Marijuana: Detroit Possession Legalization Initiative Approved

A municipal initiative that would legalize the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by adults is headed for the November ballot. The Coalition for a Safer Detroit announced this week that the Detroit Elections Commission had certified its petitions.

The initiative would amend the city's controlled substance statute by adding the words: "None of the provisions of this article shall apply to the use or possession of less than 1 ounce of marihuana, on private property, by a person who has attained the age of 21 years."

The coalition turned in more than 6,000 signatures to put the initiative on the ballot. The initiative is now before the Detroit City Council, which has 30 days to pass it into law or it goes automatically before the voters in November.

"We met the proper number of signatures and we met all the legal standards," initiative organizer and medical marijuana patient Tim Beck told the Detroit Free Press. "There will be no legal challenge to keep it off the ballot. I'm very confident. People in Detroit have a serious understanding that priorities need to be reordered in respect to law enforcement. We need to focus on violent crime and guns. We just can't afford this any longer."

Beck knows his initiatives. He was the moving force behind the successful Detroit medical marijuana initiative in 2004.