Governor, Attorney General Opposition To Portage Marijuana Charter Amendment Will Not Stop November Vote

[bobandtorey]

PORTAGE, MI – Both the governor and attorney general oppose a Portage ballot issue in November to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana, but if it passes it will become a part of the city charter, Portage officials said.

Medical marijuana leavesGazette file photo

Gov. Rick Snyder and the chief counsel for the attorney general's office said in letters to the city that the marijuana charter amendment "is not consistent with the Home Rule City Act" and that it will not prevent local law enforcement from busting people under state law.

A group called Committee for a Safer Portage successfully put the charter amendment on the Nov. 3 ballot after collecting more than 1,930 signatures. It is the first time a citizens' initiative has been able to put a charter amendment up for a vote in Portage.

The charter amendment reads: "Nothing in the Code of Ordinances shall apply to the use, possession or transfer or less than 1 ounce of marijuana, on private property not used by the public, or transportation of 1 ounce or less of marijuana, by a person who has attained the age of 21 years."

If approved, it would prevent the city from enacting an ordinance making it a crime to possess, transfer or transport an ounce or less of marijuana on private property for a person 21 or older.

The Portage City Council received the letters from both Snyder and Matthew Schneider, the attorney general's chief legal counsel, but City Attorney Randall Brown said they were formalities that would not stop the marijuana charter amendment from going to a vote.

"If it passes it will become law (in Portage)," Brown said. "The governor not approving it is a formality."

Snyder and the attorney general's office have issued similar opinions in other communities that have voted on marijuana charter amendments passed in recent years.

If approved, Portage would join more than 15 Michigan cities that have decriminalized marijuana locally since 2010, including Kalamazoo, Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Jackson, Berkley, Huntington Woods, Mount Pleasant, Portage Huron and Saginaw.

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2015/08/governor_attorney_general_oppo.html

[t-pain]

heres the letter they got when lansing did the same thing:

 

http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2013/09/rick_snyder_and_attorney_gener.html

and port huron:

http://archive.thetimesherald.com/article/20140820/NEWS01/308200019/Attorney-general-opposes-pot-proposal

[Indigro]

This is an aside, but i dont even think actual state troopers support the ag.

 

Had an incident w one of them and we had a lengthy discussion about mmj, and i threw out that the state ag was having them enforce fed law over our state laws... He had this look and turned his head kinda downward, then moved on the conversation to different point. Even the actual coppers know the ag is an assshat... Deep down, whether or not they feel comfortable saying it