Pubdate: Wed, 15 Oct 2008
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright: 2008 Detroit Free Press
Contact:  http://www.freep.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/125
Author: Dawson Bell, Free Press Staff Writer
Cited: Proposal 1 http://stoparrestingpatients.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+Coalition+for+Compassionate+Care

TOP ANTIDRUG OFFICIALS JOIN PUSH TO BLOCK MEDICAL MARIJUANA

LANSING -- A team of top national antidrug officials joined the 
late-starting campaign to defeat Michigan's medical marijuana 
initiative Tuesday, telling reporters Proposal 1 is a dangerous drug 
legalization scheme that will lead to more addiction and despair.

John Walters, a Michigan native who heads the White House Office of 
National Drug Control Policy, said marijuana has no legitimate 
medical use. Medical marijuana laws simply "make it easier for 
addicts to stay addicted," he said.

Walters is scheduled for a joint appearance today in Southfield with 
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, Prosecutor David Gorcyca and 
other representatives of the anti-Proposal 1 campaign. The group 
Citizens Protecting Michigan's Kids was formed late last month by law 
enforcement and medical organizations that argue that legalizing 
medical marijuana will make it harder to control cultivation, 
distribution and sale of the drug.

The group's cochairman Bill Schuette, a state appellate judge, said 
passage of Proposal 1 could lead to the proliferation of storefront 
marijuana dispensaries like those in California.

Backers of the proposal say that legalizing marijuana possession and 
use of it to treat pain in patients with serious illness is compassionate.

Michigan's proposed law, placed on the ballot by a petition drive 
funded by a national pro-legalization group, is unlike the California 
law and prohibits marijuana dispensaries, according to the 
pro-Proposal 1 group Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake