Do pot and heroin have anything in common?
February 4th, 2019
What do pot and heroin have in common? Nothing, says poet John Sinclair — which is why he is suing
John Sinclair is famous for many things. He’s a poet, civil rights activist and, certainly not least, one of Michigan’s leading potheads.
His conviction to 10 years in prison in 1969 for selling two joints to an undercover agent became a cause célèbre, attracting John Lennon, Bob Seger and Stevie Wonder to his aid.
Now, 50 years later, Sinclair has a new cause. He is suing the Michigan Board of Pharmacy to erase marijuana from the state’s list of controlled substances. If he is successful, pot would no longer be in the same category in Michigan as drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
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Sinclair’s conviction was overturned by the Michigan Supreme Court, which ruled his punishment unconstitutional. The landmark case also barred the government from using electronic surveillance without a warrant..
Joining Sinclair are the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, the Michigan Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, pharmacist Paul Littler, autism researcher Christian Bogner and medical marijuana patient Josey Scoggin.
Attorney Michael Komorn said the placement of marijuana as a Schedule I substance in Michigan — formally defined in the Public Health Code as a “high potential” for abuse and no accepted medical benefits — is entirely contradictory to the formation of both the medical marijuana industry and the recent passage of Proposal 1.
“Marijuana can no longer be considered harmful,” Komorn wrote. “Because of its contraband status, the mere suspected presence of marijuana is sufficient to establish probable cause to raid citizens’ homes and forfeit their property. Under current case law, there is probable cause to search every single medical marijuana cardholder.”
While Proposal 1 effectively legalized the adult possession and recreational use of marijuana, Komorn said its ranking within the Public Health Code could open the door for unwarranted police enforcement. He also contended Child Protective Services could lean on the list to make custody decisions for pot smoking parents.
“The continued placement on the public health code defines marijuana as a narcotic or some type of dangerous substance,” Komorn added. “It completely contradicts the regulatory structure that allows for medical marijuana. It’s not a dangerous substance and needs to be removed from that list immediately.”
Komorn, however, couldn’t offer a single example of an unlawful search and seizure since the passage of Proposal 1. Sinclair also recognized the lawsuit could be more a symbolic gesture than a mechanism for meaningful change. For him, it’s more about state recognition that the board’s scheduling structure is flawed.
Cannabis Advocates Want To Remove Marijuana From Controlled Substances List
Cannabis Advocates Want To Remove Marijuana From Controlled Substances List
A group of Michigan citizens and organizations is suing the Michigan Board of Pharmacy to eliminate marijuana from the Schedule I list of controlled substances.
The state’s Public Health Code, which was enacted in 1978, treats marijuana like opioids and heroin, and that is “unconstitutional under Michigan law,” wrote Michael KOMORN, attorney for the residents and organizations in the complaint recently filed in the Court of Claims.
“Even opium, a ‘hard narcotic’ and the root of the opioid epidemic, is a Schedule 5 drug when sold in small concentrations,” he said. “As there is no rational basis to classify marijuana with hard narcotics, it now must be classified below Schedule 5. As no such schedule exists, marijuana must be de-scheduled.”
Komorn, president of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, also argued that by passing the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (MMFLA), the “Legislature has by implication repealed . . . marijuana’s controlled substance status.”
The MMFLA and Michigan Controlled Substances Act (MCSA), he noted, are “fundamentally inconsistent and incapable of being harmonized.”
Interested in getting a license to operate a Cannabis Business. You need a full service law firm.
Contact Komorn Law… 800-656-3557.
Contact Komorn Law… 800-656-3557.
Other plaintiffs include the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, Dr. Christian Bogner, who researches the effects of cannabis to treat autism; Josey Scoggin, whose daughter is a medical marijuana patient; Paul Littler, a pharmacist; NORML of Michigan.
The “absurdity” of the legal conflict between the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act and the Public Health Code has to be addressed, said Michael Komorn, one of the attorneys behind the case.
“It’s intellectually dishonest,” Komorn said.
For the past year, state officials have allowed caregivers to grow marijuana at home and bring it to provisioning centers to sell to patients — a practice that continues as there’s a shortage of licensed marijuana in the market.
“This is not a controlled substance,” Komorn said. “The idea that someone would be growing an opioid … and bringing it to a pharmacy because they were running low on their meds is the scenario that would have to exist in order for marijuana to remain as a scheduled drug.”
“Michigan’s Public Health Code was adopted in 1978, and mirrored much of the national rhetoric towards drugs”, Komorn said.
John Sinclair has a long history of advocacy in Michigan; his 1967 arrest over two joints sparked the first Hash Bash in Ann Arbor.
The Michigan Supreme Court in 1972 noted in the opinion that overturned Sinclair’s conviction that…
“not only that there is no rational basis for classifying marijuana with the ‘hard narcotics’, but, also, that there is not even a rational basis for treating marijuana as a more dangerous drug than alcohol.”
Lawsuit Filed To Remove Cannabis From Michigan Controlled Substances List
Cannabis advocates are suing the State of Michigan to remove marijuana from the state’s list of controlled substances in its Public Health Code.
Although the passing of the adult-use marijuana law in Michigan in 2018, medical marijuana laws and the addition of bureaucracy and state taxes on marijuana sales, the state’s Public Health Code still treats marijuana like heroin.
“For 80 years they’ve been locking people up and taking their possessions and harassing and terrorizing us as citizens because we like to smoke weed,” said poet and activist John Sinclair
“I want to be part of every effort to completely remove the police from our lives regarding to marijuana. They’ve got nothing at all to do with marijuana.”
Sinclair is one of several plaintiffs on the lawsuit against the Michigan Board of Pharmacy and its chairwoman Nichole Cover, filed last week in the Michigan Court of Claims.
Interested in getting a license to operate a Cannabis Business. You need a full service law firm.
Contact Komorn Law… 800-656-3557.
Contact Komorn Law… 800-656-3557.
Other plaintiffs include the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, Dr. Christian Bogner, who researches the effects of cannabis to treat autism; Josey Scoggin, whose daughter is a medical marijuana patient; Paul Littler, a pharmacist; NORML of Michigan.
The “absurdity” of the legal conflict between the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act and the Public Health Code has to be addressed, said Michael Komorn, one of the attorneys behind the case.
“It’s intellectually dishonest,” Komorn said.
For the past year, state officials have allowed caregivers to grow marijuana at home and bring it to provisioning centers to sell to patients — a practice that continues as there’s a shortage of licensed marijuana in the market.
“This is not a controlled substance,” Komorn said. “The idea that someone would be growing an opioid … and bringing it to a pharmacy because they were running low on their meds is the scenario that would have to exist in order for marijuana to remain as a scheduled drug.”
“Michigan’s Public Health Code was adopted in 1978, and mirrored much of the national rhetoric towards drugs”, Komorn said.
John Sinclair has a long history of advocacy in Michigan; his 1967 arrest over two joints sparked the first Hash Bash in Ann Arbor.
The Michigan Supreme Court in 1972 noted in the opinion that overturned Sinclair’s conviction that…
“not only that there is no rational basis for classifying marijuana with the ‘hard narcotics’, but, also, that there is not even a rational basis for treating marijuana as a more dangerous drug than alcohol.”
What does the future hold for marijuana in Michigan?
A really quick peek into the coming 2019 Year of Marijuana and Michigan.
Prop 1, along with the new State and Federal hemp legislation and the MMFLA, will fundamentally reconfigure the police encounter.
The smell or mere presence of cannabis can no longer constitute reasonable suspicion to stop or probable cause to raid.
Previous to Prop 1 of 2018 being enacted, for the past 30 years, 40 % of the criminal call for both district courts and circuit courts throughout the State were for marijuana possession cases.
These cases should dramatically decrease or end, as they have in Colorado , Washington and other legalized states.
Likewise it should follow that the Michigan State Police Forensic Science Department (The State Lab) work load that devours 40 percent of its budget on marijuana should dramatically be reduced and allow that department to focus on the untested rape kits that remain on the shelves all across Michigan.
Opportunities
Prop 1, along with the new hemp legislation should set the stage for the renaissance of an entirely new multi-million dollar industry right here in Michigan.
There is no question that this new law should create opportunities for thousands of jobs that include both farming and manufacturing.
The now:
Currently, prosecutors are continuing to prosecute marijuana crimes that occurred before legalization.
The new law is not retroactive, prosecutors have discretion to proceed or drop cases.
What happens when it comes to sentencing, how would the judge proceed to sentence someone for a crime that is legal now?
Concerns that still remain
With the legislature still made up of older people and prohibitionists, newly crafted prohibitionist bills will be passed by the legislature in 2019.
A Scientific Fact?
Science will continue to show no driving influence with marijuana, but a nanogram limit maybe imposed by the prohibitionists, despite zero science to support such a finding.
The MSP roadside testing pilot program has finished its testing, and a report is due out soon.
The Struggle is Far From Over
Medical marihuana will be under attack in 2019 from the prohibitionists who thought “medical marijuana” was a sham all along.
We must continue to be steadfast in defending the MMMA for both patients and especially for the caregivers. This past year has taught us that the state regulated MMFLA system cannot exist without caregivers.
Case Dismissed…Not Just Yet
In speaking with other attorneys and firms, not a single case has been dismissed due to legalization. The brownie case is still active and is up for a hearing in Oakland County Courts in January 2019.
The butter case is still active, most recently the prosecutor filed an application to appeal the Mich Supreme Court 2017 opinion ruling that 4 am was unconstitutional for a knock and talk.
The Mansour case, where the Court of Appeals opinion declared all unusable (drying) marijuana to be illegal to possess, is pending appeal in the Michigan Supreme Court.
Keep an Eye on History
Our community must observe the history of Colorado and Washington to succeed in 2019. We must study Colorado and Washington’s history so we will not repeat the same mistakes here in Michigan.
We can learn a lot about taxes, delivery services, social use bar type lounges and enforcement policy on state licensed businesses.
Social Clubs
Social Clubs / smoke lounges will be a big topic in 2019, for the people who cannot smoke at home, let’s hope that any confusion on this topic is resolved with civility and not the military type raids that has been the calling card of law of enforcement regarding medical marihuana.
2019 is Here
2019 will be the year of the cannabis green rush. There will be winners and losers, my only hope is that these outcomes are determined from the organic market place ( the best business, the best products, the best operators) and not from the inept licensing board that has interfered with the development of the states regulated system.