Robert Celt
New Member
A Lansing-based group collecting signatures to get a marijuana-legalization question on statewide ballots next year says it's extending its petition campaign past a previous deadline of Dec. 21 that its leaders had set.
"For a variety of reasons, MILegalize is extending its campaign," Lansing attorney Jeffrey Hank, chair of the Michigan Comprehensive Cannabis Law Reform Committee, said this weekend.
"We're really strong financially," Hank said. "We've received or have pledged to us more than $500,000."
He said the extension is not a sign that the campaign has stalled.
Although political experts don't consider that figure sufficient for collecting the signatures needed for a typical statewide ballot proposal, the MILegalize group could succeed on that amount because virtually all of its petition circulators are unpaid volunteers, said Hank, 34, of East Lansing.
The group's goal is unchanged, he added. It's to place a legalization proposal for marijuana on Michigan ballots for the November 2016 presidential election, when a maximum number of voters would come to the polls. The group needs to turn in 252,523 signatures by June 1 to make the November ballot, he said.
Organizers of the petition drive have 180 days to collect the signatures. So by extending the deadline, by for instance 30 days, the group would have to throw out the signatures they got during the first 30 days of gathering signatures.
Another political marijuana petition group – the Michigan Cannabis Coalition of Republicans, mainly from Oakland County – had sought signatures for a competing marijuana proposal but it dropped from sight recently, Hank said. The group's media voice-mail system was full Sunday, the group's website appeared not to have been updated recently and spokesman Matt Marsden did not respond to a message sent to his cell phone.
The MILegalize group has been characterized as being a mix of Democrats, Libertarian-leaning Republicans and independents. Among the volunteers gathering signatures for MILegalize has been marijuana activist and Internet radio broadcaster Steve Greene, 48, of Lyon Township.
Greene on Friday launched a motor-home tour in Royal Oak, aiming to broadcast his "Full Melt Show" via thefullmelt.com and do it live, somehow, for 24 hours a day. His goal? To gather a daunting 5,000 signatures in eight days and four cities – in part by recruiting signers to gather more signatures on their own, Greene said.
"I'm having expert guests on the show, talking about why this effort is important to Michigan," he said.
It would save money for state taxpayers by turning the attention of police away from pot smokers and focus them on serious lawbreakers, he said. People who go to the show's website can find a phone number for calling in to the show, he added.
On Friday and Saturday, Greene parked in Royal Oak on North Main at 13 Mile, broadcasting from a parking lot a few yards from Hippie's Pizza, with the pizza proprietor's approval.
"I told him I'd be fine with people signing the petition out here," said the pizzeria's owner Christopher Culbertson, 43, of Hazel Park, wearing a tie-dyed Hippie's Pizza T-shirt.
Nearby, Greene stood outside a travel trailer donated for his effort, broadcasting via the microphone in his cell phone, while volunteer Brian Cash, 47, of South Lyon walked back and forth near the traffic lanes, holding up a sign that said "Legalize It!"
Besides Royal Oak, Greene said, he planned to park the travel trailer and set up his table for gathering petition signatures in Detroit, Ann Arbor and Flint, and that on Monday he'd be in Lansing.
In another weekend development, the Michigan Supreme Court – in a 5-2 decision – declined to hear an appeal from the Kent County prosecutor, who had challenged Grand Rapids' move to decriminalize cannabis in the city.
In 2012, Grand Rapids residents – following the lead of voters in nearly two dozen other Michigan cities, including Detroit – voted to make possession of less than 2.5 ounces of marijuana a mere civil infraction. Voters passed a charter amendment that makes possession of marijuana punishable by fines of $25 to $100, with no jail time. It also makes marijuana cases a low police priority, according to the proposal's ballot language.
After the charter amendment passed, Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth sought to overturn it, saying it was an illegal infringement of his authority.
Although Forsyth lost cases in circuit court and the state Appeals Court, an adverse ruling by the state's high court could've had the effect of nullifying similar ordinances in other Michigan cities, said marijuana activist Tim Beck, 63, cofounder of the Safer Michigan political action group that helped organize ballot proposals in more than a dozen cities.
"This is a very big deal for us, all around the state," Beck said Sunday.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Michigan: MILegalize Extends Deadline For Petition Signatures
Author: Bill Laitner
Contact: Detroit Free Press
Photo Credit: None found
Website: Detroit Free Press
"For a variety of reasons, MILegalize is extending its campaign," Lansing attorney Jeffrey Hank, chair of the Michigan Comprehensive Cannabis Law Reform Committee, said this weekend.
"We're really strong financially," Hank said. "We've received or have pledged to us more than $500,000."
He said the extension is not a sign that the campaign has stalled.
Although political experts don't consider that figure sufficient for collecting the signatures needed for a typical statewide ballot proposal, the MILegalize group could succeed on that amount because virtually all of its petition circulators are unpaid volunteers, said Hank, 34, of East Lansing.
The group's goal is unchanged, he added. It's to place a legalization proposal for marijuana on Michigan ballots for the November 2016 presidential election, when a maximum number of voters would come to the polls. The group needs to turn in 252,523 signatures by June 1 to make the November ballot, he said.
Organizers of the petition drive have 180 days to collect the signatures. So by extending the deadline, by for instance 30 days, the group would have to throw out the signatures they got during the first 30 days of gathering signatures.
Another political marijuana petition group – the Michigan Cannabis Coalition of Republicans, mainly from Oakland County – had sought signatures for a competing marijuana proposal but it dropped from sight recently, Hank said. The group's media voice-mail system was full Sunday, the group's website appeared not to have been updated recently and spokesman Matt Marsden did not respond to a message sent to his cell phone.
The MILegalize group has been characterized as being a mix of Democrats, Libertarian-leaning Republicans and independents. Among the volunteers gathering signatures for MILegalize has been marijuana activist and Internet radio broadcaster Steve Greene, 48, of Lyon Township.
Greene on Friday launched a motor-home tour in Royal Oak, aiming to broadcast his "Full Melt Show" via thefullmelt.com and do it live, somehow, for 24 hours a day. His goal? To gather a daunting 5,000 signatures in eight days and four cities – in part by recruiting signers to gather more signatures on their own, Greene said.
"I'm having expert guests on the show, talking about why this effort is important to Michigan," he said.
It would save money for state taxpayers by turning the attention of police away from pot smokers and focus them on serious lawbreakers, he said. People who go to the show's website can find a phone number for calling in to the show, he added.
On Friday and Saturday, Greene parked in Royal Oak on North Main at 13 Mile, broadcasting from a parking lot a few yards from Hippie's Pizza, with the pizza proprietor's approval.
"I told him I'd be fine with people signing the petition out here," said the pizzeria's owner Christopher Culbertson, 43, of Hazel Park, wearing a tie-dyed Hippie's Pizza T-shirt.
Nearby, Greene stood outside a travel trailer donated for his effort, broadcasting via the microphone in his cell phone, while volunteer Brian Cash, 47, of South Lyon walked back and forth near the traffic lanes, holding up a sign that said "Legalize It!"
Besides Royal Oak, Greene said, he planned to park the travel trailer and set up his table for gathering petition signatures in Detroit, Ann Arbor and Flint, and that on Monday he'd be in Lansing.
In another weekend development, the Michigan Supreme Court – in a 5-2 decision – declined to hear an appeal from the Kent County prosecutor, who had challenged Grand Rapids' move to decriminalize cannabis in the city.
In 2012, Grand Rapids residents – following the lead of voters in nearly two dozen other Michigan cities, including Detroit – voted to make possession of less than 2.5 ounces of marijuana a mere civil infraction. Voters passed a charter amendment that makes possession of marijuana punishable by fines of $25 to $100, with no jail time. It also makes marijuana cases a low police priority, according to the proposal's ballot language.
After the charter amendment passed, Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth sought to overturn it, saying it was an illegal infringement of his authority.
Although Forsyth lost cases in circuit court and the state Appeals Court, an adverse ruling by the state's high court could've had the effect of nullifying similar ordinances in other Michigan cities, said marijuana activist Tim Beck, 63, cofounder of the Safer Michigan political action group that helped organize ballot proposals in more than a dozen cities.
"This is a very big deal for us, all around the state," Beck said Sunday.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Michigan: MILegalize Extends Deadline For Petition Signatures
Author: Bill Laitner
Contact: Detroit Free Press
Photo Credit: None found
Website: Detroit Free Press
