Michigan Supreme Court Allows Vote On Legal Cannabis.

[greenbuddha]

US MI: Michigan Supreme Court Clears Way To Let Detroiters

 

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URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n300/a04.html

Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm

Votes: 0

Pubdate: Sat, 02 Jun 2012

Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)

Copyright: 2012 Detroit Free Press

Contact: http://www.freep.com/article/99999999/opinion04/50926009

Website: http://www.freep.com/

Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/125

Author: Bill Laitner

 

 

MICHIGAN SUPREME COURT CLEARS WAY TO LET DETROITERS VOTE ON LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

 

After a nearly two-year legal battle, the Michigan Supreme Court cleared the way Friday for a referendum question that could make Detroit the state's first city to legalize marijuana.

 

Voters in the Aug. 7 primary election can expect to see the question - -- asking them to legalize possession and use of up to 1 ounce of the drug, on private property, by those 21 and older, said Tim Beck, a Detroiter who heads the referendum group Coalition for a Safer Detroit.

 

"A long trail of voter abuse by the City of Detroit has come to an end," said Beck, 60, in an e-mail to supporters.

 

"We got everything right. Our petitions were flawless," said Beck, a medical-marijuana user who owns Michigan Benefit Providers, a Detroit consulting firm.

 

In a brief order Friday, the Supreme Court denied the city's motion for immediate consideration of its appeal.

 

A longtime advocate of legalizing the drug, Beck also backed passage in November of a referendum in Kalamazoo, which made arrests for pot possession that city's lowest priority. "Voters are saying that we just can't afford this type of policing anymore," he said.

 

A spokeswoman for Mayor Dave Bing said Friday that he had no comment.

 

Unavailable for comment Friday, according to a representative, was City Council President Charles Pugh, who was outspoken in his opposition to the proposal in 2010, when it came before the City Council.

 

Pugh, as chairman of the Detroit Election Commission, was part of the commission's 3-0 vote in August 2010 to block the referendum from city ballots.

 

That vote triggered the legal battle that led to a state Court of Appeals ruling in February that rebuffed the city and said the ballot question should be allowed. The city's appeal of that decision took the dispute to the state Supreme Court.

 

Marijuana supporters, including those who use the drug as medicine, hailed Friday's decision.

 

"Anything that keeps law enforcement away from patients and caregivers is good," said Steven Greene, host of the weekly Medical Marijuana Radio Show, at noon Saturdays on WDTW-AM ( 1310 ).

 

Detroit police spokeswoman Sgt. Eren Stephens said Friday that the department would adapt to legalization "if it's handled in an appropriate way, and this is what the citizens of Detroit choose."

MAP posted-by: Matt

[Fat Freddy]

Sweeet. BS has just got to be shizing himself.

Can we send him some Rollaids??? Whahahahahaha <( Thats for BS)