Cannabis News The November Coalition
  Marijuana Debate Heats Up in Ferndale
Posted by CN Staff on August 21, 2005 at 20:44:44 PT
By Michael P. McConnell, Daily Tribune Staff Writer 
Source: Daily Tribune 

medical Ferndale, Michigan -- Police Chief Michael Kitchen is against a proposed city ballot issue to legalize marijuana use for medical use and says he will campaign against it.

"I'll be speaking out," Kitchen said. "There is no such thing as medical marijuana. It's a myth and the American Medical Association and other groups say cannabis is a dangerous drug and a public health concern."

However, other medical organizations such as the New England Journal of Medicine and the American Nurses Association support legalizing marijuana for medical use.

The city clerk has certified petitions submitted by 19-year-old resident Donal O'Leary III, seeking to put the question on the November ballot.

O'Leary, a University of Michigan student, has worked with Tim Beck, who worked successfully to pass a medical marijuana initiative in Detroit last year. Ann Arbor also has an ordinance allowing use of marijuana with a physician's prescription.

"It will help the people in Ferndale who use marijuana as medicine for anything from AIDS to cancer," O'Leary said. "I know Ferndale residents who use marijuana as medicine, but have to be very quiet about it because it is illegal."

O'Leary is chairman of the Ferndale Coalition for Compassionate Care. O'Leary would not identify the private investor who funded his petition drive and he hopes to get more funding now that the petitions are certified.

The City Council is expected to verify the petitions and discuss the issue at its 7:30 p.m. meeting Monday at City Hall. Since O'Leary has collected enough signatures from residents to get the issue on the ballot, the City Council is expected to forward the proposed ballot language to the Michigan Attorney General's office, which has to approve the language, according to Mayor Robert Porter.

State and federal law prohibits the sale and use of marijuana. Ten states have laws that allow doctors to prescribe marijuana for illnesses like glaucoma or the side effects of treatments for AIDS and other diseases.

But the U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that federal law enforcement officers are not precluded from arresting marijuana users covered under the state medical marijuana laws.

O'Leary argues that a local medical marijuana ordinance would allow police to ignore medical marijuana users even though state law prohibits any marijuana use.

"The local police can choose to enforce either the state law or local ordinance on a particular issue like this," he said.

Porter, however, said city police are sworn to uphold the laws of the city, state and federal government.

"Even if you approve marijuana for medical use it will still be illegal for the person who needs it to buy or sell it," Porter said. "The problem would be that you're still supporting drug dealers because there is no legal source for marijuana."

Source: Daily Tribune, The (MI)
Author: Michael P. McConnell, Daily Tribune Staff Writer
Published: August 21, 2005
Copyright: 2005 The Daily Tribune
Contact: editor@dailytribune.com
Website: http://www.dailytribune.com/

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Comment #8 posted by FoM on August 23, 2005 at 08:45:17 PT
News Article from Snipped Source
Pro-Medical Pot Group Seeks City Council's Aid

By Christofer Machniak

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

FLINT - A technicality has stopped a local group from getting a medical marijuana ballot initiative before city voters in November, but supporters now hope the City Council will intervene.

Leaders of the Flint Coalition for Compassionate Care asked the council Monday to put their question on the Nov. 8 ballot.

The group collected 1,700 signatures, more than enough to get the measure on the ballot, but it was rejected by City Clerk Inez M. Brown, who said the ballot language contained a legal defect that violated the Flint City Charter. Her decision was backed by the Flint Election Commission and legal research, she said.

The group on Monday turned to the council, which has the power to put proposed ordinance changes before voters with a two-thirds vote, group leader Brian Morrissey said.

Snipped:

http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-31/1124810463319520.xml&coll=5

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Comment #7 posted by FoM on August 22, 2005 at 17:22:55 PT
Related Article from ClickOnDetroit.com
Medical Marijuana In Ferndale? It May Happen

Topic of Drug For Medicinal Purposes Is Smoking

August 22, 2005

Medical marijuana has some people in Ferndale all worked up and its giving the term grassroot politics a new meaning.

Many Ferndale residents think marijuana should be available for medical purposes. Now, a petition about the issue could be put on an upcoming ballot for voters to decide.

But Ferndale police chief Michael Kitchen is against the idea of medical marijuana in his town.

Kitchen said he doesn't think legalized pot will "fly in this community."

Ten states already have laws that allow doctors to prescribe the green drug for illnesses like glaucoma or to ease pain associated with cancer or AIDS.

Currently, Michigan state laws and federal laws prohibit the sale and use of the drug.

"To prosecute people who are ill, (that's a) poor choice of resources," said Ferndale Councilman Craig Covey.

Copyright 2005 by ClickOnDetroit.com

http://www.clickondetroit.com/health/4882749/detail.html

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Comment #6 posted by The GCW on August 22, 2005 at 14:22:31 PT
Is good police a myth?
Police Chief Michael Kitchen makes Me wonder if:

Good police,

is a myth.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #5 posted by runruff on August 22, 2005 at 07:41:21 PT
The Flat Earth Society.
Police Chief Michael Kitchen in a news conference yesterday declared that the earth is definitly flat. It is his theroy that this is the cause for most missing persons that to many of them simply wandered to close to the edge and fell off. Chief Kitchen was quoted as saying "we need to start building a big fence along the edge so our kids will not fall off". He will start lobbing congress on Tuesday for funds to start the, "Help Save the Kids From Falling Off the Edge of the Earth Project". Good job Chief Kitchen.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #4 posted by OverwhelmSam on August 22, 2005 at 06:08:13 PT
"F" the Supreme Court's Corrupt Decision
"But the U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that federal law enforcement officers are not precluded from arresting marijuana users covered under the state medical marijuana laws."

Just because the US Supreme Court has lost credibility and is corrupted by illegally ruling against the United States Constitution's tenth amendment, doesn't mean that marijuana prohibition will be enforced by states and municipalities. After it's legal in every state, the federal government will either have to repeal the law or establish local law enforcement across the nation. Even then, it's still not going to stop anyone who enjoys Cannabis.

I'd like to hear a song by Joan Biaz like, "They Piss In the Wind." A tree that does not yeild to the wind will most certainly snap and die.

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Comment #3 posted by potpal on August 22, 2005 at 05:36:30 PT
police state of mind
Ignorance on parade.

ot - Drug suicide risk fears renewed

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4172482.stm

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #2 posted by mayan on August 22, 2005 at 01:50:59 PT
NO SUCH THING
"I'll be speaking out," Kitchen said. "There is no such thing as medical marijuana. It's a myth and the American Medical Association and other groups say cannabis is a dangerous drug and a public health concern."

Police Chief Michael Kitchen has outed himself as being either very ignorant or a flat out murderer. I hope he's just ignorant although he's just as dangerous either way.

However, other medical organizations such as the New England Journal of Medicine and the American Nurses Association support legalizing marijuana for medical use.

I'm sure the cop is much more knowledgable when it comes to matters of medicine. What a dirtbag.

Can Bush be disgraced further? I'd say yeah...

Folk Singer And Peace Activist, Joan Baez, Joins Cindy Sheehan's War Protest In Crawford: http://www.arcticbeacon.citymaker.com/articles/article/1518131/32059.htm

The fascist's true colors are shining through...

TV station refuses anti-war ad: http://tinyurl.com/8q3od

KTVX(ABC) - programming@abc4.tv

Let them hear no end. The time is now again.

All of the murderers are being exposed!



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #1 posted by runderwo on August 21, 2005 at 21:33:08 PT
yawn
Another LEO bleating because his job is threatened by change. Nothing to see here.

By the way, the AMA opposes medical marijuana BASED ON CURRENT RESEARCH but SUPPORTS further research into the matter. That predicate seems to be left off by most people who use them as an endorsement of prohibition. They just aren't convinced yet due to the almost entirely anecdotal nature of the existing evidence in favor of medical cannabis.

By the way, the AMA was also the first group to speak out against Anslinger's prohibition. It caught them by surprise when they found out Anslinger's "marijuana" was equivalent to the cannabis that had been sold for ages in various over the counter preparations.

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