All Carded Up, And Nowhere To Go / Clare County Review

[AlternativeSolutionsPlus]

All Carded Up, and Nowhere to Go

 

The State of Michigan just can’t figure out what to do about marijuana. They don’t want to legalize it since that would set off a howl from the solid citizens that don’t want to smoke it and don’t want their kids to do so either. Besides, it’s a steady source of income as the smoker’s parade through the District Courts leaving a trail of fine money behind. Those fines are more a pot smoking tax than a criminal penalty. The prosecution of pot smokers not only keeps the arrest numbers up in the War on Drugs, it also provides employment for BAYNET, all of the other “nets”, drug counselors, probation officers, defense attorneys [they’ve made a lot of my car payments over the years] and all of the other people that get to, as the Mafia says, “wet their beaks” in the process. The stoners don’t seem to mind since they continue to drive their cars with roaches in the ashtrays and baggies in their jeans pockets. It’s almost as if they want to get caught. They don’t of course; they’re just so thick in the noggin that they won’t take the most elementary precautions not to get caught. Like having a license plate that matches the car they’re driving and tail lights that actually light up. When the cops stop them for some pretext or another, they always ask “is there anything in your car you shouldn’t have?” and the stoners always blurt out something like “There’s some weed under the seat.” Maybe pot does destroy brain cells. They take all of the sport out of catching them.

 

Well, I’m afraid there’s more bad news for those who like a joint or two. No, there isn’t a Twinky shortage. This comes from the Michigan Court of Appeals, which is no friend of the pot fraternity. But first some background, for the 81% of Clare County residents who finished high school. The 19% who didn’t already know this…..Michigan passed the Medical Marijuana Law. That’s the little bit of legal fiction that says you can have marijuana in your possession for “medical” use. Its passage caused a wave of painful illness, curable only with marijuana, to sweep through Michigan not seen since the Black Death depopulated Europe in the 14^th Century. This also created a prestigious new class of people; Those that Have Their Card. As in “he’s so kewl, he Has His Card.” If you could afford a couple of hundred bucks, doctors were actually competing to proscribe medical marijuana for your “intractable pain.” It was, for the select few, stoner heaven. But then the straight citizens who suspected medical marijuana was a scam but were willing to pretend it wasn’t, got POed as head shops, grow shops, and pot docs started throwing it in their faces. This got the Courts got involved. Judges and Prosecutors run for office. Citizens vote. Stoners, not so much.

 

Now it seems that the Medical Marijuana Law says you can have pot for “medical” uses. It specifically says driving your car after having smoked isn’t a medical use. The Drunk Driving law MCL 257.625, a behemoth of a law taking in a lot more than alcohol and a real money maker for the State, says that if you have any amount of a Schedule 1 drug in your system [pot is a Schedule 1] that you’re guilty of driving under the influence of drugs. Same penalty as drunk driving. Oh oh.

 

In a brand new case called People v. Koon, the Court of Appeals says that even if you’ve got your Pot Card, the MMA doesn’t supersede the Drunk Driving law. So you can legally possess pot and smoke it. You just can’t have “any amount” of it in your system and drive a car. Zero tolerance means zero tolerance.

 

What’s a law abiding smoker to do? You paid your money and you got a prescription and card for your intractable pain. Now you find out that you can’t drive! Since THC, the active ingredient in pot is stored in the fat cells of your body; it isn’t like alcohol that disappears in a few hours. Oh no. THC hangs around. And around. And around.

 

Well, it is a dilemma, isn’t it? You can smoke, or you can drive.

 

If you do both, it’s another car payment for me and a trip to the drunk tank of the Clare County jail for you. I know, I know, it’s so much more fun medicating that intractable pain in a bar than sitting home watching reruns of the Brady Bunch, but which to choose? Well dude, I guess you’ll have to do what they told us to do in the Army when someone had a complaint. Write you Congressman. Good luck with that.

 

 

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Copyright 2012 Clare County Review

Edited April 29, 2012 by AlternativeSolutionsPlus

[+washtenaut]

Who wrote this?

[AlternativeSolutionsPlus]

Here is where we found it, and the credit is listed at the bottom of the page of the posted article that we found.

 

http://www.clarecoun...-nowhere-to-go/

Edited April 29, 2012 by AlternativeSolutionsPlus

[Dr. Bob]

Excellent editorial and a great response from washtenaut.

 

Dr. Bob

[Dr. Bob]

And it is always a good idea to post the source when artlcles posted under a user name. Give credit where it is due and allow folks to comment at the source.

 

Dr. Bob

[+washtenaut]

Excellent editorial and a great response from washtenaut.

 

Dr. Bob

 

Thanks. Dang, you're fast. I just posted it. Anyway, this has been sent to our reps. It is taken from that letter.

 

 

 

Should the clearly expressed will of millions of Michigan voters to protect medical cannabis patients be allowed to be overturned by a few powerful politicians? Our Attorney General says, YES! He believes he has been given that authority. He asserts that there is widespread abuse of Michigan’s medical cannabis program and so he has been working hard, whittling away at its protections, and apparently conspiring with Judge O’Connell of the Michigan Court of Appeals to make the MMMAct of 2008 useless to patients today.

 

If we assume that even 15% of the patients should not qualify, we are still left with over 130,000 Michiganders whose lives have been improved by favoring this treatment. Because of their choice of medicine, their interpretation of the new law, and their application to the program, should these sick and disabled patients now be subjected to police break-ins, should they have to spend their life savings defending themselves in court, should they lose their children to CPS, and should they be put in prison? Mr. Schuette says, YES!

 

We have seen politicians who will attempt to destroy their opposition so that they might succeed. One way to achieve this is to have the police do the work for you. Laws enacted to criminalize some behavior within political groups have historically been used for this very purpose, most famously by Richard Nixon. Demonizing opponents in the eyes of the people is also a very effective tool. Our AG has been employing both of these tactics.

 

Looking back, Senator Joseph McCarthy gained a great deal of power in the early 50’s as he ruthlessly accused political opponents and personal enemies alike of un-American behavior. Thousands of lives were ruined during those dark days. Many went to prison as a result of his accusations. Others were blackballed and were unable to find work.

 

Robert Faber wrote a terrific piece recently for AnnArbor.com in which he states that McCarthy’s reign ‘was an embarrassment to our constitution, to our traditions and to the high moral code we like to believe is inherently ours’. He goes on to say ‘We shall always have our fools and ideologues in positions of power, but our system of laws and logic, of checks and balances, is designed to guard against the abuses of ..power, to protect the weakest from the more powerful… If the elected of our democracy, for reasons of greed or power or cowardice, fail in that task, that is the more troubling threat. It was McCarthy’s colleagues who let us down, by failing in their obligation to uphold the spirit and intent and integrity of our democratic system.’

 

Have you noticed that in his press conferences our AG, flanked by Michigan State Police officers, will ignore the 130,000 and will demonize all cannabis patients as abusers of the medical cannabis law? He uses his pulpit to falsely proclaim that we are a threat to children and a danger on our highways. He has also ‘officially opined’ some rather unreasonable legal positions which have resulted in the arrest of even more patients and caregivers. If you are unaware of his plan, along with Judge O’Connell of the COA, to effectively overturn the MMMAct, you have not been paying attention. AG Schuette has publicly stated that he wants to privatize and fill up our prisons with today’s patients and unfortunately for many, he is well on his way.

 

Please recall that qualified patients are either seriously ill or disabled. We should not have to spend our precious remaining time fighting to stay out of prison! How many more lives will we allow to be ruined by obsession and political ambition? When will someone stand up publicly to today’s bully as lawyer Joseph Welch did in 1954 and ask, ‘At long last, sir, have you no sense of decency?’

[Dr. Bob]

I am always on the lookout for things that affect the community. It was an impressive response and I always give credit where it is due to those that speak out for the community.

 

Dr. Bob

[HEMP4LIFE]

more like all carded up and nothing to blow

pass your feild soberity test and hope like hell you dont give blood today

and mums the word

[Herb Cannabis]

I don't know how the black community felt back in the 40's, 50's and 60's over the oppression they faced(and still do to this day), but I bet it is how I feel now with people like BS and Judge M trying to put us in jail. I wonder why they don't just shoot us on the spot? I hate hate, why do they hate us so, what could we be doing that will hurt them enough for them to hate us. I JUST WANT TO DIE IN PEACE, NOT IN JAIL! It felt so good to scream that at the top of my lungs. Thanks for letting me vent.

[trix]

I don't know how the black community felt back in the 40's, 50's and 60's over the oppression they faced(and still do to this day), but I bet it is how I feel now with people like BS and Judge M trying to put us in jail. I wonder why they don't just shoot us on the spot? I hate hate, why do they hate us so, what could we be doing that will hurt them enough for them to hate us. I JUST WANT TO DIE IN PEACE, NOT IN JAIL! It felt so good to scream that at the top of my lungs. Thanks for letting me vent.

 

Just like in the 40's 50's and 60's, it took time and a strong united front to change history.

 

The same will apply for the use of Medical Cannabis, Its going to be a long hard tiring effort to force legi'slaughters' to come to the relization that its medicine and truly helps the sick world wide.

 

We have to continue to write,call,and meet face to face with our Represenitives in Lansing, so that you don't have to scream and live in pain anymore. We as a community have a long battle ahead of us, But if we stand together we will win our rights back together and live that life we have always wanted. It happened back then when we demolished racisim and segregation, we can do it this time to help provide peace for the sick and disabled. VENT all you want your voice is just as important as anyone elses. Plus it feels good to get it off your chest!

 

Peace and unity,

 

Trix