuana proposal will probably pass. Galloway and Porter have not taken a stand on the issue. A similar proposal was approved in Detroit by 60 percent of voters last year. Donal O'Leary III, 19, is a Ferndale resident and University of Michigan student who submitted the petitions to get the marijuana proposal on Ferndale's ballot for the Nov. 8 election. O'Leary is working with Tim Beck who organized the successful ballot in Detroit. O'Leary attended Monday's council meeting with two residents who spoke in favor of the proposal. Peggy Thorp told city officials that her adult son used marijuana with good results when he had to undergo chemotherapy three years ago for leukemia. The marijuana stimulated his appetite and took some of the edge off side effects of his chemo treatment, she added. "It was a definite help for him," Thorp said. Proposal D is drawing opposition from Ferndale Police Chief Michael Kitchen and Oakland County Prosecutor's Office. Kitchen and Deputy Prosecutor James Halushka both note that marijuana is considered a dangerous drug by the American Medical Association and other health-care groups. Pro-marijuana endorsements come from former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders and television talk show host Montel Williams, who has pushed for legalization since he began to use marijuana as an adjunct to his treatment for multiple sclerosis. Medical groups that support legalizing marijuana for medical use include the New England Journal of Medicine and the American Nurses Association. The resolution that Lennon tried to introduce Monday was modeled on a resolution the Michigan House of Representatives passed, 96-7, last year against the medical use of marijuana without federal drug approval. Lennon also said marijuana is a gateway drug and that teens who smoke it are 85 times more likely to use cocaine. While 10 states have laws allowing the medical use of marijuana, federal law prohibits the sale and use of marijuana. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that federal law enforcement officers are not precluded from arresting marijuana users and sellers in states where the medical use of marijuana is allowed.