Despite voters approving medical marijuana use more than three years ago, communities throughout Michigan continue to extend moratoriums allowing activities associated with the drug. The most recent moratorium extension in the Huron Valley was OK'd by Highland Township officials Feb. 8 - and this time they are stretching it for a year. What was set to expire this March in Highland will now run through March 6, 2013, which officials say will provide enough time for directives from state lawmakers to assist the township in setting its own rules. [continues 443 words]
On Jan. 6 a 20-year-old man was pronounced dead by emergency response personnel after a friend found him blue and face down on the floor in the Lodge Keeper Motel in Chesterfield. The witness said hours prior to him waking up to his friend being dead the two had been using heroin they bought in Detroit, according to a Chesterfield Township police report. Only days after this overdose, 21-year-old Chesterfield Township resident Joshua Chilcot was taken into custody and charged with break-ins Jan. 11 at the Country Inn and Jan. 9 at Premier Lanes. [continues 935 words]
Marijuana use among youth has risen nationally for the fourth straight year, according to the "Monitoring the Future" survey, conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the University of Michigan. The report, which was released last month in Washington, D.C., is considered one of the leading indicators of trends in substance use among the nation's teens. Specifically, the survey found that daily marijuana use is at a 30-year high among high school seniors, with 6.6 percent using pot daily. The report, which surveyed 47,000 teens in grades eight, 10 and 12, also found that as usage rates increase, perceived risk is in decline. [continues 636 words]
A Livingston County judge will consider the prosecutor's request to stop four people from using the medical marijuana law as a defense in their criminal case. According to court documents, the prosecutor's office wants Judge Michael Hatty to preclude the four defendants charged in connection to raids on the now-defunct Marshall Alternatives medical marijuana dispensary from using the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act as a defense. The prosecutor's office also want to preclude "all references" to medical marijuana during the trial. [continues 176 words]
A graduate student from the criminal justice program will be conducting a random survey on Northern Michigan University students' perception towards medical marijuana. The questionnaire is part of Guy LaPlante's master's level research project. It will be distributed to 600 NMU student email addresses using the university surveying software called Qualtrics. All individuals will remain anonymous. "The results will be used for the student's thesis and will report only summary data," said Dale Kapla, head of the criminal justice program. "No individual identifiers and no one who completed the survey will or can be identified." [continues 168 words]
CALUMET - There will be no ordinance covering the dispensing of medical marijuana in the village of Calumet, at least for now, after discussion on the issue Tuesday by the village Board of Trustees. Trustee and ordinance committee member Dave Geisler told the other members the committee examined the current state law and two draft ordinances supplied to them and determined the state law was adequate to cover any situations which may present themselves in the village. Geisler said the committee in discussing the issue considered the possible actions of caregivers and patients, and the possibility of a business created to cater to needs of those people. [continues 461 words]
After Court of Appeals Loss, City Tries Again to Keep the Question From Voters Marijuana is a political football in any Michigan municipality, but in Detroit the ball is getting more slippery of late. Take the Court of Appeals decision on the Coalition for a Safer Detroit (CSD) vs. the Detroit Election Commission case a couple of weeks ago. A three-judge panel ruled two-to-one in favor of CSD. That means the city Election Commission has to put the question of legalizing possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana on private property for adults in Detroit on the ballot of the next regularly scheduled election. If successful, this initiative would essentially legalize individual marijuana use in Detroit - although I'm guessing opponents will find some convoluted way of squirming around implementing it if it's passed. [continues 1127 words]
BURTON, Michigan -- By a 4-to-3 vote, City Council members have approved a new six-month moratorium on medical marijuana distribution facilities, including dispensaries, while it awaits the outcome of an Isabella County case. Council members Ellen Ellenburg, Vaughn Smith, Dennis O'Keefe and Tom Martinbianco approved the measure, while Danny Wells, Duane Haskins and Steve Heffner voted against the move to bar new distribution facilities. The Isabella County case involved a Mt. Pleasant dispensary found to be a public nuisance based on the state's health code. Burton currently has four medical marijuana dispensaries that will continue to operate despite the approval of the new moratorium. [end]
State Rep. John Walsh said Wednesday the House Judiciary Committee will begin a series of hearings Thursday, Feb. 23, on a four-bill package to clarify the 2008 law addressing medical marijuana. "The intent of the voters was not to allow the back-door legalization of marijuana when this issue was on the ballot, and our intent is to close loopholes in the law," said Walsh, R-Livonia, chair of the committee. The Feb. 23 hearing will include a presentation by the bipartisan work group on medical marijuana headed by Reps. Ken Horn, R-Frankenmuth, and Phil Cavanagh, D-Redford Township. Walsh empaneled the group during the summer and the work group has been meeting with interested parties for months to address the proposed changes. [continues 153 words]
Imprisoned last year following a drug raid at his Royal Oak house, Hash Bash organizer and medical marijuana proponent Adam Brook has a growing base of supporters trying to make his time behind bars more comfortable. Brook, 43, is four months into a two-year sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of possessing a firearm while committing a felony. He suffers from lymphedema, an incurable condition that causes the legs and arms to swell and is often brought by on cancer treatment. Brook had thyroid cancer. [continues 750 words]
Michigan's Attonery General Bill Schuette, the main opponent of medical marijuana dispensaries, has made closing dispensaries one of his main concerns. Because of this move, commercial vacancy went from 16 percent to 26 percent in mid-Michigan during a Michigan recession. Sixty-three percent of the voting public, whom he's trying to save from themselves by edict (no vote), a dogma-Spanish Inquisition thing, voted for medical marijuana. The AG sent staff across the state to advise authorities about how to crack down in their communities; how thoughtful. He's threatened law enforcement to buckle down on dispensaries because some prosecutors have taken a hands-off approach, not a priority, too costly. [continues 78 words]
The Village of Oxford council unanimously voted to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in the village. "The council's vote and decision was that it's not necessary to have these dispensaries operating in Oxford," said Thomas Benner, council president for the Village of Oxford. "If the dispensaries were to operate in the village they would create a big headache for our local law enforcement." The village council president also stated that the issue of dispensaries is one for those in higher government, not local. [continues 109 words]
Budget issues were a main topic of discussion during the Kalkaska Village Council regular meeting Monday. Regarding a millage proposal for the Kalkaska Village Police Department, Village Council President Jeff Sieting warned that, if the Police Committee's proposal for the November ballot were not to pass, the situation would be "bleak." There is a large misconception regarding how many patrollers are out in the community, Sieting said. "The public needs to know what will happen if it doesn't pass," Village Trustee Katina Banko said. [continues 311 words]
A Chesterfield Township medical marijuana dispensary performed a legal end-around state Attorney General Bill Schuette on Monday by converting a civil complaint to criminal and avoiding the facility's shutdown. Judge John Foster agreed with an attorney for Big Daddy's Hydroponics and Compassion Center that Schuette improperly attempted to have the judge find the facility in civil contempt and potentially shut it down and/or jail the owners. Because the claim sought punitive, not coercive, action, the case should be treated as criminal contempt, Corbett O'Meara successfully argued. [continues 510 words]
Mount Clemens- A medical marijuana dispensary in Chesterfield Township can stay in business after a judge delayed the trial that would decide if it has violated zoning laws. Macomb Circuit Judge John Foster also delayed a show-cause hearing to determine if the owners of Big Daddy's Management Group violated his order that lets the business stay open but limits medical marijuana sales. The zoning violation trial was set to begin today, but Foster rescheduled it for Feb. 28 to give attorneys more time to prepare. [continues 163 words]
Legalizing marijuana in Michigan would help the state economy and citizens. A group of Michigan citizens hope to accomplish this by gathering enough signatures to put a marijuana legalization initiative on the 2012 voting ballot. When a product that consumers want in large quantities is made illegal, the product will be sold in black markets regardless of legality. Whether or not the product is harmful, the product will go untaxed by the government, resulting in the loss of potential tax revenue. Marijuana is no different. [continues 333 words]
Detroiters could vote as soon as August to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, following a Michigan Court of Appeals ruling Friday that found the city's election commission acted improperly when it blocked the vote in 2010. A 2-1 majority of the appeals court panel said the Detroit Election Commission did not have the authority to thwart the proposal by Coalition for a Safer Detroit, which had collected sufficient petition signatures to force a vote. The commission's decision was backed by Wayne County Circuit Court. [continues 846 words]
Court: Should Have Been Considered by Detroit Voters in '10 DETROIT (AP) - A state appeals court said Friday that Detroit officials and a judge in 2010 illegally blocked voters from considering whether to ease penalties for marijuana possession, a ruling that could pave the way for the measure getting on the ballot this year. In a 2-1 decision, the court said the city clerk had a "clear legal duty" to put the question on the ballot, even if officials believed the proposed ordinance would conflict with state law. Advocates had submitted enough petition signatures. [continues 176 words]
A petition drive aimed at giving voters in the City of Detroit voters the option of decriminalizing the possession of marijuana was improperly barred from the ballot in 2010, the state Court of Appeals said in a decision released this morning. The appeals court reversed the ruling of a Wayne County judge, who let stand a decision by the Detroit Elections Commission to keep the issue off the ballot because they believed the proposal conflicts with state drug law. A 2-1 majority of the appeals panel said city officials did not have the authority to make that determination. [continues 192 words]
Inside Michigan
