Detroit ballot fight: Pot as political football

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. 

"It's almost anticlimactic in that it should have happened two years ago," says Matt Abel, director of the Michigan Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and the attorney who argued the case in front of Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Michael Sapala last year. Sapala ruled against CSD, but Abel feels vindicated by the Court of Appeals decision. 

"I was right," he says. "It's really well-settled law. The election law issue is so clear that they really should be sanctioned for their frivolous arguments here."

A little history: In 2010 the Coalition for a Safer Detroit ran a petition drive to put the question of legalizing marijuana in Detroit on the ballot. Although CSD fulfilled all of the conditions, including gathering enough valid signatures, to put the initiative on the ballot, the Election Commission refused to do so, claiming that if passed the ordinance would conflict with state law. CSD sued, and Judge Sapala ruled with the city against CSD. 

The coalition then appealed in the state court, which ruled that it was beyond the Election Commission's authority to assess whether the ordinance was legal or not. The majority opinion was written by Judge Henry Saad, a widely respected conservative Republican. 

This is where the political football starts getting slippery. Last week Detroit filed a motion to reconsider with the Court of Appeals, which attorney Tim Knowlton, who argued the appeal for CSD, says is just a delaying tactic by the city to give it more time to prepare an appeal. Otherwise the question should be on the August primary ballot. The city would have had 42 days from the date of the Feb. 10 opinion to appeal to the state Supreme Court. However by filing a motion to reconsider, for which the city cannot present more evidence, the city will have 42 days from whatever date the Court of Appeals decides whether to reconsider or not. Without new evidence presented, there's little chance the Court of Appeals will change its opinion.

> Email Larry Gabriel