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Saturday, January 24, 2015

Michigan Polling Sales Tax vs Marijauna Tax



Michigan Polling Sales Tax vs Marijauna Tax

Press Release do not release until January 25th of 2015

 Poll Shows Higher Support Among Michigan Voter For Taxing Marijuana Verses Raising Sales Tax For Road And School Funding

January 21, 2015

FLINT- The Michigan voters will return to the polls to decide whether or not to increase the Michigan sales tax rate from six to seven percent.  According to recent Survey USA Poll commissioned by the Michigan Medical Marijuana Report, Michiganders would rather tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol.

The poll indicates that the majority of Michigan voters are against raising state sales tax to pay for roads and schools. A raise on sales tax was approved by the legislature and Governor Rick Snyder during last years in lame duck session, and will be voted on this May in a special statewide election. Of the 500 registered Michigan voters surveyed, only 43% support raising sales tax to pay for roads. 49% opposed the hike and 8% were not sure.

The poll shows 64% of Michigan adults would likely vote in favor of taxing and regulating Marijuana, as opposed to raising taxing across the board. 28% of respondents opposed regulating marijuana like alcohol, and 8% was not sure.  

"The road tax proposal is in serious trouble. Voters are suspicious of more taxes imposed upon the general population. There are other, more creative ways to generate revenue to fund roads and schools. Regulation and taxation of marijuana is an alternative voters seem to prefer." Tim Beck, Safer Michigan Coalition Chair.

“In these tough economic times when Michigan citizens look at other states like Colorado which is taking in tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue by regulating marijuana like alcohol and wonder, why we are not doing it here.” states Ben Horner from the Cannabis Stakeholders Group.

 Support for regulating marijuana was highest amongst voters that identified themselves as independents (68% yes), where as democrats (65% yes) and republicans (57% yes) was less. Of all the demographics in favor of raising the Michigan sales tax the young adults between the ages of 18-34, showed the greatest support for increasing the sales tax (49% yes).  This poll of 500 registered voters was conducted on January 20, has a margin of error of 4.5%. Approximately one third of the participants answered questions from cell phones and two-thirds by landlines.

Media Inquires:
Ben Horner, Cannabis Stakeholders Group Director
Phone: 810-338-5645
email: mmmreport@gmail.com

Tim Beck, Safer Michigan Coalition Chair
Phone: 313-414-2058
Email: trbeck1@gmail.com

Statement of Support

Reid Murdoch, director from Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP):

“It’s not surprising that Michigan voters would rather tax and regulate cannabis like alcohol to pay for schools and roads, rather than increase sale tax,” said Reid Murdoch, who directs a chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) at the University of Michigan Law School and serves on SSDP’s national Board of Directors. “Michigan is watching states like Colorado and Washington, whose tremendously successful tax-and-regulate programs have generated multimillions in revenue for spending on schools. Cannabis regulation is a bipartisan issue in Michigan, and would be a major windfall as our state struggles to fund its schools. Improved social outcomes and reduced criminal justice spending are further reasons for fiscally responsible Michiganders to join Students for Sensible Drug Policy in supporting this important reform.”

Allen F. St. Peirre, executive director for National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML):


"With state and local budgets all over the US under strain, notably in Michigan, and the need for infrastructure repair and improvement in the state is great. Rather than increase taxes on everyone in Michigan, why not tax the state's cannabis cultivators, sellers and consumers? Other states, notably Colorado and Washington State, are now taking in tens of million annually in new taxes. The Michigan voters recently polled seem to strongly agree with the premise that new cannabis taxes are better than increased sales taxes on everyone."

Here Are The Results of SurveyUSA News Poll #22072
Geography Surveyed: Michigan
Data Collected: 01/20/2015 - 01/21/2015
Release Date: 01/22/2015 10:05 ET
Sponsor: Michigan Medical Marijuana Report 

1
  Asked of 500 registered voters
  Margin of Sampling Error for this question = ± 4.5%


43%
Yes
49%
No
8%
Not Sure

2
  Asked of 500 registered voters
  Margin of Sampling Error for this question = ± 4.3%


64%
Yes
28%
No
8%
Not Sure


x
i
!

Friday, January 16, 2015

Michigan and National News -by Rachel Bunting

Lansing: A pair of bills that would expand access to medical marijuana and allow for different uses of marijuana were not taken up by the Senate this year, but may take up the issue again when session resumes next year. The “bills legalizing cannabis infused products for registered medical marijuana users and allowing dispensaries that would buy from and sell to them passed the House but not the Senate.” Some law enforcement agencies as well as health care professionals put out press against the legislation this week and may have influenced the Senate on not taking up the bill.

Got Meds: Lansing’s New Medical Marijuana Lounge -by Ben Horner

 
As the concept of Provisioning Centers is eclipsed by the failure to pass comprehensive legislation in Lansing, patients and caregivers move forward to create safe access on their own.

Free the Weed 46 -by John Sinclair

    Highest holiday greetings from Amsterdam and Happy New Year to everybody. I’m writing from my favorite spot, the 420 CafĂ©, where I landed a month ago from New Orleans to find that the 27th Annual High Times Cannabis Cup has been seriously disrupted by the local authorities who claimed that the Cup’s organizers had failed to obtain the proper permits for its five-day exposition of cannabis and weed-related products and shut down the affair. It’s no secret that the Netherlands and its business partners in America and the European Union have been increasingly unhappy with the relatively wide-open public availability, vending and smoking of weed in Amsterdam and in towns and cities all over the country. Nothing is more repulsive to these powers-that-be than the dread Cannabis Cup and its unbridled flaunting of cannabis freedom for more than a quarter of a century.
   

Genetic Stabilization -by Drew Dorr

   When it comes to science and math and probabilities and data logging and analyzing and quantification of information about our past grows, most of us growers just roll one up and get nice and stoned while we ponder and think about all the possibilities and come to some “high in the clouds” conclusion all on our own that is, pardon my French, fucking mind blowing!

Sunday, January 11, 2015

When It Comes To Cannabis, Congress Wants It Both Ways -by Citizen Jay

December 19, 2014
      Initiative 71, to fully legalize cannabis in our nation’s capital, passed with an overwhelming mandate garnering more than 70 percent of D.C. voters’ support. All it needed to move forward was the go-ahead from Congress.

Plans for 2015 -by Ben Horner

    2014 brought eight more big wins in local elections to remove penalties under local laws. Pushing the envelope in last year, the Safer Michigan Coalition lost by small margins in smaller, more rural towns like Lapeer and Frankfort, where the votes came short for the first time. Having tested the waters, we now know what demographics are too conservative to legalize cannabis in general.
 

VGIP UPDATE: Why the Bills Failed -by Ben Horner

       HB 4271 (the Provisioning Center Bill) and HB 5104 (the Concentrates and Edibles bill) were being lobbied for years starting with the Michigan Association of Compassion Centers (MACC). Spearheaded by independent lobbyist Kevin McKinney and activist Robin Schneider, the bill 4271 was originally drafted by the board members of MACC as the “Local Option Bill.” Critics within our community supported the idea of legal safe transfer points after a series of raids, but had great concern that many communities would opt out of allowing dispensaries.

Grow Tip -by Ben Horner

      Aquaponics is the production of food for plants utilizing hydroponics and the processing of fish, or other marine life’s waste into nitrates that can feed plants that are connected to the system. If done right, a completely self-sustained system that is truly organic can be developed.