Michigan's Ag-Elect: "not Explicitly Outlawing Pot Shops Implicitly Allows Them"

[Otsego County Caregiver]

I have to thank PB for the inspiration behind this post.

 

Proposal 1 is sponsored by the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington-based group, through the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care, made up of patients, medical personnel and marijuana law reform proponents. And campaign finance documents filed Friday showed it with a significant fund-raising edge, reporting the group raised more than $1.5 million and spent nearly $1.3 million

 

By comparison, Citizens Protecting Michigan's Kids reported raising $125,500 and spending a little more than $96,000.

 

The proposal smacks of the "law of unintended consequences," said William Schuette, a Michigan Court of Appeals judge and a leader of Citizens Protecting Michigan's Kids. He points to issues in California, including reports of increased crime and federal crackdowns on pot shops. Not explicitly outlawing pot shops implicitly allows them, he said.

 

"We're sensitive to the problems associated with pain management," he said, "but this is not a Michigan proposal."

 

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081025/NEWS15/810250341/Is-marijuana-good-medicine&template=fullarticle

[solabeirtan]

Makes cents...Implicit it is!

[Otsego County Caregiver]

Makes cents...Implicit it is!

 

 

Yep. works for me!

[DenturesLost]

Makes cents...Implicit it is!

Expect backpedaling. The statement leaves open for debate the definition of "pot shop." If forced to issue an opinion as AG I suspect he will say dispensaries are illegal. If he decides to address his comment regarding pot shops I would further surmise that he will say he was indicating clubs or shops where a cg sets up to serve his 5 pts. I cannot imagine him saying that dispensaries, in the sense we think of them, are legal.

[GanjaWarrior]

http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20101108/NEWS01/11080301/Marijuana-activists-vow-to-keep-fighting

 

"Although Schuette said Friday that the law was as bad as he'd predicted, he stopped short of agreeing with Oakland County authorities who have arrested patients linked to dispensaries — shops that sell medical marijuana. Dispensaries are allowed in the medical marijuana laws of seven states but not mentioned in Michigan's law and thus are illegal, Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper said last week.

 

But Schuette said Michigan's law "never prohibited them." He said he warned in 2008, when the act was debated, that dispensaries would crop up if it passed."

[Otsego County Caregiver]

Expect backpedaling. The statement leaves open for debate the definition of "pot shop." If forced to issue an opinion as AG I suspect he will say dispensaries are illegal. If he decides to address his comment regarding pot shops I would further surmise that he will say he was indicating clubs or shops where a cg sets up to serve his 5 pts. I cannot imagine him saying that dispensaries, in the sense we think of them, are legal.

 

 

Oh, but they said the law would make them legal, which is what they were trying to scare us all with back in 2008.

 

Now, about what he meant by "pot shops":

 

Pot shops are literally sprouting up everywhere. One in Lansing is less than 100 feet from a Catholic middle school, and oftentimes those who attend night classes at the pot shop park in the church and school's parking lot.

 

http://www.billschuette.com/Schuette/2010/07/15/sheriff-prosecutor-attorney-general-candidate-legalizing-marijuana-is-a-bad-idea

 

Is this a dispensary in Lansing he's referring to as a "pot shop"?

[Otsego County Caregiver]

Proposal 1 is a "risky scheme," according to Schuette, who said the measure could lead to the proliferation of marijuana dispensaries, as a similar measure has in California. Schuette co-chairs Citizens Protecting Michigan's Kids, an anti Proposal 1 group.

 

http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2008/ondcp-head-attacks-medical.html

[Otsego County Caregiver]

Schuette espouses a liberal reading of the law that allows for dispensaries. Who knew he was so progressive?!

 

 

[DT61]

If he has shown nothing else, he has shown he is a shrewd politician, you can expect more of that action.

[Otsego County Caregiver]

If he has shown nothing else, he has shown he is a shrewd politician, you can expect more of that action.

 

 

I hope you're right, because it wouldn't be very shrewd to go against 63% of the electorate.

[DenturesLost]

I hope you're right, because it wouldn't be very shrewd to go against 63% of the electorate.

He WILL cow tow to his base, make no mistake. He won't go against the 63% directly. He will try to cut things up indirectly.

Look at Cox. He didn't do anything with the law because his political career was on the line. I would guess Schuette will issue opinions that tend to outlaw dispensaries or at least in some way narrow the law. His platform for doing so will be that dispensaries, etc, are NOT what 63% of the voters envisioned. That will be his way around the voter issue.

[Otsego County Caregiver]

He WILL cow tow to his base, make no mistake. He won't go against the 63% directly. He will try to cut things up indirectly.

Look at Cox. He didn't do anything with the law because his political career was on the line. I would guess Schuette will issue opinions that tend to outlaw dispensaries or at least in some way narrow the law. His platform for doing so will be that dispensaries, etc, are NOT what 63% of the voters envisioned. That will be his way around the voter issue.

 

Why would you guess that? He's already state unequivocally that the law allows dispensaries. He openly disagrees with Cooper on that point.

 

He may pressure the legislature to try and change the law, but it's going to be hard for him to reverse his opinion, given the fact it's been made so public.

 

I think he's going to throw up his hands and say "I told you so" as part of an effort to get the legislature to change the law.

[cephalopod]

He WILL cow tow to his base, make no mistake. He won't go against the 63% directly. He will try to cut things up indirectly.

Look at Cox. He didn't do anything with the law because his political career was on the line. I would guess Schuette will issue opinions that tend to outlaw dispensaries or at least in some way narrow the law. His platform for doing so will be that dispensaries, etc, are NOT what 63% of the voters envisioned. That will be his way around the voter issue.

There is no way to tell what voters are thinking when they cast their ballots. I feel saying otherwise is a good indicator of what we can expect. Yeah, it seems the way he said it was to evoke voter fear. Wait and see I guess.

[dutch&Dutchess]

His statement that not explicitly prohibiting dispensary/club operations would allow them was the most honest thing any of our esteemed opposition has ever stated. The US of A is a Positive Law Legal system wherein an act or set of acts must be specifically prohibited otherwise it is allowed. It is what made this country so radical back in the day!

All these government tweets like the self serving ignorant corrupt Cooper or Douchehard who say that the MMMA failing to "mention"? dispensaries is proof that they are illegal is so blatantly ignorant that one must conclude that such people believe that We the People are STUPID and need to be"led" away from our own folly.

they believe that they are better than we hoi polloi cluttering up their pretty little country with our muling and puking.

[mibrains]

His statement that not explicitly prohibiting dispensary/club operations would allow them was the most honest thing any of our esteemed opposition has ever stated. The US of A is a Positive Law Legal system wherein an act or set of acts must be specifically prohibited otherwise it is allowed. It is what made this country so radical back in the day!

All these government tweets like the self serving ignorant corrupt Cooper or Douchehard who say that the MMMA failing to "mention"? dispensaries is proof that they are illegal is so blatantly ignorant that one must conclude that such people believe that We the People are STUPID and need to be"led" away from our own folly.

they believe that they are better than we hoi polloi cluttering up their pretty little country with our muling and puking.

 

 

 

so true!

[mizerman]

 

so true!

Amen!

 

The "Three Stooges of Oakland County: Bouchard, Cooper, & Patterson" should simply realize that they can't change the law no matter how much they want to.

 

I just don't think that the new governor, Rick Snyder, really has his panties in a wad about this issue like other republicans seemingly do.

 

Time will tell,

 

 

 

Mizerman