Catch Up On These 4 Conversations About Marijuana In Michigan

[bobandtorey]

• DANNY BIRCHALL FLICKR - HTTP://MICHRAD.IO/1LXRDJM

 

Everything you ever wanted to know about marijuana in Michigan was discussed this week on Stateside.

From the politics - to the business - to the potential downsides.

 

 

We sat down with reporters, business owners, and law enforcement to learn more about the topic.

Here's a quick rundown of what we covered:

1. We started with an overview of where Michigan is currently. There are three different proposals that could be on the 2016 ballot. Jake Neher broke down each proposal and talked about the evolving perception toward marijuana in Michigan.

“It’s gone from medical marijuana being the big issue, to now, legalization,” Neher said. “The dominoes are starting to fall.”

You can find that conversation here.

2. Right now, Michigan is just about where Colorado was a few years ago before they became a fully legalized state. So we talked with Ben Markus, a reporter for Colorado Public Radio, who has been covering marijuana there for many years.

In Colorado, which legalized marijuana in 2012 following an almost decade long process, about $70 million in tax revenue has been brought in from marijuana. Markus says it's too soon to tell if concerns about minors and changes to the state’s culture will be realized.

Listen to our conversation with Markus here.

3. What is it like to be a consumer of marijuana, a caregiver, and an advocate for legalizing cannabis?

Dori Edwards is all of those things and she wants patients to have better access to clean marijuana for their ailments. Edwards says legalizing marijuana is a civil rights issue and people deserve to have marijuana for medical and recreational purposes.

“You’re taking very innocent people…and turning them into criminals,” she said.

Edwards shares her thoughts here.

4. We also wanted to get the perspective from law enforcement officials. So we spoke with Bob Stevenson, the executive director for the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police. He has an array of concerns about marijuana legalization; concerns over public safety that range from driving under the influence to the increased potency of marijuana. 

"There's too many problems and there's too many unknowns at this time," Stevenson said, Let's slow down."

 

http://michiganradio.org/post/catch-these-4-conversations-about-marijuana-michigan#stream/0

Edited August 29, 2015 by bobandtorey

[AmishRnot4ganja]

I guess law enforcement has a point about going slow on marijuana reform.

 

The Amish still won't use electricity. It is, after all, a technology that kills people, causes fires, and is unexplainable in Biblical terms. Same thing with internal combustion engines. The benefits do not outweigh the risks. Technology and science are tools of Satan.

 

Law enforcement and social conservatives are going all Amish over ganja.

[Wild Bill]

Cannabis was never a problem at all except for the last 80 years. The prohibitionists are nothing but a historical aberration.

 

They're not afraid of new technology, they're afraid of a medicine as old as man.

[t-pain]

i do not understand how russia got in on prohibition though. why is russia in this anti-pot drug war? hmmmmmm, just who is funding the afghani poppy fields?

 

also china seems to be very anti drug when it wants to be.

[Indigro]

i do not understand how russia got in on prohibition though. why is russia in this anti-pot drug war? hmmmmmm, just who is funding the afghani poppy fields?

 

also china seems to be very anti drug when it wants to be.

Cant speak to russia, but china pretty much recognizes drugs as a tool of western imperialism... Some prominant american families made fortunes off the opium trade