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Will Marijuana Be OK in Detroit?
Posted by CN Staff on June 17, 2010 at 04:34:29 PT
By Naomi Patton, Free Press Staff Writer
Source: Detroit Free Press
Michigan -- Detroiters are one step away from a November vote on whether to allow possession of small amounts of marijuana.The Detroit City Council's Internal Operations Committee declined Wednesday to vote on amending a city ordinance that would allow anyone 21 and older to legally possess less than 1 ounce of marijuana on private property. The issue is now headed to the Detroit Election Commission for approval of the ballot language.
Advocated by the Coalition for a Safer Detroit -- the group that successfully got medical marijuana placed on the ballot in 2004, which passed -- the ordinance would amend Chapter 38 of the city code regulating controlled substances.Tim Beck, a registered medical marijuana user who filed the petitions, says the amended ordinance would "free up the Police Department to pursue crimes with actual victims."In 2009, Beck said, there were 1,500 arrests for misdemeanor marijuana possession in Detroit.Detroit police spokesman John Roach said the department's legal staff is still researching the impact of legalized recreational marijuana.The City of Denver and the State of Alaska have similar laws. Legislation in Seattle and California has been proposed.Dennis Mazurek, assistant corporation counsel with the city's Law Department, told the council's Internal Operations Committee that the ordinance amendment violates state law, specifically, the Michigan Public Health Code, and cannot be enacted. The state allows only registered medical marijuana use.According to the City Clerk's Office, the coalition submitted 5,750 signatures in May; 3,895 were required and 4,598 were validated.The City Charter allows voters to enact a city ordinance, or initiative, like this one by petition.Under the charter, the City Council is required to act within 30 days or pass on the initiative, which the council's Internal Operations Committee did Wednesday by not voting on it.The initiative will now be reviewed by the Detroit Election Commission, which must approve the petition for the November ballot.Beck is confident voters will pass the ordinance, as they passed the medical marijuana ordinance in 2004."It's going to win," he said. "I have no doubt about that."Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)Author:   Naomi Patton, Free Press Staff WriterPublished: June 17, 2010Copyright: 2010 Detroit Free PressWebsite: http://www.freep.com/Contact: letters freepress.comURL: http://drugsense.org/url/qkHNHMwBCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #5 posted by afterburner on June 17, 2010 at 18:02:02 PT
Michigan, Then & Now 
History:Cannabis laws in Ann Arbor, Michigan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_laws_in_Ann_Arbor,_Michigan
Excerpt: {
On April 2, 1974, voters in Ann Arbor overruled the [city] council's decision [ [to] repeal ... a bill that ... reduce[d] city penalties for possession of less than two ounces of marijuana to a $5 civil-infraction ticket] by amending the city charter with the famous Section 16.2, which, in somewhat altered form, remains in effect today. The charter section reinstated the $5 civil-infraction penalty for possession, use, giving away, or selling of marijuana and prohibited city police from enforcing the more stringent state laws.
}The LEOs continued to charge students of University of Michigan under Michagan state law due to federal funding of the U of M.History:Medical Marijuana: Flint Becomes Fifth Michigan City to Okay It. 
from Drug War Chronicle, Issue #475, 3/1/07.
1 Mar 2007. 
{
Voters in Flint, Michigan, voted to okay the use of medical marijuana by a margin of 62% to 38% Tuesday. Flint becomes the fifth Michigan city to approve such a measure, and while medical marijuana remains illegal under both state and federal law, the Flint vote should only add to momentum to take the issue statewide. ... Flint now joins Detroit, Ann Arbor, Ferndale and Traverse City as Michigan cities where voters have approved the use of medical marijuana.
}
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/475/flint_michigan_approves_medical_marijuanaMichigan state then joined 13 other medical cannabis states due to our successful state initiative.Now, Detroit is poised to begin the same step-by-step process that legalized medical marijuana at the state level by legalizing possession of less than 1 ounce of cannabis. Thank you, Coalition for a Safer Detroit. Michigan LEOs will point out that cannabis remains illegal at state and federal levels until more Michigan cities follow Detroit's example, leading to a statewide legalization initiative. 
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Comment #4 posted by greenmed on June 17, 2010 at 11:12:51 PT
bad link in #1
This works better:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127754799
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Comment #3 posted by observer on June 17, 2010 at 10:57:37 PT
OK Everywhere
re: "Will Marijuana Be OK in Detroit?"Things, actions are not "OK" because some politician gives a thumbs up; nor are they wrong simply because a politician gives them a thumbs down. The correctness of smoking pot in Detroit, like one's other "rights", does not flow from government. Using cannabis in Detroit, as elsewhere, is your birthright. It was before the USA and its anti-cannabis laws, and it will be after the USA exists, along with its precious (precious to corrupted government, that is) anti-cannabis laws. 
http://drugnewsbot.org
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Comment #2 posted by Storm Crow on June 17, 2010 at 10:32:39 PT
Baker's dozen, Michigan ounce?
Long, long ago, there was a law passed that said a dozen loaves of bread had to weigh a certain amount- or the government would chop off your hand. The bakers, wanting to avoid this fate would simply add an extra loaf to every dozen- just to be on the safe side- hence, 13 in a "Baker's Dozen".If this law passes, will we see a "Michigan Ounce" come to pass? A scant 27 grams- just to be on the safe side? You know, cannabis has done more to promote the metric system in the US, than all the schools combined! There wasn't a kid at the Warlock Shop (a 60s/70s head shop in San Diego) that didn't know that a kilo was 2.2 pounds and an ounce of hash was 28 and a "taste" grams! Even now, when we get to metrics in class, (I work in education) 9 times out of 10, the kids who know anything about the metric system beyond a 2 liter bottle of soda, are the stoners! lol
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Comment #1 posted by greenmed on June 17, 2010 at 09:41:10 PT
OT: public perception
'Drug Courts Confront Relaxed Attitudes Toward Pot'by Ina Jaffe, NPR, June 11, 2010Medical marijuana is legal in 14 states, and advocates would like to expand that or legalize pot altogether. But the judges, lawyers and therapists who work in drug courts say the criminal justice system has helped addicts turn their lives around.At the recent meeting of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals in Boston, attendees discussed how new attitudes toward Marijuana affect what they do.The fact that in a state the size of California you can get a doctor's recommendation for marijuana for anything from cancer to a bad mood has changed the attitude toward pot nationwide, says Rose Ewing, a program director of drug courts in Tulsa, Okla.Ewing says it has made it harder to help some of her clients."They're like, 'If we lived in another state we'd be able to use this medically for different conditions because they don't consider it a bad drug or a hard-core drug,' " she says. "They really feel like it's in a different class of drugs."(more)http://www.npr.org/template/storystory.php?storyId=127754799
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