Leaglize Marijuana in Detroit NOW! and leave them kids alone.

YES, of course POT should be decriminalized and legalized, for medical and non-medical purposes, the 'war on drugs' or more correctly 'The war on SOME drugs' has failed in every way, if you value 'life' and 'freedom' and 'tolerance' as success, the war on drugs is a failure.

However, if you happen to be a sado-masochistic authority type with the word of god in your ear that mankind must behave, abide by the law, pay taxes and not make any noise or complain, you may see the 'war on drugs' as a success, with all those dope fiends and criminals drug addicts locked up, away in Prison. Is this their sick dream, to lock peaceful folks away and live their 'drug free' life. With Nukes, Oil and Booze and guns forever?

Please ask yourself, and others around you, are these people so ill as to want this? to criminalize human beings for simply ingesting a plant based substance, and lock them away, or give them a criminal record, a stigma?

Do all the cops and law enforcement agents really believe in these 'harmful' and 'out dated' laws that we see enforced as prohibition policy around the world?

I think not, I feel that if we simply had access to all the information and could share the 'frustration' and the 'positive' attributes of marijuana in an 'open debate' without wildly wrongheaded political operations slurring and confusing the direct communications between scentists, researchers, lawyers, policy makers and well, the rest of humanity, not trying to take over everybody's lives with all pervasive rules and laws to coerce.

--Steve




Sound Off: Should Pot be Legalized in Detroit?

Updated: Friday, 18 Jun 2010, 10:48 AM EDT
Published : Friday, 18 Jun 2010, 10:47 AM EDT

(myFOXDetroit.com Staff Reports) - Detroit voters may actually get to vote on allowing the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

A group called the Coalition for a Safer Detroit is working to get the issue on November's ballot. The measure would allow adults over the age of 21 to possess, and we assume use, one ounce or less of pot on private property.

Tim Beck, a registered marijuana user who's leading the pot petition, joined FOX 2's Huel Perkins on Thursday to discuss the impact of the measure. Click the video player to watch the interview.

Information from the Coalition's Web site:

What is the Safer Detroit Initiative?
It is a ballot initiative sponsored by the Coalition for a Safer Detroit proposing to amend the Detroit City Code to decriminalize use or possession of an ounce or less of marijuana on private property, by anyone who has attained the age of 21 years.

Has this ever been done before?
Yes. The cities of Denver, CO, and Seattle, WA recently made use or possession of small amounts of marijuana their lowest law enforcement priority. Here in Michigan the City of Ann Arbor, made possession of small amounts of marijuana a minor "civil infraction" (like a traffic ticket) in the early 1970's. None of these jurisdictions has experienced any significant, negative consequences as a result. Marijuana is safer then alcohol. It is time we treat it accordingly.

What has been the result in these other cities?
All three are nationally recognized for their prosperity, quality of life, and educated, creative populations. Even more important, police and prosecutors in these cities have been freed up to focus on crimes with victims -- those that have a direct impact on the community, such as vandalism, auto theft, breaking and entering, and domestic violence.


http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/should-pot-be-legalized-in-detroit-20100618-mr


Pot legalization on track in Detroit

Published: June 17, 2010 at 6:44 PM

DETROIT, June 17 (UPI) -- Possession of small amounts of marijuana on private property could soon be legal in Detroit, organizers of a legalization effort said.

The city council's internal operations committee decided Wednesday against amending the proposed ordinance, the Detroit Free Press reported. The last step is election commission approval of the language for the November ballot.

The ordinance would allow anyone 21 or older to possess less than an ounce of marijuana on private property without fear of arrest. Medical marijuana for registered users has been legal in Detroit since a 2004 referendum.

Tim Beck, a registered medical marijuana user, spearheaded the effort to get the legalization ordinance on the ballot. He argues police will be able to focus on "crimes with actual victims."

Dennis Mazurek, an assistant corporation counsel, told the city council committee the ordinance conflicts with Michigan state law, which take precedence. But Beck is confident of victory.


"It's going to win -- I have no doubt of that," he said.


Med Grow's Nick Tennant with a marijuana plant at his school

Roy Ritchie for TIME

This is what a medical-marijuana class looks like. Twenty-five or so students — men, women, young, middle-aged — listen attentively as an instructor holds up a leafy green plant and runs down the list of nutrients it needs. Nitrogen: stimulates leaf and stem growth. Magnesium: helps leaf structure. Phosphorous: aids in the germination of seeds. Michigan's Med Grow Cannabis College is one of several unaccredited schools to have sprung up in the 14 states and the District of Columbia that have legalized medical use of marijuana. Many of its students suffer from chronic pain. Others are looking to supply those in need of relief. (See pictures of cannabis conventions.)

The Med Grow campus sits across the street from a KFC in Southfield, a relatively prosperous suburb of Detroit. Nearly one-fifth of its 90 or so students are former auto-industry workers. These recent enrollees — and the more than 1,000 people who have completed courses at Med Grow since it opened in September — are betting that studying such topics as bloom cycles and advanced pruning techniques will help them succeed in what may be one of the few growth industries in Michigan, home of the nation's highest unemployment rate: 14%. With medical marijuana fetching as much as $500 for 1 oz. (28 g), providing it to a mere five patients could generate $10,000 a month in sales.

Six-week courses at Med Grow cost $475, and the school is planning to open campuses in Colorado and New Jersey within roughly the next year. Meanwhile, the nation's first marijuana school, the three-year-old Oaksterdam University, has expanded from Oakland, Calif., to locations in Los Angeles and one in Flint, Mich., and may open more. (See TIME's photo-essay "The Great American Pot Smoke-Out.")

But as Med Grow founder Nick Tennant can attest, it's not easy being a leader of an emerging industry. Tennant, a very lean, very blond 24-year-old, grew up in the Detroit suburb of Warren and watched the auto-detailing business he started after high school founder along with the region's economy. Then, in 2008, a surprising majority of Michigan voters approved a measure to allow people with cancer, Crohn's disease, AIDS and other ailments to apply for state-issued cards to grow or obtain marijuana. He recalls thinking, "You could sit there and watch the industry evolve or step into the game."

So he wrote up a business plan for a marijuana-growers school and approached his car-detailing clients as potential investors. Many thought it was a joke, but enough took him seriously. He declines to say how much money he raised.

The next step was finding a landlord. One told him flatly, "I don't want to take on the risk." To which Tennant replied, "If you want to let your building sit vacant, go for it." He eventually settled on 5,000 sq. ft. (465 sq m) in an office building in Southfield, a half hour's drive north of downtown Detroit.

The first thing you notice when you walk into Med Grow is the pungent smell of marijuana. One of the school's two grow rooms showcases a single massive marijuana plant that, in terms of height and canopy, is about the size of a kitchen table.

Watch TIME's video "An L.A. Medical Marijuana Odyssey."

See pictures of stoner cinema.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1997455,00.html