MI News November 2020 - Draft 5 the Merger of Medical and Recreational

 

Draft 5 the Merger of Medical and Recreational

The lobbyists for the cannabis industry in Michigan have been working hard to make significant changes to the Marijuana laws. They are currently on draft five which does several things to forever change the act as we know it. 

First it merges medical and adult-use under one law and changes it from a peoples initiated law, to an act of congress. By merging the two laws the MRA streamlines the licensing process and makes it easier to manage the inventories of both. By making the laws an act of congress the laws are much easier to alter in the future, as the lawmakers will no longer need a three-quarter majority to amend the laws. 

Other changes further criminalize activities for people that violate the new rules, making it a misdemeanor, punishable up to 90 days in jail and a $10,000 fine. (Caregivers pay attention here) The changes also move the law into the public health code, which furthers the ability for municipalities to zone out caregiver cultivation.

There are thirteen days in Lame Duck in which there will be an attempt by the emerging commercial Marijuana Facility industry and the license holders to push this through, without allowing the patients and caregivers to have input.  Patients and caregivers are encouraged to contact their lawmaker and join the MMMP Patient Caregiver Lobby Days Facebook event. Hopefully we can stop the push to make these radical changes and educate our lawmakers about the need to keep the caregivers in place for the immediate future. 

MMMP Patient Caregiver Lobby Days

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 4 - THURSDAY NOVEMBER 12 

LANSING, MI

READ OR DOWNLOAD DRAFT 4

READ OR DOWNLOAD DRAFT 5

VISIT THE FACEBOOK EVENT

VGIP: Return of the Lame Duck!

 

By: Ben Horner

When the legislature reconvenes in an even-numbered year following the November general elections to consider various items of business, it is commonly called “Lame Duck”.  Lame it is, too.  This is when lobbyists and legislators make the most sinister deals to change our laws, because the elections are over and most citizens are not paying attention. 

The last lame duck session that made critical changes to the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act (MMMA) was in 2012 when the state passed a package of bills known at the time as the “Walsh Bills”, named after John Walsh who was the primary proponent of the bills that amended the MMMA.  To amend a voter’s initiative a three-fourths majority is required.  The Walsh bills were heavily lobbied by the emerging medical marijuana industry, and some activists were satisfied with the results of watering down the restrictive nature of the bills.  In the August issue of the MMM Report cannabis activist Jamie Lowell answered some questions prior to the passing of the Walsh bills:

Interview with Jamie Lowell (August, 2012):

Question: There seems to be some confusion regarding recent lobbying for medical marijuana. Some folks fear that we might be putting patients and caregivers in a position of compromise. Can you shed some light on this?

Lowell: “I am not aware of any lobbying efforts, from within the community, that would compromise patient and caregiver rights and protections. Preserving the caregiver system and not changing the MMMA, is something that the entire community tends to agree with.

There are the well-known Walsh Bills, that contain restrictive and prohibitive language, but no medical marijuana organization in Michigan endorsed them as they were voted out of the House.  Patient advocacy organizations, such as Cannabis Patients United, significantly contributed to getting changes to language in the bills that worked to lessen their potential impact.  The original version of the bills would have gutted the entire Act.  CPU and others, successfully, worked to stop the most damaging aspects of the bills in their original form.”

We Reached out to Anqunette Sarof, aka “Q”, to get some insight into what is going on in Lansing.  Q is a Member of the Board of Directors for the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association.  She chairs the Expungement and Medical Marijuana and Health Disparities in Communities of Color committee for the MRA Racial Equity Work Group and volunteers with the League of Women Voters.  She also holds educational cannabis High Tea parties to help people learn how to use cannabis safely and effectively.   

Question:  There is legislation and lobbying gearing up to pass some bills to amend the Michigan marijuana laws, possibly this lame duck session.  Do you think this is true?

Anqunette: I believe it’s possible. Legislators have tools like these at their disposal and sometimes they use them.  It’s happened before, so there’s always a chance it could happen again.

Question: Have the work groups and share holders been given the opportunity to vet all of these new marijuana law changes?

Anqunette: I serve on the Racial Equity Work Group.  Our goal is to suggest additions to the law that would foster more industry participation by those most affected by the War on Drugs.  We have not been made aware of any new law changes.

Question: How can patients and caregivers get involved and what should they be aware of?

Anqunette: Patients should make sure their elected officials know they care about preserving their rights to grow at home.  Some communities are considering restricting home grows.  We worked hard to make sure people have the right to grow a plant.  I believe those rights should be preserved.

In this session, there are several bills that intend to amend both the MMMA and the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act (MRTMA). One bill moves to eliminate medical marihuana caregivers from growing in their own homes unless their local municipality passes an ordinance to regulate residential grows.  According to Rick Thomson’s post on social media, the bill’s main sponsor will not be moving forward.  This could be true, but all caregivers should be keeping a watch on this.  Other bills look to change the state tax revenue on cannabis to the general fund, verses where the people allocated the new revenue to go. 

Several bills are being introduced just recently. We implore you to take notice and reach out to your lawmakers and tell them not to rush anything thru.

World News - October 2020

 

British Columbia Indigenous Shelf Space Program

To support the Indigenous peoples in Canada, the BC Liquor Distribution Branch is rolling out a program to highlight cannabis products produced by companies owned or located by indigenous peoples. The program will be voluntary for privately owned marijuana retailers and mandatory for government-run stores. Currently, there are 20 government owned stores and 236 private sector stores.

The Indigenous Shelf Space Program is expected to be in operation sometime next year.  The BC Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) controls the mixture of  private/public cannabis retail store models in British Columbia.

Peru Makes CBD Available with Prescription

Canadian company Khiron Life Sciences, who primarily operates in Colombia, has been authorized to sell medicinal cannabis products at private pharmacies in Peru.  Their CBD product will be one of two available.  The other is imported from the U.S. and sold at a pharmacy run by the Peruvian General Directorate of Medicines, Supplies and Drugs (DIGEMID).

There are still no THC focused products legally available in Peru.  

Insurance Reimbursements for Cannabis Reaches 100k

The number of people looking to receive reimbursements for medical marijuana Germany has reached 100,000 according to data from German statutory health insurers (GKV).  This number tallies all applicants between 2017 thru mid 2020, with an average of 62% being approved annually.

Approximately 90% of Germany’s population receive statutory health insurance (also referred to as national health insurance) from a GKV, so the total does not include the 10% of the population who have private health insurance.  

Australia Latest Nation to Approve CBD Drug for Use

The CBD drug known as Epidyolex received the official thumbs up, down under.  Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has approved its use for treating patients with Lennox-Gastaut or Dravet syndrome for patients 2 and up due to its ability to help with seizures.

The drug was approved in the U.S in 2018, known as Epidiolex, and in Europe in 2019.  For the quarter ending June 30, 2020, Epidyolex and Epidiolex accounted for $117.7 million of British company GW Pharmaceuticals reported $121.3 million in quaterly revenue.

Ecuador Looks At Feeding Hemp Grain to Shrimp

In 2019 Ecuador was the top shrimp exporter on the globe, shipping over 600,000 tons.  To feed that sea of shrimp they primarily use corn.  But corn prices as of late are diverting many farmers away from it, choosing to plant other more profitable crops.  The nations’ grain supply also relies entirely on imports.

Enter hemp.  Low THC hemp grain could replace corn, and out pace other substitutes, to become the preferred shrimp food.  

Whether or not the shrimp will benefit from eating hemp is unknown, but livestock who have been moved to hemp grain tend to eat less and gain the same amount or more weight, due to it being both high in protein and nutrient dense.

Andres Luque, Ecuadors big cheese of cannabis for the Ministry of Agriculture, is rooting for industrtial hemp, “Our long-term vision, as the Ministry of Agriculture, is to develop the industrial hemp industry.”, he stated in an interview, “Sincerely, for us at the ministry, industrial hemp is the horse we’re betting on long-term.”

National News - October 2020

 

Pennsylvania Considers State Legalization Models

Pennsylvania Governor Wolf has changed his stance on adult-use legalization of cannabis last year, now favoring a tax and regulate policy.  

Facing opposition from the GOP legislature, the Pennsylvania lieutenant governor John Fetter has reached out to his counterparts in Michigan and Illinois to research what other states are doing right.

In a virtual forum, the three LT. Gov. discussed how their respective states are managing their marijuana programs. Pennsylvanian democrats hope that marijuana revenue can help offset their state coffers after loses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

West Coast Fires Continue to Threaten Outdoors Grows

Brutal wild fires have affected cannabis crops in Washington, Oregon and California. This season the dry and hot weather conditions have produced record numbers of acres burned and there is more expected in October. 

California and Oregon have rules specific for dealing with disasters, including fires. Licensed growers can seek pre-approved relief, but the process takes several months. Guerilla growers have no sanctioned relief. How this impacts the supply chain and the prices for cannabis on the street has yet to be determined. Many farmers are harvesting early to save their crops. This could drastically affect the quality. This years west coast weed might be a little smoky.

State Marijuana Ballot Initiatives

Arizona — After legalization suffered a narrow loss at the ballot box in 2016, a renewed attempt to end marijuana prohibition in Arizona is underway. The 2020 initiative (Prop 207), spearheaded by Smart and Safe Arizona, received official qualification for the November ballot on August 10.

Mississippi — Mississippians will have an opportunity to vote on two medical marijuana ballot initiatives this November. After gathering well over the required number of signatures, Mississippians for Compassionate Care succeeded in qualifying a medical marijuana initiative, Initiative 65. And in March, state lawmakers voted to put a competing measure — which puts greater regulatory control in the hands of the state legislature — on the ballot, too.

Montana — In January, the newly formed New Approach Montana campaign filed two ballot initiatives for state review. One, a constitutional amendment requiring roughly 50,000 signatures to qualify, would allow lawmakers to establish a legal age for marijuana consumption. The other, a statutory measure that requires about half as many signatures, would establish a system to regulate and tax marijuana for adult use. Despite signature gathering challenges caused by COVID-19, the group submitted more than 130,000 signatures on June 19 to qualify the pair of legalization initiatives for the November ballot. The campaign received official word on August 13 that both measures qualified for the November ballot. 

New Jersey — Unlike most other marijuana policy ballot initiatives, which qualify through signature drives, New Jersey will vote on legalization later this year thanks to a legislative referral. After failing to find enough common ground to pass a bill in 2019, lawmakers opted to put a proposal before the voters. 

South Dakota — Thanks to an impressive signature gathering effort last year, New Approach South Dakota and South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws succeeded in qualifying two marijuana policy reform initiatives for the 2020 ballot. One would establish a medical marijuana program, while the other would legalize and regulate marijuana for adults 21 and older. South Dakota will be the first state to vote on medical marijuana and adult-use legalization initiatives simultaneously.

States where initiatives failed include Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Missouri, Nebraksa, North Dakota, and Oklahoma.

Michigan News - October 2020

 

Psychedelic Plans and Fungi Decriminalized in Ann Arbor

The City of Ann Arbor has passed by unanimous vote on Sept. 21st a resolution that decriminalizes plants and fungi that contain indole amines, tryptamines, and phenethylamines ‘that can benefit psychological and physical wellness, support and enhance religious and spiritual practices, and can reestablish human’s inalienable and direct relationship to nature.”  On the list of substances this applies to are ayahuasca, ibogaine, mescaline, peyote, and psilocybin mushrooms, among others.

City council went so far as to contact the Washtenaw County prosecutor’s office and ask that prosecution of people involved in these types of plants and plant compounds immediately end.

Council members who had previously disagreed with the move found themselves swayed by proponents in recent months.  Arguments citing medical and spiritual benefits, as well as mental health treatment, being foremost considered.  

he resolution states that psychedelics can also be used for opioid addiction, PTSD, depression, anxiety, trauma, and other conditions where conventional treatments are found to be ineffective, and places them in the city’s lowest law enforcement priority.  It does not authorize or enable the commission of any crimes, according to council members, and any significant violation of state or federal law or any use of entheogenic plants that poses a threat to public health, safety and welfare still could result in city law enforcement involvement.

The lowest law enforcement priority ordinance is a drug law reform technique spearheaded by Chuck Ream during local ballot initiatives for marijuana in Washtenaw County.  Working with Julie Barron, the two founded Decriminalize Nature Ann Arbor to convince the City Council to do the right thing.

Ream explained in between trimming some recently harvested sticky buds, “It was nice to not be the leader this time.  We had a great group with help from the Decriminalize Nature Oakland group who has a great website that can help many other communities around the country.  Victory is the highest high.  There is no high like when you smoke a joint after a great victory after a long haul.  Life is my video game.”

Locals Vote on Pot Shops in Pinckney

Pinckney may become the first community in Livingston County to embrace tax and regulated marijuana. On November third voters will choose whether cannabis facilities will be allowed to be license locally under the state regulatory system. The local township originally denied the petition. Sam Pernick, a cannabis activist and local consultant from Royal Oak led the charge and won in the Court of Appeals to force the township to place it on the ballot.

Benzonia Township petition to ban pot shops failed after numerous attempts due in part to amateur petition drafting, which lends to the idea that stoners are better petition drafters then squares that oppose. 

Expungement Passes the Michigan Chambers

A package of nine bills passed both the Michigan House and Senate that will give hundreds of thousands of Michigan residence with old low-level crime convictions a clean record. HB 5120 would allow for the expungement of some marijuana offences. Some cannabis activists in Michigan are less then pleased, saying that these bills don’t go far enough. HB 5120 does not allow for expungement for offenses that are now legal in Michigan, particularly for those that grew and delivered marijuana. Only basic possession of marijuana can be expunged. 

People working on behalf of the cannabis community in support of these bills say they are the best step forward at this time.  Most of these bills passed without a single no vote, and is a feather in the cap for lawmakers that have been working to reform old drug war policies.

Don't Search My Backpack, Mr. Officer

In a recent unpublished Michigan Court of Appeals (COA) opinion, People vs. Mead, the COA acknowledged its mistake and the trial court was reversed by the Michigan Supreme Court (MSC) for not suppressing evidence for an illegal search of Larry Mead’s back pack despite the driver’s consent to search the vehicle. Mead was a passenger in a traffic stop in May of 2014. The arresting officer gained consent from the driver, who admitted she did not have a valid drivers license, to search the vehicle. Larry was holding his backpack at the time and the officer failed to ask for permission to search it. The backpack contained scales, marijuana and meth, so Mead was arrested and charged. 

Mead moved to suppress the evidence as fruit of an illegal search, which was denied, and Larry was convicted. He was denied at COA, but vindicated by the NSC when it overturned the conviction finding that his fourth amendment rights were violated. The opinion is set to be published.  

John Sinclair - Free the Weed #112 - October 2020

 

Hi everybody and welcome to the Motor City, where by the time you read this I’ll have celebrated my 79th birthday on October 2, something I’d never even dreamed of as I negotiated my course through life. Now I’ve been here an awfully long time, and if I can surmount my current health issues I’ll be here even longer, now shooting for the age of 80!

I want to start off this month’s column with a heart-warming report contributed by my man Allen Peisner, taken from the Jerusalem Post. The Post says that a group of Israeli cannabis advocates called the Green Drone  dropped hundreds of plastic baggies each containing two grams of cannabis flower over the city of Tel Aviv.

Before the event, the Post reports, activists published a statement via Telegram, an online messaging platform, that hinted at their plan:“It’s time my dear brothers. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the green drone, handing out free cannabis from the sky… Enjoy my beloved brothers, this is your pilot brother,making sure we all get some free love.” 

— “Green Drone” cannabis group, via the Jerusalem Post

The Post notes that “Passersby were recorded picking up baggies off the streets and sidewalks surrounding Rabin Square in downtown Tel Aviv. Some even stepped through busy traffic to retrieve baggies from the street.”

The activists hinted that this was only the first such cannabis airdrop. “We’re launching the ‘rain of cannabis’ project,” they told the Post,“that will include a weekly delivery to different parts of the country of 1 kilo of cannabis divided into free 2-gram bags,” the Green Drone group said on Telegram.

This is a terrific development in the right-wing warrior state of Israel and one we’d love to see here in Detroit and Michigan, where we have much less positive news to report this month. 

An uncredited story in the Michigan Chronicle sent to me by Jamie Lowell insists that BLACKS SHOULD CONTROL CANNABIS SHOPS and cites a guy named Jonathan Barlow who believes that marijuana is a cash crop that has the potential to offer blacks a golden harvest. The Chronicle explains that the legal U.S. marijuana industry grossed about $7.1 billion sales in 2016 and, of course, even more in the succeeding four years.

Barlow, spokesperson for Citizens for Sensible Cannabis Reform (CSCR) has led an effort to place two proposals on Detroit’s November 7 general election ballot. One ballot measure would align the city with state law, allowing growers to set up shop and processors and safety compliance facilities to be permitted in certain business and industrial districts.

The other measure would allow dispensaries to open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily and locate themselves within 500 feet of a church, another dispensary, park, liquor store or childcare center.

As the Chronicle points out: “With crafty names like House of Dank, Green Genie, Starbuds, and Detroit Grass Station, the city had as many as 283 dispensaries a few years ago, set up in former banks, strip clubs, restaurants, and even homes. In 2015, for example, 64 percent of them were located within 1.15 miles of suburban communities and 62 percent were located within 1,000 feet of an active school.”

Councilman James Tate, a former police official, introduced an ordinance that took effect on March 1, 2016 and resulted in the forced closure of 175 dispensaries who have been ordered to close. Tate says that there were about 30 black-owned dispensaries in Detroit, but “as a result of the ordinance,” he told the Chronicle, “those numbers went down, but all of the numbers went down because they were operating illegally.”

Reginald Venoy, an African-American Detroit resident, owns a dispensary on West 7 Mile Road near Evergreen called Greener Thingz.  He believes that it is important for people from the community to own these shops. “I think they should be owned by people in the city,” he told the Chronicle, “and blacks should be a part of it.“

Andre Godwin, a member of the Sons of Hemp, supports the ballot measures advanced by the CSCR. The Sons of Hemp wants the city to issue 50% of all dispensary permits to Detroiters, and at least 50 percent of the jobs to go to neighborhood residents and military veterans. 

The Chronicle reports that Councilman Tate opposes the ballot measures, citing a U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled race-based set-asides were unconstitutional. Marijuana use is roughly equal among blacks and whites, yet blacks were almost 4 times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession before the recent legalization laws were passed.

In the Detroit Metro Times, Lee DeVito and Jerilyn Jordan report: “According to the Lansing State Journal, only 4% of the respondents to a survey of cannabis license holders conducted by Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs identified as Black, though the group makes up 14% of the state’s population. High start-up costs are to blame for limiting who can enter the industry, though some municipalities have social equity programs that offer reduced fees for minority groups, as well as for people with previous drug offenses. 

“Meanwhile, Detroit, the biggest Black city in the country, has decided to not allow recreational cannabis sales for now, further limiting representation in the industry.” This points up the necessity of passing the CSCR measures in the Detroit City elections next month, and in this writer’s humble opinion, the pressing need to replace the numbskulls on the Detroit City Council with a much more reasonable, progressive group of citizens whenever possible.

Speaking of replacing numbskulls through the electoral process, the moment we’ve been waiting for over the past four years is now upon us, and it’s time to exercise our duty as citizens of this country to vote the despicable Resident Rump out of office. Whether he will leave the scene if and when defeated is another area of concern, but first we’ve got to out-vote the gang of thugs and bullies called the Republican Party and their spearhead, the dishonorable Rump.

Their latest caper, the rush to nominate and approve a new Supreme Court justice to replace the Notorious RBG, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, is as ugly a maneuver as I have ever seen, particularly since the very people who are perpetrating this ruse are the ones who refused even to consider President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee in 2016, several months prior to the presidential election, on the grounds that the new president should have the right to select the replacement judge.

Now, fairly certain that they will lose the election, the exact same Republicans are rushing to push some objectionable right-wing woman into Justice Ginsberg’s recently vacated seat despite their own doctrine of just four years ago. Incredible! How long are Americans going to put up with their gangsters and their insulting, unprincipled behavior?

They were supposed to vote on legalizing weed at last but they punked out at the last minute. We don’t deserve this shit! Free The Weed!

—Detroit

September 24, 2020

© 2020 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.

   

Tinfoil Hat Time! October 2020

 

Time is an interesting thing.  A seemingly unstoppable force.  Completely intangible, yet totally in control of human life.  

It would seem then, if one were to think about it, that control of time would result in control of human life.  That one could fundamentally change the world using nothing more than time.

The destiny of nations, the course of nature, morals, values, the way in which the masses view ideas, systems of government, control over resources, all of this and more could be manipulated with the use of weaponized time.

While harnessing time may seem impossible, understanding it and using that knowledge to one’s advantage is very much possible.

So how does one control time?

Tinfoil Hat Time.  Time, time, time, is on their side, yes it is!

Short answer, it depends.  Whether or not time is malleable on an individual level is a topic for another time and place (side note: it is).  For the purpose of adhering to a ‘broader’ audience we will stick with ‘realistic’ methods.

The OG method of time control is as classic as they come, declare time to be time and start recording it, tracking it, marking it down, and telling everyone else what it is.  This is essentially the binary code of time control.  The foundation.  In an instant you become the Sun.  You become god-like.  No longer do the rays of Sol dictate the course of a human day as mother Earth dances around the giver of light, no, it is now you.

With a calendar things get even better.  The role of the Moon, in her beautiful cycles, working in harmony with mother Earth to lovingly guide the sense of everything from seasons to reproduction, is now handled by you.  The stars, those twinkling revolving patterns that kept score of mothers’ rotation around the Sun for millenia, now relinquish their power to you.  

Being the new ruler of days and seasons you can now bend masses to your will using time in the most basic of material ways.  Wars can start in favorable months to guarantee better outcomes.  Castles and monuments can be demanded from slaves on a schedule more in line with your wishes.  Taxation in the form of coin or grain can now be marked late and usury charged accordingly.

At this point it is important to keep in mind that it is not actual time that you control.  You have simply constructed a new facade around time, one that allows you to control the perception of time.  It is the only way to control what one can not.  Perception is always the name of the game, especially when it comes to immaterial forces such as time.  Some other examples would include fear, anger, and hate.

The real power comes after your system becomes commonplace on every level over a long period of time.  Taught from birth, accepted as truth, and regarded as the meter by which all action should be based.  Twenty four hours a day.  Seven days a week.  Three hundred and sixty-five days a year.  

It also does not necessarily matter if your system is voluntarily accepted, or forced upon peoples and cultures with war and bloodshed.  Control over perception will erase all opposition, it is only a matter of time. 

The people, being conditioned to think in very short bursts of time as they are, will automatically be at a disadvantage, this part is essential.  Season to season, paycheck to paycheck, billing period to billing period, tax return to tax return, election to election, holiday to holiday, layer a few options to ensure results.  Again, the details do not matter, so long as the masses organically and subconsciously form for themselves the habit of thinking small when it comes to time.  Set ‘long term’ parameters that ensure you are the one defining ‘long term’.  Questions such as “Where do you see yourself in five years?” should result in either confusion, or pride in a sense of being an individual who plans ‘long term’.

Having an understanding of time, and being fully aware of how the masses do not, the ground work is complete and it is now time to use time to your advantage.

There is no end to the things you can accomplish with time on your side.  Selling music to children for fourty years that advocates drug use and peddling as the only way of life for minorities, shouting ‘F the police’ in song and encouraging criminal behavior, then blaming it on an entire race and system of government?  Totally doable.  Labelling a plant used all over the Earth as dangerous, then waiting for the inevitable truth to come out and seizing the moment to turn what was once free into your private cash cow?  No sweat.  Completely defiling a document that clearly limits government, after decades of slowly bending the system further and further toward centralized tyranny?  You betcha’.

The only problem you may face is finding a spot on this rock where all of this has not already been done. 

Good luck with that.