Pubdate: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 Source: Michigan Daily (U of MI, Edu) Copyright: 2013 The Michigan Daily Contact: http://www.michigandaily.com/letters/ Website: http://www.michigandaily.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/582 Author: Maura Levine Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?275 (Cannabis - Michigan) WEEDING THROUGH THE LAWS The University is well known not only as a great school, but also for being in the quintessential college town of Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor is world-renowned for being a liberal hotbed of art, music and youth activity. It's also renowned for its unique and progressive local laws regarding the use, possession and distribution of marijuana. Students proclaim, usually in a haughty, above-the-law manner, that they can light up a joint on the streets and receive consequences no harsher than a parking ticket -- but this isn't quite accurate. University students should be more careful in their use of marijuana in public and understand that law enforcement has legal loopholes that allow them to get students in trouble. In 1969, the Detroit poet John Sinclair was imprisoned for giving marijuana to undercover police. Citizens organized a freedom rally in Ann Arbor -- attended by John Lennon and Stevie Wonder at Crisler Arena -- to boycott Sinclair's imprisonment. Three days later, the state's Supreme Court voted Michigan's marijuana laws unconstitutional and ordered Sinclair's release. A year later, the Ann Arbor government essentially voted to decriminalize marijuana. The city's charter it states that violations of possession, use or control of marijuana will result in no more than a civil infraction, which is a non-criminal violation. This is similar to receiving a parking ticket. In the city of Ann Arbor, a $25 fine is all you might receive for smoking marijuana in public. But here's the catch. The University does not operate under the charter of the city of Ann Arbor. As a public university, the University's land belongs to the state of Michigan, meaning students are subject to state laws and campus police enforcement if they are caught smoking on campus property. Many people celebrate Hash Bash in the Diag in the spring, thinking they will get nothing more than a simple citation. But last year alone, campus police made 16 arrests for possession of marijuana on the holiday. In other words, if you're going to smoke in Ann Arbor, make sure you're not on campus property. Actually, make sure you're nowhere in public if you choose to smoke marijuana. What so many students fail to realize is that the unique decriminalized marijuana laws in the city of Ann Arbor conflict with federal law. The distribution and possession of marijuana is still federally illegal and is prosecuted similarly in some regards to other drugs such as heroin, LSD and ecstasy. There's no "accepted medicinal use," in federal laws, either, meaning the medical marijuana card you may possess means nothing to a federal officer. In the eyes of the U.S. government, marijuana is still illegal. Federal agents can (and will) still arrest you for the use, distribution or possession of marijuana and charge you criminally -- whether or not you are in the city of Ann Arbor. The only force who will honor the city ordinance is the Ann Arbor Police Department. Contrary to common misconceptions, even if you are in the city of Ann Arbor and you possess a Michigan-issued medical marijuana card, you're still not invincible. Even medicinal marijuana is limited in Michigan. You can only have 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana or 12 plants at one time. Furthermore, in an opinion by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2004 during the Gonzales v. Raich case, it was determined that the commerce clause allows the federal government to prohibit "local cultivation and use of marijuana, despite state law to the contrary." The Court decided that the marijuana market was national in scope and thus fell under Congress' jurisdiction. In other words, federal agents can always get you in trouble, no matter what city you are in or what kind of a medical card you possess. Students need to understand the contradictory laws and jurisdiction issues if they so choose to use marijuana in Ann Arbor. We are lucky to live in such an accepting city with progressive laws, but we are still citizens of the United States. So before you light up in public, understand your rights and your legal limitations. The federal government holds final power in the area of marijuana, and they will exercise that right, despite the unnecessary target of harmless students. The law is the law and when you choose to break it, you choose to subject yourself to the consequences -- student or not.