Entire County To Ban Mmj

[Bilbo The Grower]

What would be the point of this? At some point in time the State of Michigan will realize that they might find a cash cow if the started to apply sales tax to dispensaries and then try to come up with some way for growers. Hopefully they will take their time like trying to tax internet sales and then calling it a "use tax". The gov just can't see to find the deep end of our pockets. Like all we have to do is sit and wait for more taxation. Yuck!

[freakydawg420]

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/preemption

 

From reading this, I don't understand how a county can ban MMJ when the state has already decided (by our vote) it is legal.

 

"At the state level, preemption occurs when a state statute conflicts with a local ordinance on the same subject matter. Preemption within the states varies with individual state constitutions, provisions for the powers of political subdivisions, and the decisions of state courts. For example, if a state legislature enacts Gun Control legislation and the intent of the legislation is to occupy the field of gun control, then a municipality is preempted from enacting its own gun control ordinance."

 

Wouldn't a county trying to ban what the state has already passed be another example of within the state?

Would be no different than the state saying no smoking alowed in bars and the county saying "you can here"

 

It's just not allowed, is it?

 

Who will enforce it?

 

If the city or county try, can't I call the state police on them for violating my rights and the STATE law as a legal cardholder?

 

hmmmmmmm

[StonedPlanet]

Huron County has no authority to enforce Federal Law. Just because people live in Huron County does not mean that they are exempt from being able to participate in the MMMP.

Unfortunately you are both right and wrong at the same time.

A city police officer has the authority to arrest ANY person who they have probably cause that the person is violating FEDERAL law. This does NOT mean the county or city can prosecute them on a federal level, it simply means they can make an already tough life for someone with a medical condition even tougher by arresting & holding the person then leaving it up to the federal government to prosecute (which most likely will NEVER happen)..

 

Again, a city law enforcement officer has the authority to arrest & hold ANY person who they believe to be violating federal law. For example, robbing a bank is not a local offense, it is a FEDERAL offense, but city or county officers are just about ALWAYS there for the arrest on federal charges.

 

As it is now, they can make your life hell, but they can not prosecute.

The only 2 ways that I can think of to change this is to get medical marijuana legalized on a FEDERAL level and for someone it happens to, to file a lawsuit against the agency that arrests them for what was written into the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act where it says we are free from penalty.

Kicking in a door with a search warrant is not considered a "penalty" however I feel that holding a person on federal charges that will never be filed IS a penalty. If you are being held, chances are they have already kicked in the door, ran-sacked the house, ripped your medicine from the dirt it grows in, and publicly announced to the entire neighborhood that you are growing marijuana. Some neighbors will never look at you the same after something like that.

 

Again, the best defense we can get for our use of medicine is to change this on a FEDERAL level. You can not shoot a gun without ammunition! Take their bullets from them by removing the "it is illegal on a federal level" defense that they love to use.

 

Our city officials do not seem to know what the people of MICHIGAN want across the entire state! Are they high? Should we send Bouchard in to see if he takes opiates or codeine? Should we send ALL city officials for randoms? Seems they are incompetent in office and need to be removed ASAP. Noone else is going to do this for us - it is up to THE PEOPLE of the states to take action and change this on a FEDERAL level!

 

Our government has been at war with marijuana for so many years now. We as tax payers have funded the war on drugs. I doubt anyone can even come up with an exact number of dollars that has been spent on the "war" in total. After years of effort, quadrillions of dollars, and so many HUGE busts marijuana is still available in EVERY city of America. Well, at least ever other city .

Disclaimer:

This may be slightly incorrect, but from the research I have done, it is true to the best of my knowledge.

 

I do NOT agree with it one bit, and I am NOT defending the ability for a city officer to arrest & hold a person for such a violation when they know that no charges will be filed.

[Rob420]

Wow, I don't know how I missed this thread. What a sick attempt to circumvent the democratic process and the will of the people. Just shameful.

[+RevThad]

Unfortunately you are both right and wrong at the same time.

A city police officer has the authority to arrest ANY person who they have probably cause that the person is violating FEDERAL law. This does NOT mean the county or city can prosecute them on a federal level, it simply means they can make an already tough life for someone with a medical condition even tougher by arresting & holding the person then leaving it up to the federal government to prosecute (which most likely will NEVER happen)..

 

Again, a city law enforcement officer has the authority to arrest & hold ANY person who they believe to be violating federal law. For example, robbing a bank is not a local offense, it is a FEDERAL offense, but city or county officers are just about ALWAYS there for the arrest on federal charges.

 

As it is now, they can make your life hell, but they can not prosecute.

The only 2 ways that I can think of to change this is to get medical marijuana legalized on a FEDERAL level and for someone it happens to, to file a lawsuit against the agency that arrests them for what was written into the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act where it says we are free from penalty.

Kicking in a door with a search warrant is not considered a "penalty" however I feel that holding a person on federal charges that will never be filed IS a penalty. If you are being held, chances are they have already kicked in the door, ran-sacked the house, ripped your medicine from the dirt it grows in, and publicly announced to the entire neighborhood that you are growing marijuana. Some neighbors will never look at you the same after something like that.

 

Again, the best defense we can get for our use of medicine is to change this on a FEDERAL level. You can not shoot a gun without ammunition! Take their bullets from them by removing the "it is illegal on a federal level" defense that they love to use.

 

Our city officials do not seem to know what the people of MICHIGAN want across the entire state! Are they high? Should we send Bouchard in to see if he takes opiates or codeine? Should we send ALL city officials for randoms? Seems they are incompetent in office and need to be removed ASAP. Noone else is going to do this for us - it is up to THE PEOPLE of the states to take action and change this on a FEDERAL level!

 

Our government has been at war with marijuana for so many years now. We as tax payers have funded the war on drugs. I doubt anyone can even come up with an exact number of dollars that has been spent on the "war" in total. After years of effort, quadrillions of dollars, and so many HUGE busts marijuana is still available in EVERY city of America. Well, at least ever other city .

Disclaimer:

This may be slightly incorrect, but from the research I have done, it is true to the best of my knowledge.

 

I do NOT agree with it one bit, and I am NOT defending the ability for a city officer to arrest & hold a person for such a violation when they know that no charges will be filed.

Mostly correct.

 

A city police officer (county and state as well) are first charged with following the laws of the state in which they are employed. Further, a simple look at recent rulings around the country and opinions of various courts, one will notice that state medical marijuana laws are not preempted by federal law. Municipalities are not allowed to ignore state law, in favor of a federal law that is more to their liking.

 

As Joe Elford, Chief Counsel with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), stated a little over a year ago ""It's now settled that state law enforcement officers cannot arrest medical marijuana patients or seize their medicine simply because they prefer the contrary federal law...Perhaps, in the future local government will think twice about expending significant time and resources to defy a law that is overwhelmingly supported by the people of our state."

 

The ASA represented a man in California, where one of the cities chose to rely on federal law and ignore state law, the case was appealed all the way up to the US Supreme Court...

 

Decision by the California Fourth Appellate District Court:

and

U.S. Supreme Court Order denying review

 

[lawyercaregiver]

Municipalities are not allowed to ignore state law, in favor of a federal law that is more to their liking.

 

That is my reading and what the court's have previously decided in other States. These yeehaws are going to cost their pathetic county a ton of money. Did you read that idiot they quoted- 'it's not going to be any big deal because there is no way of knowing about the grow rooms.'

 

What a moron. He probably wrote the ordinance.

[cephalopod]

That is my reading and what the court's have previously decided in other States. These yeehaws are going to cost their pathetic county a ton of money. Did you read that idiot they quoted- 'it's not going to be any big deal because there is no way of knowing about the grow rooms.'

 

What a moron. He probably wrote the ordinance.

Yeah. IMO that guy is just lazy, he said that it would just be easier not to allow it. You'll like this even better, the police chief wants a dispensary/caregiver to keep a log of all transfers, date/time, amount, thc%, and patients names to go a long with it. The County Commissioners meeting for public input was held last night and I was fortunate enough to have a "lobbyist" attend for me. He has been a victims advocate for the county and therefore, has worked closely with some of the deputies and knows others from the legal community, including Stephen Allen the County Corporate Counsel. When they opened up the topic for discussion, he was allowed 3 or 4 questions before being asked, if he could just talk with Stephen Allen later about the topic. They have know each other for some time and were seated next to each other.

 

The overall impression being lent is that, the concern is for storefronts and everyone else has nothing to worry about. Some of the response that he did get was that they didn't care if someone had 60 plants as long as they were in accordance with the MMMA. He also noted that everyone of the commissioners seemed less than enthused to deal with the issue and more than happy to let the Corporate Counsel handle the issue. It was unapparent if anyone was taking minutes for the meeting and no press seemed to be in attendance. My representative was able to pass some literature, legal precedent, etc., to Corporate Counsel Stephen Allen. Just a quick and quiet meeting, so we'll just wait and see.

[cephalopod]

LMAO, it just keeps getting better....The physical paper headline is.."County pot ban moves forward"

http://www.michigansthumb.com/articles/2010/11/05/news/local_news/doc4cd3eb0d7871f230317612.txt

[+Dizledot]

This is utter bullschuette! I can't even begin to tell you how many municipalities have adopted the FEDERAL LAW in an attempt to stop us. As I was diligently working on an ordinance to allow dispensaries / warehouses, my very own township board over rode me and decided they didn't want to deal with the reality and choose the "Politically Correct" avenue for them because their asses are on the line in 2012. God forbid should they grow some balls and work within the new law. They act like they don't realize it was a majority that voted for this law. It makes me sad to be in politics with every article that hits the news like this one.

 

Dizz

[cephalopod]

And it begins.My link

[Budz-4-U]

And it begins.My link

 

"Allen said Huron County officials have a responsibility to uphold federal law, which trumps any conflicting state law."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Huron County is in Michigan. How about they uphold Michigan State laws..... or be removed from office, for not doing their job ??

 

If all Carded Patients would show up on somebody's private property, with permission, and all medicated together, they couldn't do crap about it. Not sure what any rural county could do if say only 5,000 show up for a private party, on private land. Serious.

 

If we don't stand up, in legal fashion, could this happen county, by county, by county ?

 

Don't tread on me !

 

 

[bobandtorey]

"Allen said Huron County officials have a responsibility to uphold federal law, which trumps any conflicting state law."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Huron County is in Michigan. How about they uphold Michigan State laws..... or be removed from office, for not doing their job ??

 

If all Carded Patients would show up on somebody's private property, with permission, and all medicated together, they couldn't do crap about it. Not sure what any rural county could do if say only 5,000 show up for a private party, on private land. Serious.

 

If we don't stand up, in legal fashion, could this happen county, by county, by county ?

 

Don't tread on me ! i won't

 

 

 

but it's hard to get 100 + people to do any thing if we could just stick togetter we can win

[cephalopod]

If it's already everyone's job to uphold the federal law, then why do they need to write this ordinance to do so?

[+RevThad]

If it's already everyone's job to uphold the federal law, then why do they need to write this ordinance to do so?

Because it is the only way they can attempt to bypass the state law. They understand that they have no way of doing so via conventional means. I honestly think that many of these counties and local municipalities are hoping to create a constitutional question, so that they may attempt to get the law reversed via the judiciary.

 

The same sort of question can be asked of opponents of the MMMAct... if the law prevents particular conduct and or transfers then why is it necessary to have the legislature or courts to clarify/revise the law? The answer is that the law does allow for the things we claim it does, and it is the only way they have a chance of undoing the MMMAct.

[bobandtorey]

Because it is the only way they can attempt to bypass the state law. They understand that they have no way of doing so via conventional means. I honestly think that many of these counties and local municipalities are hoping to create a constitutional question, so that they may attempt to get the law reversed via the judiciary.

 

The same sort of question can be asked of opponents of the MMMAct... if the law prevents particular conduct and or transfers then why is it necessary to have the legislature or courts to clarify/revise the law? The answer is that the law does allow for the things we claim it does, and it is the only way they have a chance of undoing the MMMAct.

 

Your right Rev this Law is a great Law the best in the U.S.A i think and they want it changed

[StonedPlanet]

So our hard earned state tax is going towards the funding of enforcing federal law.. Which tax can we now stop paying? If state law enforcement wants to uphold federal law, then that should be funded by the federal government. We should NOT be funding this to begin with!

 

I wonder how much the resistance by law enforcement to follow state law has costed us as tax payers so far.. The hours they pay investigators, helicopters, leos, police cruisers, fuel costs, not to mention they have to pay a judge to "hear" the case and either drop it or send it forward, then pay the judge for a trial, not to mention jury costs.. They need a court officer in the room as well as the prosecutor, and the court recorder.

I am not talking about defense costs, just costs associated with our STATE tax money to try and enforce FEDERAL law!!

Obviously our law enforcement needs some serious budget cuts since we have all this extra money to throw around!

If Mike Bouchard wants to fight this personal battle of his, he should come out of his pockets with the money for ALL OF IT!

 

Now we are spending city and county money on top of this to hold these meetings that should also be funded by FEDERAL dollars!

 

I want my tax money back!