cannabisnews.com: Medical Pot on Detroit, Ann Arbor Ballots Medical Pot on Detroit, Ann Arbor Ballots Posted by CN Staff on July 13, 2004 at 23:38:28 PT By Shawn D. Lewis, The Detroit News Source: Detroit News Their battle cry is: “Not in my state, not in my county, not in my city, not in my neighborhood.” City and suburban leaders are standing shoulder to shoulder in a unified front to fight a proposal to legalize medical marijuana, which will appear on the ballot in Detroit on Aug. 3. On the other side of the issue is the Detroit Coalition for Compassionate Care, which advocates marijuana use to relieve the suffering of patients in pain. The group collected the signatures in November 2003 necessary to put the issue on the ballot. The ultimate goal of the Detroit Medical Marijuana Initiative is to make it legal to prescribe marijuana for those suffering from an assortment of ailments, such as glaucoma, cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis. As it stands statewide and citywide, possession of the drug ranks as one of the lowest law enforcement priorities, authorities say. “Right now, under state law, possession of marijuana is a one-year misdemeanor, but I can tell you from experience that nobody goes to jail,” said Jim Halushka, deputy prosecutor for Oakland County, who attended a rally in Detroit on Tuesday with others opposing the initiative from Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. A one-year misdemeanor can mean as much as a year in jail, up to a $1,000 fine or probation. Possession is a 90-day misdemeanor in the city, resulting in fines, probation or very little jail time. “I think it’s an insult that they’re trying to push this in Detroit, a large urban city, Halushka said. “This is the worst possible time to send this mixed message to kids — that it’s OK to smoke marijuana.” Snipped: Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/detroit.htmSource: Detroit News (MI)Author: Shawn D. Lewis, The Detroit NewsPublished: Wednesday, July 14, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Detroit News Contact: letters detnews.com Website: http://www.detnews.com/ Related Articles & Web Site:Detroit Coalition for Compassionate Carehttp://www.mmdetroit.org/Ann Arbor Debates New Pot Lawhttp://freedomtoexhale.com/arbor.htmDebate Heats Up Over Marijuana Ballot Measure http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19180.shtmlMedicinal Pot Headed To '04 Detroit Ballot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17843.shtml Medical Marijuana Could be Relief for Pain http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11700.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #8 posted by E_Johnson on July 14, 2004 at 09:26:03 PT It's an old tactic in propaganda The Nazis spread propaganda that Jews ate Christian babies.Stalin made regular use of photo ops with children.Children can't speak for theselves in the public arena, so everyone can use them for their own purposes.Sort of like animals. Animals can't fire the people who claim to be their spokespeople, and neither can children.That's why you find such extremism untempered by facts or reason surrounding these two topics. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by FoM on July 14, 2004 at 08:14:45 PT Duzt Picture of a Young Child This picture is big and on my Bryan Epis page. I hope you appreciate it. I agree stop using children as a scape goat. Parents need to be responsible for their own children or adults don't have any rights.http://boards.marihemp.com/boards/drugpolicy/media/3/3091.jpg [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Duzt on July 14, 2004 at 07:48:12 PT the damn kids when are these folks going to realize that it is the responsiblity of parents to raise their kids and not the government or society? I really couldn't care less what the children are going to think as laws are written for adults and not the children. I was raised with the understanding that adults got to do adult things and kids did kid things. I was told when I was 18 I could do whatever I wanted but until then I did what I was told. I'm sick of having to live by rules made to impress children. What a pathetically immature society we have in the U.S. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by goneposthole on July 14, 2004 at 07:23:34 PT the poor, poor children 'it's ok to smoke marijuana'It's ok to drink booze. If it weren't, it would be on the ballot.It's ok to smoke tobacco. If it weren't, it would be on the ballot.It's ok to consume those two substances in mass quantities like a conehead, but not cannabis.Anyone with a medical need should be able to smoke some marijuana without anybody sticking their nose into the matter, if they choose to smoke some. Nobody's decision but their own."It's better to keep your nose to the grindstone than in everybody's business." [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on July 14, 2004 at 06:06:28 PT: JRBD, there's more to this than most think Why is it that pirated DVD's are worth more than cannabis? Because many European nations are reducing their penalties for possession, or doing away with prosecution altogether. This in turn reduces the value of cannabis on the streets. So the incentive to smuggle is dropping as the street price plummets. A related instance illustrates how it naturally would; just look at Canadian prices for weed in BC, Ontario and Quebec. When the border tightened after 9/11, there was a glut of weed up there, and local prices dropped dramatically. I visited friends in Ontario recently, and I could not believe the prices I was quoted by fellow reformers up there. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor before somebody stepped on it and broke it. Figuring in currency differentials, at least half to one-third of what an American in the States has to pay, and for medical quality weed. I never had ANY schwag up there. The danger was in over-indulging from having nothing but middling quality weed to gauge from. (I still, however, maintain that last year's trip to Vansterdam left me feeling slighted by the weed quality. The weed I experienced in Ontario was shaken nitroglycerin by comparison. Hence my continued derision when somebody glowingly praises the much-ballyhooed "BC Bud". If what I had was typical, then folks out there are either keeping the good stuff to themselves, or are getting ripped off.)But the whole point becomes simple: legalization means lessened to no involvement by violent criminals doing the smuggling. How can cops not want that, when they face those criminals every day?Unless, of course, it was never their concern to begin with... [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on July 14, 2004 at 05:34:49 PT OT: DVDs worth more to criminals than THC >>According to Interpol, the high profits and low risks associated with DVD piracy mean that 1kg of pirated discs is now worth more than 1kg of cannabis resin to criminal and terrorist groups. Now if only there were some way to download cannabis... http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,12589,1260177,00.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by cloud7 on July 14, 2004 at 05:31:50 PT ... Im sure the poll would be doing better if they had phrased it differently. "A proposal to legalize marijuana for individuals with a medical need will appear on the ballot in Detroit. How would you vote?"would get much more support if it said (without the scary L word):A proposal to allow sick individuals to medicate their illnesses with marijuana will appear on the ballot in Detroit. How would you vote? [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on July 13, 2004 at 23:39:25 PT Poll from Above Article Please Vote: http://www.detnews.com/2004/politics/0407/14/c01-212245.htm [ Post Comment ] Post Comment