LANSING, MI - Alcohol-related crashes may be down in Michigan, but there is another equally serious threat to contend with on the road: drugs. Though alcohol-related crashes have dropped 25 percent from 2006 to 2011, drug-related accidents in the state are up 22 percent , according to an MLive Media Group analysis. Traffic fatalities involving drugs were up 30 percent over a five-year period before dipping by almost 17 percent, or 26 deaths, last year. Authorities say they may only be scratching the surface in identifying the extent of the "drugged driving" problem - one that is harder to detect because there is no equivalent roadside breath test for cocaine, morphine, Zanax and the like. [continues 803 words]
LANSING, MI - The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to consider if the state's medical marijuana law lets patients and caregivers store and grow marijuana together. In their order released Friday, justices set oral arguments to decide if it should grant an appeal from a Grand Rapids man busted in 2010 for growing too many marijuana plants. Ryan Michael Bylsma's case likely will be heard in October, the second medical marijuana case to be considered by the high court that month. The other deals with whether the 2008 voter-approved law permits patient-to-patient sales of marijuana. [continues 168 words]
If You Voted Again, Would the Results Be Any Different? Sen. Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge) is thinking the answer is a resounding yes and if he is right, you can say adios to Michigan's Medical Marijuana law approved by over 60 percent of the voters when it was on the ballot. Since that overwhelming yes vote, the law has been battered and bruised. First the local prosecutors had a field day, replicating the good ole days of Elliot Ness when he swash-buckled his way into every illegal speak-easy in the Midwest. [continues 283 words]
Regarding Brian Hosticka's Aug. 4 op-ed (Want to empty the jail? Change how we handle drug offenses), the drug war is largely a war on marijuana smokers. In 2010, there were 853,839 marijuana arrests in the United States, almost 90 percent for simple possession. At a time when state and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and teachers, this country continues to spend public resources criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis. The end result of this ongoing culture war is not lower rates of use. [continues 87 words]
I'm a criminal defense attorney. My practice includes court-appointed work for the many indigent of Muskegon County. I recently attended a meeting of the Muskegon County Board. On the agenda was funding for Muskegon County public defense. Several of my colleagues spoke to the board about high case loads and low pay. When they finished, one of the board members looked our way and asked how we could complain about pay when we can't seem to do much about chronic jail overcrowding in Muskegon County. [continues 966 words]
The recent decision of Muskegon Circuit Court Judge James Graves to shut down yet another medical marijuana safe access point in Muskegon County has frightened patients. ("Judge makes closure of medical-marijuana dispensary in Norton Shores permanent," Nov. 18.) With only one of these safe access points left in Muskegon County, patients now fear having to go to black market dealers to acquire their medicine, at least until their own plants will provide them with their medicine of choice. I don't agree with this. When a case like this goes into court, the ruling is not supposed to be based on opinion, but the actual written law itself. It is the court's job to interpret the actual language contained in a statute. Yes, the law says that a caregiver can only possess 2.5 ounces of marijuana for up to five patients that he or she is connected to through the registration process, and that a caregiver may only grow up to 12 plants for each patient. But, Section 4(e) of the law states that a caregiver may receive compensation for costs associated with assisting a qualified registered patient, and that any such compensation shall not constitute the "sale" of marijuana. [continues 382 words]
There's no other way to describe it, Michigan is schizophrenic about marijuana. Voters clearly want marijuana available for medical use, but local officials, politicians, law enforcement agencies and many in the medical community appear to be uncomfortable with the new law. And there's no shortage of reasons why, starting with loopholes in the law that some critics say essentially legalize the drug. For three years, officials and marijuana supporters have been debating how to implement the law with marijuana dispensaries or clubs sprouting in our communities while officials use moratoriums and develop zoning ordinances to ban them. Many communities, including Muskegon Township, are in court to stop dispensaries from operating. And the state Supreme Court will hear two cases on the issue this fall. [continues 552 words]
Michigan's medical-marijuana law has created a pipe-full of legal confusion. The vaguely worded law has led to a contradictory tangle of local ordinances, law-enforcement policies and lawsuits in response to a statewide explosion of marijuana dispensaries, "compassion clubs" and home-grow operations. Just recently, the picture has been changing fast. The last few weeks have seen a push at the state level for much tighter restrictions, backed by Attorney General Bill Schuette among others. And now, a new federal policy statement has thrown Michigan's entire medical-marijuana law into question. Already that bombshell is having an impact on local governments. [continues 1611 words]
NORTON SHORES -- After living 40 years as an outlaw, Paul Miller has cultivated his own medical enterprise tucked among pharmacies, cardiologists and ophthalmologists clustered around Mercy Hospital. The medication he provides goes by such names as God Bud, Train Wreck and Silver Diesel. According to the state of Michigan, he is a certified caregiver and is, for all intents and purposes, a medical provider. Less than a year ago, the marijuana he grew was considered illegal -- not that that concerned Miller too much. He sometimes doesn't wear motorcycle helmets either. [continues 715 words]
I'm writing about Robert Sharpe's thoughtful July 3 letter, "Marijuana laws have failed as a deterrent." I'd like to add that not only do our marijuana laws fail to act as a deterrent, our marijuana laws substantially increase the desire for marijuana -- especially for young people. The lure of the forbidden fruit is very powerful. Why else do Americans use marijuana at twice the per capita rate of the Netherlands? In the Netherlands cannabis has been quasi legal for several decades. See the web site: www.drugwarfacts.org/thenethe.htm Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. [end]
Regarding your June 21 editorial on Michigan's medical marijuana law, if health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Like any drug, marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best. White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda. [continues 122 words]
We live in a representative democracy. That means we elect people to make decisions on our behalf. But some state constitutions, like Michigan's, give the people the opportunity to have the final word through ballot referendums. That happened here in 2008, when Michigan voters overwhelmingly decided to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes. The total "yes" vote was over 60 percent. It wasn't even close. But somewhere along the way, our elected representatives have forgotten the meaning of the phrase "the people have spoken." They're attacking the law at the local, state and federal levels, threatening to delete the will of the majority. [continues 698 words]
What's shaping up to be an extensive court battle between Muskegon Township and the Greater Michigan Compassion Club should never have happened. State lawmakers should have acted before now to tighten up the state's three-year-old medical marijuana law and saved the taxpayers a lot of money in attorney and court fees. It's been clear since the voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative to legalize the use of medical marijuana (63 percent supported it statewide, 67 percent in Muskegon County), that the law needed reworking to clear up some discrepancies - particularly with the distribution system, but also with patient identification and even how and where those licensed to grow marijuana should get their seeds. [continues 393 words]
MUSKEGON TOWNSHIP -- Muskegon Township has filed a lawsuit seeking to permanently shut down a busy medical-marijuana club two blocks from township hall. The township alleges that the Greater Michigan Compassion Club is a tax-evading "sham" nonprofit that exists mainly to broker marijuana sales, most of it to people with no debilitating medical condition, in order to financially support the club's directors and staff. As such, the township claims, the club is really a profit-making "marijuana distribution business," in the words of township Supervisor David A. Kieft Jr. [continues 622 words]
What does Michigan's medical-marijuana law mean? Beyond the fire-code and business-license issues, Muskegon Township and the Greater Michigan Compassion Club have a core dispute over what Michigan's medical-marijuana law allows, and what voters intended when they approved it in a 2008 ballot initiative. Township's view The township points to the law's provisions that a "registered caregiver" may "assist" no more than five qualifying patients with the medical use of marijuana. For each patient, the caregiver is allowed to cultivate up to 12 marijuana plants, for a maximum of 60 plants per caregiver (or 72 if the caregiver is also a patient). [continues 417 words]
Regarding Drue Berry's not-so-thoughtful June 7 letter: "Arguments for legalizing pot are weak." There was no mention by Berry as to why s/he wants to keep marijuana completely unregulated, untaxed and controlled by criminals. As for her/his argument that perhaps we should legalize murder, in a murder there is an unwilling victim. In a marijuana transaction, both buyer and seller walk away happy. Thus no victim. Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. [end]
Recently, I have been studying the complex issue of marijuana and those who propose its full legalization. Its a very interesting subject, and it tends to take a rather Labyrinth-like road. However, those who propose marijuana legalization basically rely on two simple arguments. And when you examine these basic arguments, you find that the case for full legalization is weak indeed. The first argument runs something like this: "If we were to fully legalize marijuana, there would be fewer arrests, and thus, a lot of strain would be lifted from the judicial system." This argument makes no sense. Should we legalize murder because then there would be less arrests? Just because legalization would lessen the load on our law enforcement doesn't mean that its the right thing to do. [continues 157 words]
A medical marijuana ordinance that would outlaw commercial dispensaries in Egelston Township and place restrictions on "caregivers" who grow the drug and patients who use it will be considered by the township board Monday. The ordinance mirrors one already approved by Laketon Township, said David Bossenbroek, attorney for both townships. "We're trying to get away from the mischief that can happen with illegal use of marijuana," Bossenbroek said. The township's planning commission is recommending a "police powers" ordinance governing actions of licensed caregivers who are allowed to grow medical marijuana as well as actions of their patients. In addition, the planning commission is recommending an amendment to the township zoning ordinance after a public hearing April 5 brought no public comments. The amendment outlaws commercial medical marijuana dispensaries in the township. [continues 463 words]
MUSKEGON TOWNSHIP - Advocates and opponents of a medical marijuana club did, as advertised, "flood" a Muskegon Township Board meeting - but the tide went out quickly. More than 60 people showed up at Monday night's light-agenda meeting, far above the average for the township. Most apparently were there for the marijuana issue, and most of those, judging by crowd comments, were in favor of letting the Greater Michigan Compassion Club continue its operations at 2116 E. Apple Ave., less than two blocks from Township Hall. [continues 421 words]
MUSKEGON - Few believe that the Muskegon City Commission's final votes later this month on medical marijuana zoning and regulations will be the last time commissioners address the issue. Commissioners voted 6-1 this week to approve a zone change to put medical marijuana businesses in heavy industrial zones and to regulate the businesses through licensing the locations. The lack of a unanimous vote means the zoning and business regulation ordinance changes will be subject to a second and final vote at the commission's March 22 meeting. [continues 948 words]
