Push set for legal pot in Michigan

That smoky aroma in the air — is it the scent of positive momentum, or simply that of high hopes doomed to be dashed?

News Hits is talking about the news that pro-marijuana activists are set to launch an effort to amend the state Constitution in an attempt to end prohibition of the drug in Michigan.

That's right, no middle-of-the-road decriminalization effort. Activists here have decided to get Michigan law enforcement completely out of the marijuana picture.

And if by chance New Year's Eve revelers are legally lighting up joints along with popping Champagne corks a year from now, we'd say the person most responsible for that will be state Attorney General Bill Schuette, who, along with some others in the law enforcement community, has made a crusade of going after medical marijuana patients, caregivers and dispensaries.

"We feel there is little alternative considering the blatant abuse and violation of the MMMA [Michigan Medical Marihuana Act] by the police and many prosecutors," says Matt Abel, a Detroit-based attorney who will be directing the campaign that is expected to officially kick off Jan. 12. "If we don't try to do something now, it may be years before we have appropriate reform."

(More information about the Committee for a Safer Michigan's proposed ballot measure and ways to support it can be found at help.repealtoday.org.)

Abel, whose law firm specializes in handling marijuana-related cases, tells Metro Times via e-mail that 322,608 valid signatures must be collected by July 9 to qualify the proposed amendment for the November 2012 election.

Efforts are already under way to organize volunteer signature-gatherers and other types of support.

Brandy Zink, who is with the group Americans for Safe Access and uses marijuana to help control epileptic seizures, tells News Hits that advocates like her see the Constitutional amendment as a necessary next step to help further protect the ability of patients to obtain and use their medication.

She cites the crackdown on dispensaries in many parts of the state, as well as the failure of the state to consider expanding the list of ailments that enable certified patients to be able to legally use the drug, as being among the reasons she and other patients intend to get behind the effort to legalize the drug outright.

"What's happening now is that the law is being used to help target patients instead of protecting them," says Zink. "We feel a real urgency to do this now because of the backlash against the MMMA."

As with the current law, users would still be subject to arrest and prosecution by federal law enforcement authorities even if the effort to amend the state Constitution were successful.

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