6,000 hits

We reported a few weeks ago that Tim Beck plans on blitzing the polls with petitioners gathering names to put a pro-marijuana initiative on the Detroit ballot, figuring he could get all he needed in one shot on Election Day.

It didn’t quite work that way, but supporters shouldn’t be dismayed. According to Beck, his paid crew collected about 2,500 names Nov. 6. Since then, his folks have been hard at work, and Saturday night topped out at more than 8,022. That’s a cushion of more than 1,900 beyond 6,140 signatures needed to place the measure on the ballot in August of next year.

Now it’s off to the races for the measure instructing Detroit law enforcement to make the arrest of medical marijuana users their absolute lowest priority.

Or, better yet, the newly elected City Council could just go ahead and make the measure the law of our land.

Beck would prefer the latter. It would avoid what could be a costly election battle. Which is why Beck is already lobbying council members. Either way, though, he’s confident of success.

“This is going to happen,” he says. “It’s going to happen.”