BK, long story. I'll try to make this short: Med MJ law passed by 63% of the people in 08. AG spent millions trying to defeat it. AG/Sheriff Assoc., etc. went after users anyway. The law is "plain language", so plain, that the f'cking Republicans can't understand it, so they challenged many aspects of the law in court: transportation (now must be in a locked box in the truck), no patient to patient transfers (only caregiver to patient transfers THAT ONE IS REGISTERED TO through the State), no selling or even giving away overages, dispensaries are illegal (Bird walk: in the last six months or so they've shut down most (dozens) of the dispensaries in the rural areas and some larger cities, i.e. Grand Rapids, of the state. Only municipalities that have decrimmed or quasi-legalized mmj laws are still open- Lansing, Ann Arbor, and others. In Detroit, its the wild, wild West, (hundreds of Dispense. new ones opening all the time)
Recently, the MI State Police lab changed their policy so that any extract, if one cannot detect "plant matter" then its classified as "unknown origin" which allows the local prosecutor to change the charge from a simple mj misdemeanor to a "synthetic THC" class one felony!
The good news, there are a group of activist attorneys who have FOIA'ed the hell out of the lab and have found potentially incriminating emails showing how the lab scientists opposed the change, but the admins changed the policy based on pressure from the AG's office. The media has now picked this up - including High Times - so the shit is about to hit the fan.
Meanwhile, LEO continues to close down dispensaries and harass medical patients for the smallest of issues. Under the law, as a patient, I can have 12 live plants and a max. of 2.5 oz. of bud and leaf. As a Caregiver/Patient, I can have the same for myself and each of my patients. (up to five)
Like any place, it often has to do with the local prosecutor, etc. Now, however, the MI State Police are conducting raids even though the local officials are ok with things. And, there are a number of bills (some fashioned after the debacle in Ohio) going through the legislature. If I had to guess, the one that will succeed is a "seed to sale" system. Everything - every seed, plant, grow facility (a license is rumored to cost $10,000), transfer company, product testing, labeling, etc., etc. is tracked from seed to sale. Estimated cost is around $250/patient annually to pay for all this. And, if the Sheriff's association gets their way, home grows will be eliminated.
You may know that there are two ballot initiatives collecting signatures to legalize MJ on the Nov. 16 ballot. MiLegalize
MI Legalize and the Michigan Cannabis Coalition (big business)
MICHIGAN CANNABIS COALITION – Get The Gnome To The Dome, modeled after Ohio . Another, Abrogate -
ABROGATE PROHIBITION MICHIGAN Constitutional Amendment Language - which would remove MJ from the Health Code and remove ALL penalties associated with MJ.
The legislature and LEO "sees" legalization coming and IMO are doing everything then can now to get "control" of it before Nov 2016.
I'm not the least bit pissed, am I?
[EDIT - sorry for hijacking the post
]
Good vibes sent your way................and a virtual fatty