The Marijuana Legalization Initiative is an initiated state statute proposed for the Michigan ballot on November 8, 2016 ballot.
The measure would legalize, regulate and tax marijuana.
Adults age 21 and older would be permitted to possess and use marijuana and to cultivate 12 plants each. The initiative would also allow for hemp farming.
Text of measure
Ballot summary
An initiation of legislation to allow under state law the personal possession and use of marihuana by persons 21 years of age or older; to provide for the lawful cultivation and sale of marihuana and marihuana-infused products by persons 21 years of age or older; to permit the taxation of revenue derived from commercial marihuana facilities and to require that any such taxes be used for the purposes of education, public safety and public health; to permit the legislature to require licensing of commercial marihuana facilities by establishing a Michigan Cannabis Control Board, which board would be responsible for enforcement and administration of this act, including the promulgation of administrative rules.
The initiative campaign is being led by the Michigan Comprehensive Cannabis Law Reform Committee. The group is headed by Jeffrey Hank, who has organized local marijuana legalization initiative campaigns in Lansing and East Lansing, including one that appeared on the May 5, 2015, ballot.
Senator Jones, the legislature’s leader in receiving campaign contributions from the medical marijuana industry, has finally authorized the hearing of a trio of medical marijuana bills in the Michigan Senate Judiciary Committee. Well, he sort of granted them a hearing.
A notice for the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 1:00 PM listed the three bills passed by the Michigan House- HBs 4209, 4210 and 4827- as being on the agenda for amendment, debate and voting. But don’t get too excited about the opportunity to tell the Senate what a crappy piece of legislation this current version of HB 4209 is, or how unnecessary a seed-to-sale tracking system is in Michigan.
Senator Jones ALSO scheduled 14 other bills for consideration on the same day, in the same session, per the notice sent on December 3 at 11:56. On Dec. 4 at 2:12 an updated Agenda was sent out redefining the bills into two categories: those taking testimony only, and those bills which are available for amendment, debate or voting. 8 bills are testimony only; the dispensary bills are not. These Committee sessions typically last a single hour.
Over the last two months, the Senate Judiciary Committee has conducted three sessions where testimony was taken from out-of-state commercial interests, in-state dispensary operators, prosecutors and law enforcement agencies- but not from actual citizens or medical marijuana patients. Sen. Jones will finally call the medical marijuana bills for a potential vote, but with no reasonable expectation of public participation.
Perhaps that’s politically expedient for Jones and the Senate Republicans but it’s not the way to create good law. But, maybe he doesn’t care; according to a new report from Fox 2 News in Detroit, Sen. Jones recently received more registered contributions to his PAC from the marijuana industry ($16,000) than any other legislator, including bill sponsors Rep. Michael Callton ($12,000) and Rep. Lisa Lyons (less than $2,000).
Apparently, it pays better to be a stick-in-the-mud Committee Chair than it does to be a sponsor of progressive legislation. Ask the reptilian Rep. Klint Kesto ($11,000 in donations) who chairs the House Committee in which the dispensary and concentrates bills were snagged up in earlier this year. He cashed the checks, too.
One of those groups granted an opportunity to testify was the National Patients Rights Association (NPRA), and their Chairman Adam Macdonald is worried about behind-the-scenes manipulation of bill language by outside interests.
“We (the NPRA) have spent several years working to provide patients with safe access to their medicine. We had reached an agreement on bill content with both law enforcement and the patient advocacy groups involved, but it appears a new amendment for the alcohol industry is being added to HB 4209 (via amendment on Dec. 8),” Macdonald revealed.
“This is a new development and a drastic change that we, as a pro-patient organization, will not be able to support. It’s unlikely the bills will pass if the three-tiered recreational alcohol model is added.”
Even without knowledge of this sophisticated Senate betrayal, marijuana community advocates expressed their anger over the current bills- and the legislative manipulation that changed them during the 2015 session.
“I’ve totally lost faith in the integrity of the legislature to make positive changes in these restrictive, overbearing bills,” said Jamie Lowell of Michigan ASA and the MILegalize campaign. “I don’t see these bills being significantly improved while in the Senate; if anything, Sen. Jones is going to make them more restrictive and raise the taxes.”
“Although I am incredibly excited at the prospect of the bills being heard in the legislature I am extremely apprehensive about the potential amendments that could be made to the language,” said Jim Powers of Michigan Parents for Compassion.
That sentiment was echoed by Southfield attorney Michael Komorn. “I think most people in the medical marijuana community have lost faith in Michigan’s legislature,” he told TCC.
“We know these bills do not have patients and caregivers in mind. They have been warped into bills that favor the law enforcement community. I think 3.3 million Michigan voters were pretty clear when they said they did not want law enforcement policing medical marijuana patients.”
Two other medical marijuana bills are making a Senate Judiciary appearance on Dec. 8: SB 140 and the tie-barred companion bill SB 141, which were introduced in February. SB 140 is the Senate version of the House concentrates bill, and SB 141 is a technical correction in law mandated by language contained in SB 140.
The prospect of the bills being amended and voted on was the subject of great discussion on the Planet Green Trees Radio Show broadcast of Dec. 3; listen to the podcast at www.planetgreentrees.com
The official notice of the meeting appears below.
**AMENDED**
NOTICE OF SCHEDULED MEETING
**PLEASE NOTE TIME AND LOCATION**
COMMITTEE: Judiciary DATE: Tuesday, December 8, 2015 TIME: 1:00 p.m. PLACE: Senate Hearing Room, Ground Floor, Boji Tower, 124 W. Allegan Street, Lansing, MI 48933 PHONE:Corey Woodby (517) 373-1721
Committee Clerk
AGENDA
SB 20 Sen. Shirkey Criminal procedure; other; default standard for mens rea in criminal statutes; establish.
SB 140 Sen. Shirkey Health; medical marihuana; marihuana-infused products; allow and regulate.
SB 141 Sen. Young Criminal procedure; sentencing guidelines; sentencing guidelines for selling marihuana in violation of registry identification card restrictions; update.
SB 551 Sen. Schuitmaker Probate; wills and estates; designation of a funeral representative to make disposition arrangements for decedent; provide for.
HB 4209 Rep. Callton Health; medical marihuana; state and local regulation of marihuana provisioning centers; provide for.
HB 4210 Rep. Lyons Health; medical marihuana; marihuana-infused products; allow and regulate.
HB 4680 Rep. Pagel Corrections; other; authority for correctional industries to engage in certain private manufacturing or service enterprises; extend sunset.
HB 4713 Rep. McBroom Criminal procedure; other; default standard for mens rea in criminal statutes; establish.
HB 4827 Rep. Kesto Marihuana; administration; seed-to-sale tracking system for commercial marihuana; establish.
Testimony Only:
SB 629 Sen. Jones Children; parental rights; termination of parental rights to a child; expand to include forcible rape where child results.
HB 4476 Rep. Santana Civil procedure; other; mediation; limit in certain domestic relations actions.
HB 4477 Rep. Kesto Civil procedure; appeals; service of papers; provide for alternate service if party is protected by a protective order.
HB 4478 Rep. Kosowski Civil procedure; personal protection orders; acts that may be enjoined; include harming animals owned by petitioner.
HB 4479 Rep. Price Crimes; assaultive; assault of a pregnant woman; increase penalties under certain circumstances.
HB 4480 Rep. Heise Children; protection; factors determining best interest of child; modify in cases of domestic violence.
HB 4481 Rep. Lyons Family law; child custody; custody or parenting time for certain parents of a child conceived through sexual assault or sexual abuse; prohibit under certain circumstances.
HB 4788 Rep. Price Criminal procedure; sentencing guidelines; sentencing guidelines for crime of assault and battery of a pregnant individual; provide for.
And any other business properly before the committee.
Posted by Rick Thompson at 7:30 AM on December 7, 2015
Michael Komorn is recognized as a leading expert on the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act. He is the President of theMichigan Medical Marijuana Association (MMMA), a nonprofit patient advocacy group with over 26,000 members, which advocates for medical marijuana patients, and caregiver rights. Michael is also the host of Planet Green Trees Radio, a marijuana reform based show, which is broadcast every Thursday night 8-10 pm EST. Follow Komorn on Twitter.
June 18, 2014 – An article in the County Press newspaper in Lapeer County Michigan written by Phil Foley asserted that a local medical marijuana activist identified as Jamie Fricke, 34 was headed for trial on one of the three felony drug charges.
Fricke’s attorneys persuaded Chief Circuit Court Judge Nick O. Holowka to recuse the Lapeer County Prosecutor’s Office from her prosecution in a case stemming from a February 2012 raid on her home by the Lapeer County Sheriff’s Dept.
Some Excerpts from the article…
“Fricke’s new defense attorney, Michael Komorn of Southfield, maintained that since Lapeer County Prosecutor Tim Turkelson once defended Randy Crowell, who opened a medical marijuana dispensary in Dryden, and that Fricke had been an employee of Crowell, she had shared “secrets” with Turkelson that tainted any prosecution against her.”
“I didn’t sign up for this,” Komorn told Holowka Friday afternoon. He told the judge that both as a defense attorney and as prosecutor Turkelson had questioned the truthfulness of the lead investigator in the case against Fricke, Lapeer County Sheriff’s Dept. Det./Lt. Gary Parks.”
Lt. Gary Parks was involved on the raid on Fricke’s Lapeer home Feb. 21, 2012, and reportedly found 18 pounds of marijuana.
While Komorn asked for the Lapeer County Prosecutor’s Office to be recused from the trial set for Tuesday (June 17), Turkelson stated Fricke is facing two other related felony charges.
“He said following the Feb. 21 search of her home, police stopped Fricke March 27, 2012, to serve the arrest warrant issued after that search. Turkelson said police found “medibles,” food stuffs with marijuana in them, in her car. That resulted in another felony charge for manufacture and delivery of marijuana.”
“Fricke’s car was stopped a second time May 10, 2012. This time, Turkelson said police found nine red Solo cups with marijuana plants in them, containers of marijuana butter and oil and two large and one small mason jars filled with marijuana buds. Fricke was charged for a third time with felony manufacture and delivery of marijuana.”
“Last month police reportedly stopped Fricke for doing 10 miles an hour over the speed limit on I-69 and in addition to citing her for speeding, police issued a misdemeanor citation for improper transport of medical marijuana.
“Turkelson said that while Holowka only recused his office from the Feb. 21 case, he decided to put all four cases together and turn them over to the state Attorney General’s Office for reassignment to a prosecutor in a neighboring county. He said that should take two or three weeks to complete and then a month after that before the new prosecutor sets another pre-trial conference.”
Komorn claimed Turkelson engaged in “prosecutorial misconduct,” and said he planned to file a Bar Association complaint.
Komorn said “three people saw (Turkelson) in the sanctity of the defense war room.”
“Turkelson said later that Fricke was not charged in either of those incidents and was only an employee at Crowel’s dispensary.”
One the affidavits Komorn supplied the court was from former assistant prosecutor Matt Funke. Funke wrote in the document that Turkelson had told the prosecutor’s staff that Lt Gary Parks has “a propensity not to be honest.”
While Komorn wanted Holowka to dismiss the charge against Fricke because the “system is so corrupt,” the judge only agreed to reassign the case.
Michael Komorn is recognized as a leading expert on the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act. He is the President of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association (MMMA), a nonprofit patient advocacy group with over 26,000 members, which advocates for medical marijuana patients, and caregiver rights. Michael is also the host of Planet Green Trees Radio, a marijuana reform based show, which is broadcast every Thursday night 8-10 pm EST. Follow Komorn on Twitter.
