Fast forwarding to his election as Michigan Attorney General in November 2010, one of Shuette's first acts when he took office in January 2011, was to
Later that year, Schuette told WJR radio's Frank Beckmann that the MMMA "is out of control...sadly, the law has been hijacked by pot profiteers and drug dealers who just want to make a quick profit and the real victims are the citizens in Michigan and kids who now have access to a gateway drug."
Around the same time, he attacked me by name in op ed pieces in the Detroit News and Grand Rapids Press. He insinuated I was part of a cabal which tricked voters into passing a scam law, creating a paradise for drug dealers and terrible problems for law enforcement in Michigan.
He led seminars across the state, called "Clearing the Air: Implementing and Enforcing Michigan Medical Marijuana Law." Geared toward police, prosecutors and public officials, the forums were a how to manual on ways to sabotage the MMMA, make life tough for patients, and hype the alleged dangers of the cannabis plant.
He went on to orchestrate a series of bills in the Legislature, sponsored by State Representative John Walsh, designed to gut and destroy the MMMA. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed. After months of negotiations, by a 3/4 vote of the Legislature, the bills morphed into something more benign, and cleared up several areas of confusion in the law.
After the passage of the "Walsh" bills, Schuette gradually toned down the anti cannabis rhetoric.
In an appearance on the "Off the Record' political TV show on October 9, 2015, he suggested the whole matter of cannabis legalization should be decided by the voters.
"I personally don't think we need to put more drugs in the hands of kids. Families have enough trouble as it is, but let the people decide." he declared.
On May, 9, 2018, the same Bill Schuette, now the leading GOP candidate for Governor of Michigan, declared he supports the Michigan Legislature legalizing cannabis "if it is coupled with an income tax cut."
It would be "terrific" for lawmakers to pass the "Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol" (CRMLA) legalization proposal and then come back and amend it to "include an income tax rollback." Schuette said this to the editors of "Michigan Information Research Service" ( MIRS) News and WLNS TV (Lansing) journalist Tim Sckubick.
So who is the real Bill Schuette?
For some old timers in the cannabis reform movement, Schuette is the equivalent of Satan. He is said to be responsible for the persecution, arrest, imprisonment and creation of untold needless misery for hundreds of patients and medical marijuana providers in Michigan.
He wrote four anti MMMA legal opinions, which served no useful purpose except to confuse the situation even further.
He instigated a failed Legislative putsch designed to gut the MMMA and essentially repeal the law. His obsession with marijuana went far beyond simply trying to enforce the law as written by the voters.
For others, he is a man who simply changes with the times.
Schuette admitted to getting high on weed in his student days in the late 1970's. In the "just say no to drugs" era in the 1980's, he changed his tune and came to the conclusion that marijuana was a dangerous narcotic which needed to be illegal.
Respected state capitol pundit Bill Ballenger, editor of "The Ballenger Report" said: "15 years ago not many people thought like you did (that marijuana should be legalized) but times have changed. Personally, I do not think he (Schuette) is the scourge of death that some people may think."
Mr. Ballenger essentially went on to say this is what experienced politicians do. Therefore, Schuette's recent support for cannabis legalization, coupled with an income tax cut, is "not that strange."
Attorney Mark Brewer, who served as Chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party for 18 years, said basically same thing, but in a different way.
"This is a complete flip flop" Brewer asserted.
"If you notice, Schuette has been strangely quiet about marijuana the last few years. Before that he was quite the demagogue. It seems his money men (backing his race for Governor) told him to shut up and they are the one's who now want legalization."
In the final analysis, Bill Schuette's new found support for marijuana legalization can only help
our cause.
It has made life more difficult for Scott Greenlee and Kevin Sabet's anti cannabis group "Healthy and Productive Michigan" (HPM). It will further neuter the groups ability to create fear, hysteria and outrage among the voting population, in order to defeat cannabis legalization this year.
As of this writing, groups like HPM are getting ever closer to drowning. When the prohibitionist dike they are trying to shore up bursts-- the surging headwaters will rush in and sweep away
the muck.
