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Posted on 01/09/2004 10:43:00 AM PST by poodle
INITIATIVE PETITION AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION
A PETITION TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN BY AMENDING ARTICLE 1 OF THE MICHIGAN CONSTITUTION TO ADD A SECTION 25 AND SECTION 26 AND ARTICLE 4 TO ADD A SECTION 55 WHICH WOULD READ AS FOLLOWS:
Article 1, Section 25 The right of the people to privacy is recognized and shall not be infringed.
Article 1, Section 26 The right of the people to regulate intrastate commerce is recognized and shall not be infringed.
Article 4, Section 55
No person who has reached the age of 21 years shall be fined, arrested or otherwise be denied the enjoyment of his or her civil or political rights for the personal cultivation or possession of marijuana or marijuana products. A marijuana product is any product containing marijuana plant parts.
Industrial hemp is defined as marijuana plant parts or products containing less than 0.3% THC and shall not be regulated by any governmental body or agency of Michigan.
Medical marijuana may be provided patients under age 21 for treatment prescribed by their licensed, supervising physician.
Any Michigan resident who has reached the age of 21 years may apply to the liquor control commission for a certificate to cultivate marijuana in Michigan for sale to authorized retailers and manufacturers within Michigan. The cost of such certificate shall not exceed $1,000.00 and may not be denied except for age or residency.
Any Michigan resident who has reached the age of 21 years may apply to the liquor control commission for a certificate to manufacture marijuana products in Michigan, from marijuana grown in Michigan, for sale to authorized retailers within Michigan. The cost of such certificate shall not exceed $1,000.00 and may not be denied except for age or residency.
Any retailer legally authorized to sell alcoholic beverages is authorized to sell marijuana, grown in Michigan, or marijuana products, from marijuana grown in Michigan, to any person who has reached the age of 21 years, during the hours so authorized to sell alcoholic beverages.
No governmental body or agency of Michigan shall set prices on marijuana or marijuana products and total taxes shall not exceed thirty-five percent of retail prices. The liquor control commission shall require retailers of marijuana and marijuana products to have a copy of the growers’ and manufacturers’ certificates on hand and manufacturers of marijuana products to have a copy of the growers’ certificates on hand.
No governmental body or agency of Michigan shall utilize any state or local resources or personnel investigating, notifying or enforcing any other agency's or government's laws or regulations affecting marijuana possession or distribution.
What the Amendment to the Michigan Constitution will accomplish
It legalizes the personal possession and cultivation of marijuana in Michigan. State, county, city, township, and village agencies will no longer arrest people for having marijuana on their person, in their home or in their garden. Irresponsible behaviors regarding the consumption of marijuana, such as driving while impaired or even public smoking can still result in a ticket or arrest.
It allows commercial cultivation through certificates issued by the liquor control commission. Most marijuana today is grown indoors or in remote fields. This is not only done to avoid arrest but to avoid people stealing the crop for their own use. Commercial farmers will most likely use greenhouses and basements. The quality will be outstanding and satisfy consumer demand.
Retailers who have a liquor license will decide if they want to sell marijuana grown in Michigan during the hours they can sell booze.
Since this amendment only legalizes marijuana grown and sold in Michigan it also puts Michigan marijuana consumers out of the reach of the federal government. The Supreme Court ruled in May 2001, that the federal government can shut down California clinics that distribute marijuana to aids and cancer patients because the federal government can regulate interstate commerce. That marijuana could come from Ohio or Columbia.
Since Michigan liquor retailers will only be selling marijuana grown in Michigan, the federal government will be out of the picture. As long as the Supreme Court respects the right of Michigan to regulate it's own intrastate commerce, the federal government won't be able to arrest anyone.
This amendment also avoids the whole issue of medical marijuana. Since marijuana would be available at liquor retailers, doctors are kept out of the middle and won't have to write prescriptions. And dying cancer and aids patients won't have to wait 6-8 months for their marijuana crops to grow.
A legal system to sell marijuana through liquor retailers will make it tougher for kids to get. Kids report that it is easier to obtain marijuana than beer.
And marijuana smokers will no longer be going to the black market, and to dealers who sell heroin, cocaine, acid, just to name a few. The police can concentrate their efforts on drug dealers and with much less illegal demand for marijuana, a lot smaller black market.
And tax it. Use the money for treatment programs, and save a piece of the $1.5 billion Michigan spends each year on its prison system.
Support the FREE MARIJUANA amendment. You won't see marijuana covering the landscape or more pot than is already smoked at concerts. Kids will learn that marijuana is an adult vice, like tobacco and alcohol and is not a healthy habit. IT'S NOT WORTH SENDING AMERICANS TO JAIL!
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Article 1, Section 25 The right of the people to privacy is recognized and shall not be infringed.
What are we trying to say here? This catchall phrase seems to open the door to legalized child abuse, child porn, conspiracy, etc. as long as its done behind closed doors. Aint'a gonna work.
And not necessarily in that order.
Bad idea, now and forever.
I am sure Michigan will defeat the measure, assuming it even gets on the ballot.
Although good intentioned, this would have no effect, as DEA thugs will still come to Michigan to persecute those performing activities which are perfectly legal under state law. The New Deal-era Commerce Clause twistings, uh, SCOTUS interpretations will have to be rolled back and the original intent of the Tenth Amendment will need to be restored before such legislation can have any real meaning.
Like every other Constitutional right, that is not an absolute and never has been. Otherwise, people could conceivably roam the streets at will robbing, raping, and murdering their fellow citizens, but be olly olly oxen free if they simply make it home before the police catch them.
I sometimes wonder if enough of my fellow countrymen are ever again going to 'grock' the concept of "rights."
Actually that's "grok", at least if you're referring to its approximate Heinleinian meaning; "to understand fully down to one's soul".
Rights are NOT something the government grants us. Rights come from God.
I have no dispute with that. But like everything else, you have to read the fine print. There is no such thing as a right that is never subject to challenge or interpretation. For if there were, justice would be as simple as printing a rule book or leaving the enforcement of man's law up to God.
It's what the DEA used to justify raiding medipot clinics in California, which were operating legally under state law. FYI - the first such raid occurred in October 2001 -- six weeks after 9/11 -- when one would think that the feds had better things to do.
what can we do to legalize it
would u like me to go around and collect siguanturs
A self-governance BTTT.
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