A COLUMN BY JOHN SINCLAIR
Hi everybody, and welcome to another month of my venerable column for the Michigan Marijuana Report. I’ve been with this magazine since its first few issues and just completed 10 full years of contributing my monthly 1200 words to its editorial mix.
Before I launch into the meat of my column for this month, I must ask for a few seconds of your time to address a matter of personal integrity. My publisher and editor have both taken serious stands recently against other members of our legalization community, among whom are two of my closest friends and associates: Jamie Lowell and Rick Thompson.
While it is only natural that we have disagreements among the people on our side, my strongest belief is that these discrepancies should always be kept among ourselves and never aired to the benefit of our real enemies, the thugs and criminals in the United States government and its local affiliates.
Our movement has benefited greatly from the unity among our activists over the years, the most spectacular result of which has been the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana in the State of Michigan. We’ve got a lot of work to do in the future to evict the government from our affairs and truly Free The Weed, and it’s important to maintain our unity and togetherness in order to achieve the rest of our goals in this regard.
Our most successful stratagem to date has been the citizens’ ballot initiative, which bypasses the governmental establishment and places our issues directly on the ballot. But now, according to Matthew Schweich of the Marijuana Policy Project, cannabis reform opponents are seeking to block measures from appearing on the ballot and trying to overturn them after they pass.
“There is often a clear and direct contradiction between the will of the people and the laws of the people,” Schweich says. “For over one hundred years, Americans have used the ballot initiative process to correct these situations by directly enacting policies that politicians have rejected or ignored.”
Cannabis legalization has been a notable example over the past decade. Between 2012 and 2020, voters in thirteen states approved ballot initiatives to legalize cannabis for adults 21 and over. Five more states have legalized through legislative action. The ballot initiative process, which exists in 24 states, was the key to making major progress on cannabis legalization in the United States.
Unfortunately, the war on drugs has also inspired a war on democracy itself. Across the country, ballot initiatives on a range of issues are under attack. First, our opponents are working to restrict future ballot initiatives. Second, they are filing lawsuits to prevent initiatives from qualifying for the ballot. Last year, for example, the Nebraska Supreme Court disqualified a proposed medical cannabis ballot initiative that had already collected 190,000 voter signatures.
Third, our opponents are filing lawsuits to overturn ballot initiatives after they have been approved by voters. And fourth, they are trying to pass legislation to delay or undo the laws enacted through ballot initiatives. Many Republican politicians, inspired by former President Donald Trump, have embraced a philosophy that extends beyond policy debates and into the underlying structure of our republic. They are actively working to thwart the will of the people. In doing so, they are rejecting core American values of liberty, justice and self-determination.
So what else is new? Back when the CIA was rarely mentioned in everyday life in America and was banned by Congress and the government from any domestic political activity, the agency rented a building at 450 S. Main Street in Ann Arbor to use as a recruitment office for University of Michigan students.
This blatant violation of domestic policy enraged radicals in Ann Arbor and the building housing the CIA office was bombed in September 1968. The bombing was blamed on three members of a group that shortly became known as the White Panther Party: Lawrence “Pun” Plamondon, John “Jack” Forrest, and this writer.
The government charged the trio with bomb conspiracy charges, which were later dropped after a countersuit was filed in Detroit’s Eastern District federal court by defendants’ lawyers William Kunstler, Leonard Weinglass, and Hugh M. “Buck” Davis Jr. over claims of illegal wire-tapping. Judge Damon Keith ruled that the government had no right to wiretap citizens without a judicial warrant and must disclose the contents of the wiretaps to the defendants or drop the conspiracy charges.
The charges against Pun, Jack and myself were dropped, but the government appealed Judge Keith’s ruling to the 6th District Court of Appeals and, failing there, to the United States Supreme Court, where the White Panthers won our appeal by an 8-0 vote.
Jordyn Pair, writing for milive.com, now reveals that this former CIA building in downtown Ann Arbor is now home to a marijuana dispensary operated by JARS Cannabis. The new store is currently open under a medical license and is set to offer a full line of recreational products by the end of July, according to JARS Chief Operating Officer Raymond Abro.
Further, Larry Gabriel reports in the Detroit Metro Times, ”a cannabis lounge is coming to DTE Energy music theatre—and other Detroit venues.”
Gabriel writes: “Lume—the biggest cannabis company in Michigan, with 21 dispensaries in addition to growing and processing facilities—has entered an agreement with entertainment company 313 Presents to make Lume the official cannabis of DTE Energy Music Theatre.”
“Of course,” Gabriel adds, “plenty of pot has been smoked and vaped up on the amphitheater’s hill since the days when it was known as Pine Knob. The surprise is that such a big name as DTE Energy has an official cannabis brand, and the long-term plan is for Lume to actually sell products for consumption at the concert venue.”
The five-year agreement includes signage and branding throughout the venue (“stage, parking lot, everywhere you go,” Gregory says), with products under glass for people to look at and the opportunity to place orders for later pick up at the stores. Eventually, the “Lume Tree House” can be easily converted into a consumption lounge.
“Not only will Lume be present at DTE Energy Music Theatre,” Gabriel says, ”but Gregory claims that the company has the right of first refusal for any company that 313 Presents has contracts with—places like the Fox Theatre, Little Caesars Arena, and Comerica Park.” “It’s not if, it’s when,” says Gregory, who admits to being in talks with the major sports stadiums.
A quick look at the DTE Energy concert schedule for the rest of the year, Gabriel says, “shows that acts such as Dead & Company, the Black Crowes, Chris Stapleton, Dave Matthews, and Pitbull and Iggy Azalea will attract audiences with plenty of cannabis-friendly folks.” Indeed, although Lume won’t be providing any consumables just yet, there will be plenty of cannabis consumption in the place. The Lume plan is sort of sanctioning what people are already doing.
On a similar note, The SaferMichigan listserv reports the Dunesville music festival announced that Lume would be sponsoring their event the last weekend in July. Many people expressed their disapproval of Lume sponsoring this festival, which is attended by many caregivers and cannabis consumers who know Lume’s behind-the-scenes lobbying in past years against many things consumers have traditionally held dear.
When the smoke settled, Dunesville decided to step away from Lumes sponsorship. “It certainly won’t hurt Lume,” SaferMich concludes, “but it was a little moral victory for many of us.”
Free The Weed!
