POT CITIES GROW: Marijuana Decriminalization Trend Sweeps Across Michigan
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Pot is smoldering all over Michigan, LOL!
Efforts are being made in cities across the state to place marijuana legalization initiatives on local ballots.
On Election Day 2014, decriminalization measures appeared on local ballots in 11 Michigan cities. Six more cities were added to the ranks of those adopting decriminalization measures, bringing the total to eight that year.
On November 4, voters adopted the measures in Berkley, Huntington Woods, Mt. Pleasant, Pleasant Ridge, Port Huron, and Saginaw. In August, voters in Oak Park and Hazel Park adopted similar measures.
In November of 2008, Michigan voters approved a new state law allowing the medical use of marijuana. The new law allows seriously ill people in Michigan to legally use marijuana for medical reasons with doctors' approval and permits these qualified patients and there caregivers to grow limited amounts of marijuana for their own medical use. The use of marijuana in public or while driving remains illegal.
A Marketing Resource Group (MRG) poll has shown 61 percent of residents polled approve of the new law while 37 percent remain opposed.
According to a Michigan law adopted in 2012, patients and caregivers need to keep marijuana in a container in the trunk whenever transporting marijuana by vehicle. If the vehicle has no trunk, it must be inaccessible passengers.
A state appellate court in the Upper Peninsula overturned the conviction of an accused weed grower in November, saying the prosecutor went on an inappropriate "personal diatribe" against medical pot, states the Marijuana Policy Project.
The appeals court voted 3-0 to give Paul Heminger a new trial. Heminger was convicted earlier this year of growing more than 20 marijuana plants in Alger County, Mich.
Heminger had a medical marijuana card at the time of his arrest, but prosecutors contend he was growing too much weed to qualify for legal protection. Alger County prosecutor Karen Bahrman used her closing argument to rail against medical weed and the people who use it.
Bahrman complained to jurors about a local cannabis advocacy group that assisted in Heminger's defense, saying they had a "vision for the country where everybody can walk around stoned."
"They do everything to support the government services they want, and have nothing but criticism for the government services they don't want," Bahrman said. "We're trespassers and tramplers of their rights right up until they need us to protect them from the violence that they attract to the community."
In essence, Bahrman was pleading with the jury to convict Heminger because potheads don't like cops. In a ruling released Nov. 21, the appellate court held that her "unfounded, irrelevant and inflammatory statements" violated his right to a fair trial.
"The prosecutor's closing argument was clearly and thoroughly improper," the court said. "The prosecutor embarks on a political commentary, and a personal diatribe discrediting the (law) as a whole. . . . She calls the (medical marijuana) act "meaningless," and suggests that those suffering from chronic pain are simply cheating the system.
Bahrman was defensive after the opinion was released, saying it was her only reversal in 30 years.
Michigan voters adopted MMJ by a wide margin in 2008, winning a majority vote in every one of the state's 83 counties -- including Alger County and its neighbors in the Upper Peninsula.
The law is still in flux; last year, the Michigan Supreme Court banned medical weed dispensaries. Patients must grow their own pot or get it from a licensed caregiver.
The backlash against MMJ has been fierce in the state's conservative political corners. But the program has survived numerous legal challenges and remains the oldest of its kind in the Midwest.
Legal recreational weed may be on its way, opposition like Bahrman's to the contrary. Several cities have already legalized on the local level, though that doesn't affect state law.
Heminger received a six-month sentence after his first trial. He is free on bond while Bahrman decides whether to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
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