Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy
The campaign to put a marijuana legalization initiative on the Michigan ballot is going to have its work cut out for it, if a new poll accurately reflects voter sentiments. The Detroit Free Press/WXYZ-TV poll had respondents rejecting legalization by a margin of 50% to 45%.
The poll was conduct by EPIC-MRA of Lansing and surveyed 600 likely voters. It has a margin of error of +/- four percentage points. The poll specifically asked if respondents would vote for the ongoing initiative effort if it makes the ballot.
Breaking down the numbers, legalization had majority support among Democrats (57%) and independents (51%), but not Republicans (29%). Men were more likely to support legalization (48%) than women (43%). Support was stronger among respondents younger than 50 (49%) than over 50 (44%). And a favorable view toward legalization was more likely in the Detroit metro area (48%) than the rest of the state (43%).
The initiative now in the signature-gathering phase is the Campaign for a Safer Michigan. The campaign needs to gather some 322,000 valid signatures from registered voters by June 9 to qualify for the November ballot.[Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article misstated the number of signatures needed and the date they must be turned in.]
A legalization initiative was approved for the Washington state ballot Friday, and a Colorado initiative is awaiting certification after handing in nearly double the number of signatures required. Campaigns are still in the signature-gathering phase in California, Missouri, Montana, and Oregon.
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
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Jesus' words
Jesus said to do unto others as we would have them to do unto us. None of us would want our child or grandchild thrown in jail with the sexual predators over marijuana. None of us would want to see an older family member’s home confiscated and sold by the police for growing a couple of marijuana plants for their aches and pains.
If ordinary Americans could grow a little marijuana in their own back yards, it would be about as valuable as home-grown tomatoes; it would put the criminals out of business and get them out of our neighborhoods.
Politicians are more dangerous than marijuana
It was refreshing to see the former AG of Michigan come out in favor of legislation to make dispensing marijuana medically more available to ill patients through legislatively approved dispensaries. Unfortunately the operative word is former. The current AG in Michigan has gone after medical marijuana suppliers and patients like someone trying to stomp out a plague. In the Michigan Legislature so far, restrictions and more is their only answer to it all. When it comes to opinion, it seems the Legislators and other Michigan servants in the Government are of the opinion that somehow marijuana is dangerous. The plant itself is extremely non toxic and has already been tested by a large percentage of the population who already realize that the danger is a myth.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition sent a recent letter to US Attorney John Walsh stating "...the longstanding policy of prohibition itself – which we, like you, were once charged with enforcing – has made schools and parks the focal point for drug distribution, drug information and drug requisition." In making marijuana a fearful and dangerous thing, we have instituted the perfect method of making criminals out of up to half of the United States population. By doing so, we continue to perpetuate a myth of dangerousness that only exists from our use of prohibition instead of regulation and control.
The current Government of Michigan so far has not proven itself trustworthy of supporting the current medical law voted into place.
People of Michigan should realize that legalizing marijuana in Michigan would give control back to governing bodies overseeing marijuana instead of black market dealers and cartels and police being the only governing agencies. Keeping marijuana illegal empowers only criminals, and makes criminals out of decent citizens. Getting closer to one million US marijuana arrests a year is a very dangerous and enslaving way to control any plant. Especially a harmless one like cannabis. It will take years to legislate availability of marijuana to patients at our current pace. Michigan needs to legalize marijuana.
Legalize it!
Pot doesn't kill people, there have been no deaths associated with the use of it & if there have, it was laced with some other substance. Alcohol kills people on a daily basis, whether it be liver failure or drinking & driving. Cigarettes kill more people than marijuana, make that illegal! It says in the Bible, " I give unto thee all seed bearing plants" Marijuana is a seed bearing plant, it was not manufactured, it grew on it's own!
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