Amber Twp Woman Leads Petition To Legalize Marijuana, Hemp

[t-pain]

http://www.shorelinemedia.net/ludington_daily_news/news/local/article_029b8efe-51a6-11e5-82b6-ff7a1df3a159.html

 

Posted: Wednesday, September 2, 2015 7:30 pm | Updated: 7:30 pm, Wed Sep 2, 2015.

 

By STEVE BEGNOCHE | Managing Editor | sbegnoche@ludingtondailynews.com |

 

Posted on Sep 2, 2015

 

by Steve Begnoche

 

Lisa Dibble is on a mission.

 

The Amber Township woman, active in Phi Beta Kappa honor society at West Shore Community College and a mother of four grown children, is leading the local petition effort in support of reform of Michigan’s marijuana laws.

 

The Michigan Comprehensive Cannabis Law Reform Initiative Committee is seeking more than 200,000 signatures of registered Michigan voters in order to place a proposal before voters that, if passed, would legalize recreational use of marijuana by adults 21 years of age or over, would leave Michigan’s existing medical marijuana law unchanged, and would allow Michigan farmers to practice hemp farming.

 

Dibble said she has been prescribed marijuana to control pain that her doctor didn’t want her to use more prescription pills to address. She is going to be placed on a lung transplant recipient list because her lung capacity is only about 20 percent. She has no intention of smoking marijuana, saying that would be stupid given her lung issues. But ingesting it or using a salve containing marijuana might provide her relief, she indicated.

 

But she said she’s never used her medical marijuana card and has instead been researching what her rights are with lawmakers and law enforcement. She said she’s found a confusing situation in which state laws allow medical use of marijuana, if prescribed, but federal laws don’t creating situations where a card-carrying medical marijuana user could get in trouble with federal authorities if used in the wrong federally-controlled places.

 

So, she said, she hasn’t filled her prescription and has come to believe the legalization of recreational use of marijuana along with clarifying the medical marijuana rules in Michigan are desirable goals.

 

“I want to know what my rights are,” Dibble said. “I don’t want to feel like a criminal.”

 

She said stepping forward to lead the local petition drive feels to her a bit like coming out of the closet on the issue, adding “it’s a culture shock.”

 

She’s established a Facebook page — Help MI legalize MJ — to help others who want to gather petitions learn how to do so.

 

She said she understands some — many?— people will question if this proposal is right for Michigan.

 

“I hope they have some compassion to realize some of us need it,” Dibble said.

 

She said she’s also come to believe recreational use of marijuana should be allowed in Michigan by adults 21 years or older.

 

“Prohibition didn’t work,” Dibble said.

 

“We want our rights to decide what we want to do,” she said, adding that the effort is kind of a “We the People” movement.

 

A SHERIFF’s VIEW

 

Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole is not a fan of legalizing recreational marijuana use in Michigan.

 

“It’s a bad idea,” Cole said this morning.

 

Reports he has reviewed from Colorado where recreational use for adults has been legalized show there are downsides and that children are being affected.

 

“If you start looking at the numbers of marijuana use and children, it is sad,” Cole said of the Colorado experience.

 

More youths are using it there and the incidences of youth, ages 0 through 5, accidentally ingesting marijuana-infused food of their parent, has increased. High school expulsions for students found to be under the influence of marijuana in Colorado also are up, he said. Likewise, police stops of motorists there driving under the influence of marijuana are up, too, he said. Proponents of legalization, he said, don’t tell the public about the effects on children, as being experienced in Colorado.

 

“You have to look at the collateral damage down the road in the form of children,” Cole said. “No, I don’t support it. There’s no way I’m going to support it.”

 

He said the Michigan medical marijuana law passage caught most people by surprise and that the law had too many loopholes as passed. Those loopholes over time are being closed.

 

He’d like to see the courts or the Legislature establish the per se limit for THC — the ingredient in marijuana that produces the high — such as the .08 blood alcohol limit set for those driving. He also said he’s troubled that those with medical marijuana cards are not required to be tested to see if they are using only an appropriate amount to manage pain.

 

Police now are able to check if a Michigan medical marijuana card is valid or a fake — initially that was impossible to do. Cole said frequently cards people carry are proving to be expired.

 

And he believes the Michigan law is being abused. Though proponents cited medical marijuana as a way to treat cancer patients as a primary reason for the law, he said Michigan reports indicate only 7 percent of those who get the cards are cancer patients. The largest portion are people in their 20s who cite back pain as the reason to need medical marijuana.

 

Cole said it is difficult to quantify usage in the county but added his officers are finding marijuana on more traffic stops, perhaps as often as once a week.

 

INITIATIVE WORDING

 

The initiative proposes initiating legislation “to legalize and regulate marihuana and hemp cultivation, production, testing, sale, distribution, possession, and use for medical and nonmedicinal purposes; to provide for the licensing of certain marihuana establishments; to provide certain rights to persons with a doctor’s recommendation for the use of marihuana; to authorize collection of fees; to allow an excise tax on marihuana transfers at the point of sale; to provide for the powers and duties of certain state and local governmental officers and agencies; to authorize local units of government to adopt limited regulation of marihuana facilities and stores; and to require the promulgation of rules.”

 

The proposal offers 21 sections of rules and definitions involving use, sale, distribution, advertising and labeling of marijuana and a section describing what it does not allow.

[t-pain]

He’d like to see the courts or the Legislature establish the per se limit for THC — the ingredient in marijuana that produces the high — such as the .08 blood alcohol limit set for those driving. He also said he’s troubled that those with medical marijuana cards are not required to be tested to see if they are using only an appropriate amount to manage pain.

i'd like to see the courts or legislature establish the mandatory drug and alcohol testing for police officers, as well as mandatory body cameras. and i want police to be required to be tested to see if they only use an appropriate amount of force in their duties.

[imiubu]

It's not a prescription.

 

"So, she said, she hasn’t filled her prescription and has come to believe the legalization of recreational use of marijuana along with clarifying the medical marijuana rules in Michigan are desirable goals."

 

Gotta just love the new t shirts these folks are sporting now "Help End Prohibition". 

wtv. Doesn't win any favor with me that's for sure.

[t-pain]

The largest portion are people in their 20s who cite back pain as the reason to need medical marijuana.

 

 

Wtf is this? Someone needs to counter this in the paper immediately

[Wild Bill]

I'd like to see Sheriff Bozo cite his sources, other than the voices in his head.

[Indigro]

i'd like to see the courts or legislature establish the mandatory drug and alcohol testing for police officers, as well as mandatory body cameras. and i want police to be required to be tested to see if they only use an appropriate amount of force in their duties.

Dont forget the politicians and judges themselves... Being required to test. Hey, if they want anyone taking money from the welfare/disability, then what is good for the goose...

[Herb Cannabis]

http://www.shorelinemedia.net/ludington_daily_news/news/local/article_029b8efe-51a6-11e5-82b6-ff7a1df3a159.html

 

Thank you Lisa Dibble for your efforts.