In past weeks, there has been a wave of fear, anger and near panic on social media and cannabis listservs that the end is near for medical marijuana caregivers in Michigan. Cadres are being formed to boycott many big marijuana businesses. Demonstrations are taking place in various Michigan cities and a big rally is planned for Lansing in September.
As best as one can tell, this fear is emanating from two sources. One is real and the other seems exaggerated.
Last year, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in Deruiter v Byron Township that local communities have the right to do most anything they want per zoning in their communities-- including making caregiver home growing illegal. Most caregivers who do not have the resources to move to a new location such as an industrial park, so they are de facto put out of business. This threat to caregivers in hostile communities is very real.
In May of this year, Steve Linder, executive director of the Michigan Cannabis Manufacturers Association (MCMA), a Lansing based cannabis trade group representing big marijuana producers; made what were considered serious threats to caregivers. In the media outlet “Grown In” Linder expressed his long standing belief that “unregulated” caregivers are a dangerous threat to cannabis consumers, because the product is not tested and is fueling black market cannabis sales. He went on to suggest legislative action is needed to eliminate this alleged danger. To date, Mr. Linder’s statements have been all bark and no bite. No hostile legislation has been introduced at the Capitol to date.
Some longtime activists like Adam Brook however, believe this is all part of a long term plan going back for years, to take away growers’ rights and it must be stopped now. He is a leader in the boycott movement and encourages aggressive, scorched earth action, both locally and in Lansing.
“This is all just politics what we’ve been going through. This is exactly what the Michigan Municipal League wanted to happen. Just get us a couple good court cases and we’ll (The Michigan Municipal League) start getting some traction” Brook declared on the “Jazz Cabbage Cafe” podcast July 13.
Thetford Township Trustee Eric Gunnells, who was pro cannabis way before it was legalized, and who authored a township regulatory model which preserves caregivers rights had a different take.
“Prior to legalization, caregivers were very quiet and secretive. With legalization, more people became emboldened and that is a good thing, but sometimes nuisances occurred.” he said, referring to odor problems and neighborhood feuding. “Sometimes these incidents gave an excuse” for local leaders to zone out caregivers after the Deruiter decision last year.
Gunnells said that for better or worse, Deruiter is the real thing. The only solution is for caregivers to get involved in their local government, get to know local leaders and go overboard to run a clean, low key, caregiver grow operation. “That will go a long way to head off trouble.”
Attorney Barton Morris from the Cannabis Legal Group, who ably represented caregiver Judith Pontius in an effort to save her medical plants from destruction by Ypsilanti Township, echoed Gunnels words. He said it is “essential” for local caregivers to proactively get involved in their communities, rather than wait around for things to hit the fan in a courthouse. In some places it could be bad news, especially in communities where houses are in close proximity. He also noted that some city attorney’s have multiple municipal clients. If conditions are right and maybe in an effort to churn legal fees, they will spread the anti caregiver gospel to their other clients
Morris went on to say the fight is on the local level and the assault on caregivers is coming from that direction, not Lansing. “It is almost impossible for the Legislature to change the MMMA (Michigan Medical Marijuana Act) and get rid of caregivers” he asserted, given the 3/4 supermajority required for legislative action to change the law.
Jen Lindemann, who is deeply involved in fighting caregiver restrictions in Flushing and was a primary organizer for the Judith Pontius demonstration in Ann Arbor, is laser-like focused on local organizing. “This is where the action is right now,’’ she said.
As for my two cents, there are lots of good people who for one reason or another do not like the smell of marijuana, my wife included. She does not use cannabis. After 27 years of marriage we have accommodated ourselves in our own way to the issue. As an added plus, I’ve lately developed a taste for Delta-8 THC gummies.
Last summer we had a visitor from South Bend, Indiana, a senior political activist, who was not attuned to cannabis issues. We legally grow a few plants on our property and they are hidden in plain sight. When we gave this gentleman a tour of our vegetable garden, his face grimaced and he asked “hey do you have skunks around here?” He had not noticed the marijuana plants nearby. In my wildest imagination, I cannot imagine this man wanting to live next to a home grow operation producing skunk odors 24/7.
In an indirect microcosmic connection, as a teen I got my first job picking tomatoes and sweet corn for .75c per hour in 1966, in rural Monroe County, Michigan, near the Ohio line. At the height of the harvest season, your pay could go up to $1.00 if you had been dependable through the early summer prep work.
The employer was “Smith Brothers Farms” consisting of around 1,000 acres. Gus, Wilbur, Martha, Barbara, Andy and Sandy Smith were fair, kind proprietors. Sometimes they worked side by side with youngsters like me and you could get a stern lecture if you screwed up.
One thing I cannot forget, is Martha Smith was head of the Monroe County Chapter of the “Women’s Christian Temperance Union” (WCTU), which was a big player in the enactment of national alcohol prohibition in the early 20th century. There was regular talk on the farm about the evils of alcoholic beverages. We all listened to it, but when the work day was over, most of us did whatever we wanted. That was 1966, 30+ years after federal alcohol prohibition ended in America.
There is no WCTU chapter in Monroe County anymore and Mrs Smith has passed on to her reward.
However, the WCTU still exists. Its headquarters is 1730 Chicago Ave, Evanston, Illinois. It’s mission/pledge has remained unchanged since 1874. It reads in part: “to reform...the drinking classes...I solemnly promise, God helping me, to abstain from all distilled, fermented and malt liquors, including beer, wine and hard cider and to employ all proper means to discourage the use and traffic in the same”
I got a feeling those who do not like cannabis are going to be around for a long time.
