A Column by John Sinclair

First off, I’d like to thank all the people in my home town of Flint who came out to celebrate my birthday with me and the great band called Glowb at Churchill’s earlier this month. I had a great time and I’d like to give thanks to my friend Chris Kotarski and my publisher, Ben Horner, who threw the party for me.

I was born October 2, 1941 in Women’s Hospital on the west side of Flint. My earliest years were spent in a little house on the bend of M-21 in Elba, just east of Potter’s Lake, but I grew up in Davison, went away to college for a couple of years and then returned to Flint and graduated from the University of Michigan—Flint College in the spring of 1964.

I smoked my first joint in Flint just about 50 years ago and I’ve been getting high on a daily basis ever since—except for the three years I was incarcerated in one Michigan prison or another. I was first busted for weed in the fall of 1964, not long after I’d moved to Detroit to attend graduate school in American Literature at Wayne State University, and I began a lifetime of marijuana legalization advocacy in January 1965.

I’ve been a poet since I was in college and I think it’s important to note that the marijuana legalization movement was kicked off by a pair of eminent modern poets in New York City: Allen Ginsberg and Ed Sanders. One day very early in 1965 I received in the U.S. mail an announcement that the bards had organized a social action group called New York LEMAR (Legalize Marijuana) and called their first demonstration for later in January. This is the demonstration that produced the classic photo of Allen Ginsberg in an Uncle Sam top hat carrying a placard that said POT IS FUN.


I took a few tokes, slid a stencil into my electric typewriter and punched out a message heralding the formation of Detroit LEMAR, then strapped the stencil onto the mimeograph machine at our Detroit Artists Workshop and printed out a couple hundred flyers for immediate distribution around the WSU campus.

That’s how I got my start as a marijuana crusader. I was busted a second time by the Detroit Narcotics Squad in August 1965— marijuana was then legally classified as a narcotic— and I wanted to mount an immediate challenge to the constitutionality of the Michigan statute. But my attorney, a great guy called Mike Leven, explained that the penalty upon conviction for my crime of delivering marijuana would be a minimum mandatory sentence of 20 years in prison, with the possibility of life imprisonment.

My attorney convinced me that he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he was responsible for losing my case in Recorders Court and causing me to be sent to prison for 20 years to life. So he talked me into copping a plea and serving six months in the Detroit House of Correction with another three years of probation added on to the two years I was already serving.


I got out of DeHoCo in August 1966 and returned to my life in Detroit as a poet, underground journalist, cultural organizer and vocal opponent of the marijuana laws and the police who enforced them. As a consequence, I was busted for the third time in January 1967 for giving two joints to an undercover policewoman three days before Christmas. This time I was determined to fight the law under which I expected to be charged year after year, and happily I found sympathetic—and daring—legal representative by a great attorney, Sheldon Otis, who was soon joined by a young associate named Jusrin “Chuck” Ravitz. They prepared a comprehensive legal challenge to the Michigan marijuana law and began to pursue it in Detroit Recorders Court, which appointed a three-judge panel—for the first time in Michigan jurisprudence—to consider our constitutional challenge.


The panel ruled that the issue couldn’t be decided without a conviction on appeal, and both the Michigan Court of Appeals and the Michigan Supreme Court upheld this decision, so I went to trial 2-1/2 years later, in July 1969, on a charge of possession of two joints. (The transfer charge was dropped the day before trial.)
In order to keep the record clear for our appeal, I offered no defense except on constitutional grounds: that marijuana was not a narcotic and a ten-year sentence for possession was cruel and unusual punishment. My conviction was entered and I was sentenced on July 28, 1969 to 9-1/2 to 10 years in prison.

Despite the lofty nature of my constitutional challenge to the law and the innocuous nature of my crime, the courts would not allow me an appeal bond while my case wound its way through the appeals process and I was sent to Jackson Prison, then to Marquette Prison in the Upper Peninsula for a year under maximum security, then back to Jackson under maximum security for another year and a half. The Michigan Court of Appeals refused appeal bond on the grounds that I was a danger to society, a decision also upheld by the Michigan Supreme Court, so I remained under severe incarceration until December 1971 when the Michigan Legislature enacted a new drug law that removed marijuana from the narcotics classification and reduced the sentence for possession to one year.

Since I’d already served 29 months of my unconstitutional sentence and my argument on appeal had already been heard by the Supreme Court, I was granted an appeal bond and released from prison on December 13, 1971. Three months later the Supreme Court agreed that the previous marijuana law was unconstitutional and reversed my conviction. I’ve been free ever since.

Marijuana has remained illegal all this time, although the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act of  2008 passed by the vote of 62% of Michigan citizens has opened a window onto a new era for the marijuana user, although law enforcement is loath to give up its power over the lives of the innocent people who are victimized by the bizarre machinations of the War On Drugs.

I don’t know exactly what made me recount this story here except perhaps the passing of an extraordinary milestone in the form of my 70th birthday and the current agitation to further reform the marijuana laws and decriminalize our beloved herb after another 40 years of arrests and convictions of thousands and thousands of marijuana smokers. It’s time to take the police out of the picture as far as this benevolent herb and powerful medicine is concerned. In fact, it’s way past time, and it can be done by continuing the struggle in the courts and at the ballot box to institute a rational and humane methodology for responding to and answering the needs of people who smoke marijuana for whatever reasons.

It’s none of their business!
Let It Grow! VoteGreen in 2012

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I'm Just A Bill by JC Trout

Many of you have recently heard or read some of the bills coming out of our legislative houses here in Michigan. The MMM Report has decided to examine a few of the more important bills coming down the pike and provide information on the feasibility of these bills to pass. This does not mean that the MMM Report has some inside information, but rather using the political landscape as it sits, we may deduce their outcome. However, this is only a forecast.

Senate Bill (SB) 17 was introduced back in January 2011 by Republican sponsors Rick Jones and Grand Ledge. This bill seeks to amend the Public Health Code (PHC) to make Compassion clubs, or “marijuana bars” as they call them, illegal. The concerns brought forth by Jones and Ledge of the Health Policy Committee, was that these establishments allow members to use marijuana on cite, and then drive home. They claim a ban on such clubs would improve public safety. This bill has been tabled in Committee of the Whole for quite some time. While the bill is not dead, it would seem logical that the Republicans would not bring this issue back to the floor without some assurance that the bill would pass. So far, it cannot be seen that the Republicans would be able pass this legislation without Democratic support. It is probable that this bill will eventually die.

SB 377 Originally this bill sought to forward personal patient and caregiver information to Michigan State Police within 48 hours after the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) has issued a new card. Apparently, wiser minds prevailed and amended the proposal to the basic set-up already in place. It has always been established that a police

SB 418 is a major Republican backed bill that would remove the citizenry from suing the state and regulatory agencies regarding any part or section of the MMMA. Essentially, the bill seeks to keep the people from exercising their rights; especially those that keep governmental powers in check. This bill will only have a chance to pass if Dems supported it. It is unlikely though, due to the fact that essentially this

SB 506 This bill would require patients to prove a legitimate relationship with their doctor. The doctor would have “to take a medical history of the patient, perform a physical exam, review prior treatments and responses; review relevant diagnostic test results; discuss the ‘advantages, disadvantages, alternatives, potential adverse effects, and the expected response’ of medical marijuana; monitor the patient ‘to determine the response to and any side effects of the treatment;’ create and maintain records for the patients; and notify the patient’s primary care physician, if there is one. If a doctor fails to do so, the patient’s registry card is invalid and the doctor is not protected from civil action ‘or in a professional disciplinary or licensing proceeding.’”

While this bill seems to have good intentions, it is specious. The long-term relationship with a doctor coupled with the necessary tests and documentations only proves to be nothing more than a monetary obstacle for the poor and the uninsured of our state. This type of economic segregation will most likely will not be supported by the Dems. Even if the bill does gain traction, it would be hard to see this bill in the Committee of the Whole anytime soon. Even still, the bill would need to be amended to find bipartisan support. As is, the bill will probably die in the Committee on Health Policy.

HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES

House Bill (HB) 4834 This bill correlates with SB377, which provides law enforcement access topersonal information of patients and caregivers. This bill would require a 2 inch square picture to be placed on patient and

HB 4850 Of all the bills mentioned, this house bill seeks to change your everyday use and acquisition of medical marijuana. The bill would ban patient-topatient and caregiver-to-caregiver transfers outside of those patients and caregivers that are registered together under the MMMA. Further, this amendment to the MMMA would permanently revoke patient and caregiver identification cards if acquisition occurred  outside of the registered relationship. This bill is frightening because of the amount of support it has already garnered in the Judiciary Committee with 23 Republicans and four Democrat s co-sponsoring it. If this bill were to pass it would not only rewrite a considerable amount of the MMMA, but would again tighten the accessibility of medication to patients as well as mar economic growth in this state. Luckily this vote would require ¾ majority, which is pretty hard to achieve even with support.

HB 4854 This bill seeks to stop caregivers from advertising. Amending the state Penal Code, this Republican backed bill would essentially put medical marijuana in the same realm as liquor and tobacco. Again, the bill seeks to segregate the medical community from participating in the same advertising that drug companies enjoy in all realms of media. Hmm…I wonder who the constituents of these Republicans might be. Either way this bill has a shot to pass, especially if the Dems give greater support. Right now it is in the Judiciary Committee, and will be a little time before we see it in the Committee of the Whole.

While the MMM Report hopes you found some of this information useful, we would urge you to keep writing, calling, emailing and bothering your local representatives. It is only when we are actively involved in our government that we are able to effect any change. We have come a long way to gain these rights, do not allow them to be ripped from us without a fight. “This aggression cannot stand.”

JC Trout

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Mother Natures Corner by Debi Bair

Hello, welcome back to mother natures corner. This month I’d like to introduce you to the healing herb Golden Rod. The botanical name, Solidago Canadensis or Solidago Virgaurea, is from theasteracea family, the name Solidago means to make “whole”. With the chill of autumn in the air,

a field of golden rod is one of my favorite sights, they resemble a field of sunshine. She is a beautiful perennial herb usually growing up  to four feet tall, with alternating leaves and a large plum of golden glory on the top. These golden plums flower from the top to the bottom. The flowers can be used for tanning leather or dying cotton and wool, just cook the flowers in simmering water for one hour. This versatile herb can also be used as a food source. You may add the fresh leaves and flowers in salad, If you love cooked greens, try preparing the leaves as you would spinach for a new treat.

Golden Rod has been used for years in her native Europe as a diuretic to treat and prevent urinary tract infections as well as kidney stones. Golden Rod is filled with bioflavanoids (immune

boosting antioxidant) which also help strengthen veins and capillaries making her a good choice for those who suffer with varicose veins. The tea of golden rod is also great support in treating tuberculosis, diabetes, an enlarged liver, gout, hemorrhoids, internal bleeding, asthma and arthritis. She is also a nourishing ally for upper respiratory infections with mucous build up. The tea is also excellent for muscle spasms, restless leg syndrome and it lowers your blood pressure! Externally, she helps with the skin condition eczema, slow healing wounds, insect bites, ulcers,sore throat (gargle) as well as yeast infections. German researchers have found the saponins (chemical compound found in plants) in the leaves of this herb showed cytoxicity (toxic to the cells) toward tumor cells associated with prostate, breast, melanoma, and lung cancers.

In conclusion, I hope the next time you see Golden Rod, you smile at her golden flags she waves with the wind. Please keep in mind, rag weed blooms at the same time as golden rod in our area, so don’t shun this golden gift, you probably aren’t allergic to her. As with all of mother natures gifts, please consult your physician prior to usage and for dosing instructions.

Until next time my friends, get out there and get harvesting.

Debi Bair

 

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Renee Wolfe: The story of the freedom fighter.

Renee Wolfe was born in 1960. She is amother of four proud children ages 12 to 25, and a role model for medical marijuana activist. Renee has been using marijuana for over thirty years. She calls herself Grandma Marijuana”. Ann Arbor has been her residence for the last eight years. She is a member of NORML and CALM (Coalition Advocating Legal Marijuana).
Renee has battled muscular sclerosis since 1979. With MS, every case is unique. She was diagnosed with chronic pain initially, but it did progress. After being diagnosed, Renee started smoking marijuana to escape the reality that was her life. She realized immediately that marijuana helped her symptoms. She stated “I can walk better when I smoke”. Renee is able to move, because when she doesn’t have  medication, she cannot move at all. Renee was previously a homemaker raising her children prior to MS. With two teenagers living in the house, MS affects her ability to care for them. She has help. She had to get divorced to full Social Security benefits, but she and her former husband are still together.” You do what you have to do”. She also is able to receive Medicare after the divorce. She can now take care of herself although her ex-husband does the cleaning and the cooking. The only downfall of smoking marijuana was the police. Never one to hide her opinion, Renee was arrested in 1985 for smoking a joint in the face of law enforcement. She was sentenced to fifty hours of community service and now has a felony on her record.

More trouble came when her youngest child became nauseas and she gave him marijuana. The state heard about that  and she lost custody of her son. Her ex-husband, who is still with her, hascustody.

Renee was a key member in the push to get medical marijuana on the ballot. She spoke in front of the House of Representatives to help pass the marijuana law. She attends every march and rally that she can and refers to her fellow protesters as “brothers”. Renee Wolfe was at the head of the line at the state Department of Community Health in Lansing, making her the first patient to receive a medical marijuana card in the state. As she rolled in her wheelchair up to the counter, a round of applause echoed through the room. No one could have been happier.

Renee does not need a wheelchair anymore but she still uses a scooter to get around. Marijuana has stabilized the progression of her MS. Her future wishes for Michigan: she would like to see the people get their medicine at an affordable rate and free is the best rate she can think of. She believes we should all grow our own. Eliminate the middle man. Take the black market out of the
picture.

by Erikush Growski

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Ann Arbor Conference - A look back from a great weekend

Patients, caregivers, lawyers, industry leaders and supporting community activists gathered together to meet in Ann Arbor last month to discuss the state of affairs. In the few short years following the passing of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, several related organizations have developed a presence to support various folks involved in the medical marijuana program. This was one of the few times since where the leaders of the MM related groups have had a sit down to focus on the challenges facing patients and caregivers in the future.

The Clarion Hotel and Conference Center just outside of the downtown area was the venue, and the staff was very compassionate towards the attendants of the conference. The conference brought dozens of MM businesses to the event. In the vendors room many interesting booths displayed a variety of industry related products. Doctor referrals and grow classes were also provided. Master of Ceremonies for the event was Ann Arbor activist and Hash Bash director, Adam Brook.

In the epicenter of the event was a series of panel discussions in which the most competent and articulate experts related to the theme of the conference, took place. Each panel was comprised of four experts and a moderator. Topics included; MM and municipalities, roles of compassion clubs and dispensaries, the effects of the drug communication between the various groups and individuals that in the past may have not always seen eye-to-eye. As the event progressed a cooperative spirit and sense of unity transcended into the hearts and minds of many that came. Unified and dedicated to the cause, all leaders agreed to join forces to rally at the Lansing Capitol on September 7th to protest the proposed legislation that seeks to undermine the Michigan Medical Marijuana act. The rally will be held on the steps of the Capital building at high noon and all who have an interest in protecting the rights of patients are encouraged to come out in support.

Readers that are interested in seeing some of the panel discussions can view or download footage of the discussions of the event at this publications website. The video will be used to compile a documentary on the MMM community and the challenges facing patients and caregivers in the future.

By Ben Horner

 

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A Column by John Sinclair

Highest greetings from Amsterdam, the viper capital of the world. Your correspondent has come a long way from his humble origins in Flint, the city of my birth and equally my young manhood, when I was chasing the music and learning to write and enjoying city life for the first time—and smoking the first of what would become a virtual infinity of joints over the next 50 years.

I grew up in Davison, the little town just ten miles east of Flint and surely a country town when I was coming up in the 1940s and ’50s. I was introduced to the outside world as a youth of 12 or 13 when the fantastic sounds of rhythm & blues were beamed into my bedroom through the airwaves from WBBC in Flint, where my first human idol—and later friend and mentor— the great disc jockey who called himself The Frantic One, Ernie Durham, could be heard every afternoon spinning the latest sounds by Ray Charles, Wynonie Harris, Clyde McPhatter & the Drifters, Big Joe Turner, Guitar Slim, Ruth Brown, and the Moonglows.

Frantic Ernie D’s radio show opened up a window onto a whole different world from the one that surrounded me in Davison, and it felt and sounded better than anything I’d ever experienced. I found out that The Frantic One owned and operated a pair of Ernie’s Record Racks in the north end of Flint, the outpost at 943 Leith Street near Industrial located only blocks from Buick World Headquarters on Hamilton Avenue, where my father worked, and I worked out a deal with my dad where he would take my little $2.00 allowance every Friday and my list of 10 or so new records I was desperate to possess, stop in at Ernie’s Record Rack on his lunch hour, and pick me up the two closest records to the top of the list that Ernie D. had in stock. So I was deep into the music at an early age, this magical thing that came in over the radio and lit up my life. The drug of choice when I was in high school was beer, with maybe a pint of sloe gin for special occasions. I was 15 or 16 before I even heard about marijuana by reading On The Road by Jack Kerouac, published in 1957, and it sounded mighty good but where would you get some?

I went away to Albion College for two years and got turned on to jazz, poetry, and even Dexedrine for staying up all night listening to records and trying to write, but it wasn’t until I returned to Flint in 1961 to complete my formal education at Flint Junior College and the Flint College of the University of Michigan— then housing its student body of 550 in a single building off of Court Street—that I fell in with some cats situated well off the campus who turned me on to codeine cough syrup and sleeping pills and the way that recreational drug use fit perfectly into the life of the streets of the city.

I was working in a place called Hatfield’s Musical Tent Record Shop at Saginaw Street and 2nd in downtown Flint, managing the jazz stock and making friends with my customers when a guy called Bimbo turned aside from his purchase of the new John Coltrane album on Impulse Records and asked me if I got high. He slipped me a couple of pills and came back a few days later to see how I’d liked them. Pleased with my positive response, he invited to come up to the north end and dig some records with him and his friends and cop some Robitussen at the corner drugstore.

One day I was hanging with the fellows in Sweetie’s Barber Shop, high on cough syrup and digging Gene Ammons on the juke box when this fairly mysterious dude called Tom pulled me aside and gave me a little preachment about downers and how that was all wrong for people seeking to grow their intelligence. “Man, it’s time for you to smoke some weed,” is how he put it, and he took me off somewhere to turn me on to my first joint. This was late in 1961, an awfully long time ago for a pothead to remember anything, and the actual details of my initial experience with marijuana have been lost in the mists of time, but there was no question that weed represented a significant step upward for the aspiring young beatnik in Flint. The mental thrills derived from feeling your consciousness actually expand and the physical sensations resulting in greater sensual awareness and increased sensitivity to self and others made life much more hopeful and interesting, and man, the music sounded better and better the more of it you were now able to hear.

After I had started copping regularly from Tom—that would be in $10 Ohio Blue Tip matchboxes, seeds and all—I met a fellow student at Flint Junior College, a piano player from Owosso named Lyman Woodard who became a lifelong friend and collaborator, and I had the honor and privilege of turning him on to weed as soon as we had moved together into an apartment at 923 E. Kearsley. Now both of us could cop from Tom, but since we didn’t know how to prepare our joints properly we had to ask him to roll the weed up for us so we could smoke it. One night after we had finally learned how to roll we had some weed we were dying to smoke but no papers in the house. Racking our feeble brains for a solution, we found an old newspaper from England printed on tissue-thin paper for overseas mailing, so we tore up a page and rolled up a big bomber (as Louis Armstrong would put it) and as we were smoking it down Woodard laughed and said, man, I bet we’re gonna know more about what’s happening in the world after this.

I turned 21 in October 1962 and my birthday present from Tom was a little package of marijuana from the crop he’d grown himself on the banks of the Flint River somewhere. This pot was much more powerful than anything I’d ever smoked and my mind was expanding exponentially the farther I got into the first joint. The popular record in our set just then was the new Miles Davis album, Someday My Prince Will Come, which I’d heard at least 100 times already, but listening to it now on Tom’s big record player the music came to fully to life and I heard every note, every rhythmic surge, every twist and turn of the improvisers’ minds as they worked their way through the musical material, and it opened up a door for me in my mind that I’ve walked through every day for almost half a century.

Yeah, it sort of illuminated the slogan advanced by Louis Armstrong and Mezz Mezzrow and the early American vipers—jazz musicians, most of them—when they said: “Light Up & Be Somebody!” Even in Flint you could do this, and it was a good thing—both then and now.

—Above the Hash Museum
Amsterdam June 20-21
Headpress Bunker London
June 22, 2011

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When Cops Act Like Crooks!

It seems day after day we receive emails about good people being mistreated because they are Medical Marijuana Patients, Caregivers or in the MMMP services i.e. Doctors certifications Compassion clubs etc. And it’s not the criminal element robbing our Michigan residents, it seems to be the Police and Prosecutors! I have never seen such a blatant abuse of police and prosecutor powers in my lifetime like those currently happening today. We should all be outraged at this seemingly complete dismissal of the Medical Marijuana laws that were overwhelmingly passed in 2008.

They were just going after the compassion clubs and dispensaries, now it seems to have gone to awhole new level of thievery and has expanded to the doctor certification centers. Here is the latest! On May 3rd, Clinton Twp. Police led by Lt. Demick raided American Medical Marijuana Professional's certification center. This facility is a licensed medical office by the city of Roseville, not a dispensary, compassion club, growing facility, or anything to do with handling of that the actual medicine. Many of you know Tom French, a hard working construction guy that has branched out to help MMMP patients with doctor referrals. He is also known as the first promoter to really get the this movement more main stream by renting the Suburban Collection (formally known as the Rock Financial Showplace) in Novi , having the best Expo yet that I’ve attended.

They raided this facility during business hours with 20 patients and the doctor in the office. Without any regard for their medical conditions, patients were terrorized and interrogated along with the staff and the doctor for over 5 hours! As if that wasn’t enough, they searched everyone’s car too, according to Mr. French. They confiscated the doctor's car, office computers, office files, & medical records. Simultaneously, they raided the owner Tom French's home in Warren and Dr. Dean Fior's home in Troy. They also confiscated Mr. French's vehicle and his wife's car. Police seized all bank accounts including savings, checking, and also home computers, cell phones & cash. The police also confiscated $ 110,000 from Dr. Dean Firo's personal safe but only giving him a receipt for $92,000 according to reports. No charges have been filed, or expect to be filed,

due to the fact there was no wrong doing at AMMP. Armed with the asset forfeiture law, the police departments have an ideal way to fund their pet projects and line their personal pockets by targeting innocent, hard working people.
Earlier this month as I interviewed Tom French, his attorney indicated to him it may take up to 6 months for all of this property and assets to be returned! Huge legal fees will be paid and no charges will be filed. What would you call this? We call it legal robbery, sanctioned by our elected officials.

We can only wonder what their cut is! AMMP has reopened business at 28349 Gratiot. Please contact Tom French at 1-877-RX-420-99 Macomb County residents take notice, you could be next!

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