State Rep. Jeff Irwin recently made Cannabis Business Executive's list of "100 Political Influencers in Cannabis." It's no surprise; Irwin has been the biggest cannabis supporter in our state legislature. Over the years, the Ann Arbor Democrat has introduced or supported various decriminalization or legalization bills in Lansing. And he's consistently spoken up about marijuana legalization at the annual Hash Bash. Irwin doesn't seem to care much one way or the other about being named as a political influencer on the subject. [continues 1177 words]
It looks like voting on recreational marijuana is nearly a done deal in Michigan for the 2016 elections, unless the state Legislature gets in on the act and passes a legalization bill even sooner. The Michigan Comprehensive Cannabis Law Reform Initiative Committee (MCCLRIC) has announced its intention to circulate petitions to put recreational legalization on the ballot next year. Another group, the Michigan Responsibility Council (MRC), has reportedly been preparing its own petition for a different system of legalization. And state Rep. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, has plans to reintroduce legalization legislation this session. [continues 836 words]
Marijuana decriminalization proposals are on the ballot in three south Oakland County communities on Nov. 4 and pro-pot organizers have yet to lose such an election. Election Day in Huntington Woods, Pleasant Ridge and Berkley will show whether the activists' winning streak will continue in Oakland County and elsewhere. "The poll numbers are somuch in our favor all we have to do is put the issue on the ballot," said Tim Beck, a retired health insurance executive and co-founder of the Safer Michigan Coalition, a statewide marijuana legalization group. "The closest election we've had was in Oak Park in August when we won (with) 53 percent. In Michigan, polls show 65 percent of people support decriminalization." [continues 471 words]
Michigan Moves Forward Well, we can chalk up another medical Cannabis Cup for the state of Michigan. Truth is, I was too busy to make it to Clio, although the Wyclef Jean show to cap it off would have been worth the trip on its own. At least I got to enjoy Lee DeVito's posts from the affair. I think he sent them in by carrier pigeon - an electronic pigeon. These kinds of things are the fulfillment of lots of strategic planning to make sure things go right. The last Cup, held in Detroit in 2011, was pretty good except for Detroit police felt the need to stroll through and show off a little muscle. That included shutting down the medicating area. [continues 1112 words]
Clerk's Office Will Verify Signatures in Next Several Weeks Marijuana activists turned in a petition Tuesday with 1,681 signatures to the Port Huron City Clerk Office to get a proposal to decriminalize marijuana on the Nov. 4 ballot. The ballot proposal was created and signatures were collected by The Coalition for a Safer Port Huron, a subgroup of the statewide Coalition for a Safer Michigan. The proposal aims to legalize the possession and use of less than one ounce of marijuana by anyone 21 or older. [continues 303 words]
A proposal to legalize possession of marijuana won't appear on November ballots in Grosse Pointe Park after all. Organizers of the effort learned Monday that city officials had found a technicality - an incorrect date of Feb. 27 instead of June 27 on one set of signatures -- that invalided their petition drive. "It's my fault - I put down a two rather than a six," said Tim Beck, 62, of Detroit, who helped organize petition drives in 16 other cities for marijuana questions headed for ballots this year. [continues 250 words]
Marijuana questions could pop up on ballots in at least 17 cities across Michigan this summer and fall. The questions aim to ease or eliminate local penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana, an approach that supporters call decriminalization. Last week, volunteers submitted stacks of signed petitions in Frankfort, Huntington Woods, Mt. Pleasant, Pleasant Ridge and Utica; in prior weeks, they did so in Berkley, Grosse Pointe Park, Harrison, Hazel Park, Lapeer, Montrose, Oak Park, Onaway and Saginaw, said leaders of the nonprofit Safer Michigan Coalition, which coordinated the petition drives around Michigan. [continues 1009 words]
Pot decriminalization advocates turned in petitions Tuesday to get the issue on the November ballot in Huntington Woods and Pleasant Ridge. "This is an issue about freedom and liberty," said Andrew Cissell, a candidate running in the Aug. 5 primary as a Democrat to be state representative for the 27th District. "We have done this in every city in the district." Cissell and volunteers last year got the decriminalization proposal on the ballot Ferndale, where it passed overwhelmingly. So far this year Cissell has also successfully submitted petitions to get the proposal on ballots in Oak Park, Hazel Park and Berkley. [continues 377 words]
Volunteers who've walked the streets of Berkley for the last month said Monday they plan to turn in about 700 signatures today aimed at putting yet another marijuana-legalization question before yet another city's voters. By the time the door-to-door campaigns end, similar questions likely will appear on ballots in nearly 20 communities around the state, from Utica to the U.P., said leaders of Safer Michigan, a Detroit-based nonprofit group coordinating the far-flung petition drives. [continues 383 words]
Pot at the Polls. Michiganders are gearing up for a lot of voting about marijuana over the next several months. In August, folks in Hazel Park and Oak Park will be voting on decriminalization of possession and transfer on private property of up to an ounce of the substance for those 21 and older. In Oak Park, the Safer Oak Park Coalition had to take it to court to force the city to put the question on the ballot, even though the Safer Michigan Coalition had successfully jumped through all the legal hoops to get it on. Oak Park officials tried to use an administrative maneuver to keep it off. They claimed that the ballot language had to be approved by Attorney General Bill Schuette's office. Schuette is no friend of marijuana decriminalization, and the AG stood mute on the language. Since the AG didn't speak, Oak Park officials said the question couldn't go on the ballot. The coalition sued, and an Oakland County Circuit Court ruled that the question must go on the ballot. [continues 1093 words]
An Oakland County Circuit Court judge has ordered that the city of Oak Park shall submit a marijuana legalization proposal to the county clerk's office to be put on the August ballot. The verdict came after the city and Safer Oak Park Coalition, which sued the city, came to an agreement to put the proposal on the ballot. The order was issued by Judge Rae Lee Chabot. The group filed a lawsuit recently demanding the city put their marijuana legalization proposal on the August ballot, but attorneys for Oak Park argued the city needs to get the ballot language approved by the state Attorney General's office before putting it on the August ballot. [continues 118 words]
After more than two hours of closed-door deliberations in the chamber of Judge Rae Lee Chabot at the Oakland County Circuit Court, the parties to the Oak Park marijuana ballot proposal case said the city officials will deliberate on the legal matter and decide the future of the ballot proposal on Monday. The Safer Oak Park Coalition filed a lawsuit last week demanding the city put their marijuana legalization proposal on the August ballot. Attorneys for Oak Park argued the city needs to get the ballot language approved by the state's Attorney General's office before putting it on the August ballot. [continues 121 words]
Several marijuana decriminalization activists turned in the required number of signatures to put their proposal on the August ballot in the cities of Oak Park and Hazel Park on Tuesday. Andrew Cissell, a 26-year-old Oak Park resident who is also running for the Michigan House from the 27th District, led a group of activists to submit about 1,600 signatures to the city of Oak Park and over one hundred to the city of Hazel Park. "We are fighting for freedom. We are fighting for the ability to possess small amounts of marijuana for adults on their private property," Cissell said. "It's pretty simple. It's pretty straightforward." [continues 183 words]
ONAWAY - A petition drive to ask Onaway voters to change city ordinances to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana for adults is under way. The Committee to Reform Onaway is seeking signatures to put a question on the November ballot. It would ask voters to amend city ordinances to state "nothing in the Code of Ordinances shall apply" to the use, possesion or transfer of less than one ounce of marijuana on private property, or transportation of the same amount, by anyone 21 or older. In a release, committee Treasurer Ron Langworthy said the drive is about rolling back intrusive drug laws that can ruin a person's future. [continues 469 words]
An Oak Park man who gathered enough signatures to get marijuana decriminalization on the ballot in Ferndale, where voters approved the proposal last year, was sentenced to probation Tuesday for violating election law. Andrew Cissell, 26, was found guilty of a misdemeanor for using a false address on the petitions he turned in to the Ferndale city clerk to get the proposal on last November's ballot. Cissell still faces trial next month before Oakland County Circuit Judge Rudy Nichols on several counts of illegal delivery and manufacture of marijuana. [continues 346 words]
ANN ARBOR - Smoke hung over the crowd as thousands of people attended an annual pro-marijuana rally at the University of Michigan. The event's emcee, Adam Brook, asked, "How many of you have weed?" Thousands raised arms Saturday at the 43rd Hash Bash. Campus police allow the rally on free speech grounds, but officers watch for any open drug dealing. Ashley Nolan of West Branch held a sign that said, "Weed is safer than peanuts." Tim Beck told the crowd he wants to see ballot proposals to reduce the penalties for marijuana in a dozen Michigan communities this year. He wants to "create chaos" at the local level to make changes statewide. Haley Marsden of Allen Park says alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than pot. [end]
12 Ballot Bids Urge Relief for Casual Users Cannabis reform activists say they plan to put ballot proposals to decriminalize casual marijuana use before voters in at least 11 additional Michigan cities and one county in this year's primary or general elections. "The state of Michigan is ripe for change," said Tim Beck of Detroit, co-founder of the Safer Michigan Coalition that provided funding as well as legal and consulting services for seven of eight successful marijuana initiatives across the state since 2011. [continues 321 words]
Marijuana proponents are gearing up to get pot decriminalization proposals on ballots in about a dozen cities statewide this year, including one in Macomb County. The effort comes after the Safer Michigan Coalition successfully passed similar proposals last year in Ferndale, Jackson and Lansing. "Our goal is to create confusion and chaos between state and local laws so our legislators in Lansing with step up to the plate and do the will of the people," said Tim Beck, co-founder of Safer Michigan. "Ultimately there needs to be marijuana legalization like they have in Colorado, where it is legal and regulated." [continues 535 words]
Marijuana proponents are gearing up to get pot decriminalization proposals on ballots in about a dozen cities statewide this year, including one in Macomb County. The effort comes after the Safer Michigan Coalition successfully passed similar proposals last year in Ferndale, Jackson and Lansing. "Our goal is to create confusion and chaos between state and local laws so our legislators in Lansing with step up to the plate and do the will of the people," said Tim Beck, co-founder of Safer Michigan. "Ultimately there needs to be marijuana legalization like they have in Colorado, where it is legal and regulated." [continues 541 words]
Marijuana proponents are gearing up to get pot decriminalization proposals on ballots in about a dozen cities statewide this year, including Hazel Park and Oak Park in Oakland County. The effort comes after the Safer Michigan Coalition successfully passed similar proposals last year in Ferndale, Jackson and Lansing. "Our goal is to create confusion and chaos between state and local laws so our legislators in Lansing with step up to the plate and do the will of the people," said Tim Beck, co-founder of Safer Michigan. "Ultimately there needs to be marijuana legalization like they have in Colorado, where it is legal and regulated." [continues 493 words]
