Wayne State To Host Marijuana Legalization Conference As State Petition Drive Starts

[AlternativeSolutionsPlus]

A conference about marijuana planned today in Detroit will feature professors and lawyers discussing whether Michigan and the nation should legalize marijuana.

 

That question could become a statewide debate if the people who started passing out petitions last week can get a legalization proposal on state ballots this fall.

 

The editors of the Wayne Law Review chose the conference topic -- National and State Marijuana Reform -- because legalization is an issue of national interest, said Law School Dean Robert Ackerman.

 

Former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, the keynote speaker, said the conference is a call for honest discussion. Cox initially opposed the 2008 Michigan act to allow medical marijuana.

 

"But when 63% of the voters wanted it, I said OK, I don't think it's the end of the world," he said this week. Cox said he's not ready to endorse full legalization of marijuana, but is offended by efforts that get in the way of the law.

 

Passing the referendum conferred "a personal right given to patients by Michigan voters, and we ought to be honoring that right," he said.

 

Current Attorney General Bill Schuette, who like Cox is a Republican, spoke out against the medical-marijuana act and has worked to narrow its interpretation. Cox, now a lawyer in private practice, declined to comment on Schuette's position.

 

The conference comes amid spreading efforts in the U.S. to legalize medical and non-medical marijuana. At least half a dozen states have legalization efforts under way. A Virginia state lawmaker announced this week that he wants pot sold in state-owned liquor stores, the Washington Examiner newspaper reported.

 

Kevin Sabet, a researcher at the University of Florida's College of Medicine and former drug adviser to the Obama administration, is to speak about conflicts between state and federal drug laws. He said pot should remain illegal because it would addict millions of Americans.

 

Sabet said the nation already has two legal addictive drugs in wide use -- alcohol and tobacco -- and that's enough.

 

WSU pharmacy professor Jesse Vivian said he'll propose that the university open a laboratory to analyze marijuana samples to help make the drug "more like something approved by the FDA, with rigorous manufacturing standards."

 

This is the first marijuana legalization conference to be held by a law school in Michigan, said Detroit attorney Matt Abel, director of the state campaign to legalize the drug.

 

More Details: If you go

 

What: National and State Marijuana Reform Conference

 

Where: Wayne State University Law School, Spencer Partrich Auditorium, 471 W. Palmer, Detroit

 

When: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. today

 

Cost: Free, but $5 to park

 

Details: 313-577-8032

 

Watch: Live stream at www.radioweedshow.com

 

http://www.freep.com/article/20120127/NEWS01/201270354/Wayne-State-to-host-marijuana-legalization-conference-as-state-petition-drive-starts?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

[SparklyBuds]

Glad to hear about this event; and very nice to read former AG Mike Cox's statement too, in this quote from the article -

 

"But when 63% of the voters wanted it, I said OK, I don't think it's the end of the world," he said this week. Cox said he's not ready to endorse full legalization of marijuana, but is offended by efforts that get in the way of the law.

 

Passing the referendum conferred "a personal right given to patients by Michigan voters, and we ought to be honoring that right," he said.

 

Current Attorney General Bill Schuette, who like Cox is a Republican, spoke out against the medical-marijuana act and has worked to narrow its interpretation. Cox, now a lawyer in private practice, declined to comment on Schuette's position.

 

 

Sweet!

[AlternativeSolutionsPlus]

:goodjob:

Glad to hear about this event; and very nice to read former AG Mike Cox's statement too, in this quote from the article -

 

"But when 63% of the voters wanted it, I said OK, I don't think it's the end of the world," he said this week. Cox said he's not ready to endorse full legalization of marijuana, but is offended by efforts that get in the way of the law.

 

Passing the referendum conferred "a personal right given to patients by Michigan voters, and we ought to be honoring that right," he said.

 

Current Attorney General Bill Schuette, who like Cox is a Republican, spoke out against the medical-marijuana act and has worked to narrow its interpretation. Cox, now a lawyer in private practice, declined to comment on Schuette's position.

 

 

Sweet!

[Croppled1]

A conference about marijuana planned today in Detroit will feature professors and lawyers discussing whether Michigan and the nation should legalize marijuana.

 

That question could become a statewide debate if the people who started passing out petitions last week can get a legalization proposal on state ballots this fall.

 

The editors of the Wayne Law Review chose the conference topic -- National and State Marijuana Reform -- because legalization is an issue of national interest, said Law School Dean Robert Ackerman.

 

Former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, the keynote speaker, said the conference is a call for honest discussion. Cox initially opposed the 2008 Michigan act to allow medical marijuana.

 

"But when 63% of the voters wanted it, I said OK, I don't think it's the end of the world," he said this week. Cox said he's not ready to endorse full legalization of marijuana, but is offended by efforts that get in the way of the law.

 

Passing the referendum conferred "a personal right given to patients by Michigan voters, and we ought to be honoring that right," he said.

 

Current Attorney General Bill Schuette, who like Cox is a Republican, spoke out against the medical-marijuana act and has worked to narrow its interpretation. Cox, now a lawyer in private practice, declined to comment on Schuette's position.

 

The conference comes amid spreading efforts in the U.S. to legalize medical and non-medical marijuana. At least half a dozen states have legalization efforts under way. A Virginia state lawmaker announced this week that he wants pot sold in state-owned liquor stores, the Washington Examiner newspaper reported.

 

Kevin Sabet, a researcher at the University of Florida's College of Medicine and former drug adviser to the Obama administration, is to speak about conflicts between state and federal drug laws. He said pot should remain illegal because it would addict millions of Americans.

 

Sabet said the nation already has two legal addictive drugs in wide use -- alcohol and tobacco -- and that's enough.

 

WSU pharmacy professor Jesse Vivian said he'll propose that the university open a laboratory to analyze marijuana samples to help make the drug "more like something approved by the FDA, with rigorous manufacturing standards."

 

This is the first marijuana legalization conference to be held by a law school in Michigan, said Detroit attorney Matt Abel, director of the state campaign to legalize the drug.

 

More Details: If you go

 

What: National and State Marijuana Reform Conference

 

Where: Wayne State University Law School, Spencer Partrich Auditorium, 471 W. Palmer, Detroit

 

When: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. today

 

Cost: Free, but $5 to park

 

Details: 313-577-8032

 

Watch: Live stream at www.radioweedshow.com

 

http://www.freep.com...ext%7CFRONTPAGE

 

 

Thank You this is truly historic and I was very sad I couldn't commit to go as my health changes day to day reservations are allot of stress when your taking away a spot of someone that for sure can go . I think that it is clear when people say how complicated it is to phase legality or State medical cannabis in with existing Federal Law it is best to erase the board and start over no matter what one believes . We all know patients need this it is ridiculous for anyone to deny the medical properties of cannabis as described in the multiple Department of Agricultural Annual Reports prior to 1920 . To compare tobacco and alcohol use to medical cannabis use makes little sense . We should never regulate cannabis in any way not applied to other over the counter medicinal items like aloe . I was pleased to hear others agree though some people introduced thinking that was very discriminatory at this conference . The extremists are those who are hanging on to policy that is injuring and denying patients access in our hospital system . nursing homes , foster care and society .

 

Not one speaker has yet ( 11:30 am) recognized the viability of cannabis's medicinal properties talking of ridiculous taxation in a State that does not tax medicine unless over the counter then just at normal sales tax of 6% as well as at the level of personal income from activities .

 

Oh they have a pharmacist speaking on medical efficacy whom says they don't understand it . Well they don't understand fibromylagia even arguing if it exists yet Pfizer makes Lyrica for it . . Patience is a virtue . He is educating people as I write this . He stated emphatically cannabis is not a drug and it is better to have distribution out in the open . Since it is not a drug it could fall completely off the drug schedule to over the counter regulated . Taught crowd how to make a tincture but it takes 3-4 mo's and could be counted as a dramatic hit on weight . Patients suggest if law were to be changed and they just want the act properly interpreted and enforced they would remove weight limits but leave up plant counts with a minor CI for being over up to your original alloted amount or no plants be counted until in the state of distinguished sex and in flower . Concensus is many thier believe FDA should control it on a schedule . Nobody is considering the majority of patients live at poverty and those suffering the most need a few ounces or more a week .

 

They are constantly refering to price as the control which is discriminatory medicine .