Momentum in Michigan

All signs indicate that Michigan is ready for recreational cannabis. A new petition to legalize cannabis for adults without a tax regime is currently underway after receiving the green light to begin collecting signatures. The petition from the Abrogate Prohibition Michigan of Midland was approved by Michigan’s four-member Board of State Canvassers on August 17. Abrogate Prohibition Michigan’s proposal is a constitutional amendment and therefore needs 315,654 signatures in order to qualify for November’s ballot.

“We’re right on the cusp of legalizing cannabis.”

The proposal would nullify all prohibitions, fines, taxes or penalties on the consumption of cannabis. “This proposed constitutional amendment would make the use of the cannabis plant lawful in Michigan,” the petition reads. The bill “would allow for the agricultural, personal, recreational, medicinal, industrial and commercial use,” and “abrogate all prohibitions of cannabis in any form.” The 315,654 signatures needed amounts to 10 percent of the total number of votes cast in the 2014 gubernatorial election.

Of all those working hard to legalize cannabis, many advocates can be found in the city of Detroit. Ingrid LaFleur ran for Mayor of Detroit with cannabis reform as a centerpiece on her platform, but decided not to continue after the mayoral primary on August 8. The former TEDx speaker spoke about cannabis as a panelist during Detroit Startup Week as well as at multiple installments of her three-part Cannabis Conversation speaking series on May 17, May 24 and June 7.

There are plenty of reasons to end cannabis prohibition in Michigan, but one of the most obvious reasons is to end the disparity of cannabis arrest rates that haunt people of color in Michigan. “People of color are disproportionately targeted because of the ‘War on Drugs,’” LaFleur told CULTURE. “Legalizing cannabis would change that. This is a way to balance that out. We’ve already decriminalized cannabis here in Detroit. This is both an economic issue, and it is a social issue.” Currently, African American and black men are four times more likely to be arrested for cannabis than Michigan residents of any other nationality.

As of late August, the Abrogate Prohibition Michigan team hasn’t begun collecting signatures, but there is plenty of support behind cannabis reform. A competing petition, The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol (CRMLA) announced on August 15 that they have passed the 200,000-signature mark. The campaign needs 252,523 signatures in order to qualify for the ballot. That initiative would legalize possession, cultivation and consumption of cannabis for adults over 21 and legalize industrial hemp.

The CRMLA proposal however, wouldn’t go into effect retroactively like the Abrogate Prohibition bill, but it is further ahead, legislatively. “We’re right on the cusp of legalizing cannabis,” LaFleur added. “We are petitioning to have [the CRMLA ballot initiative] on the ballot by 2018 in November. Once it gets on the ballot, which we’re pretty sure it will, it will legalize cannabis for recreational use and hemp. Then Michigan will be the only state in the Midwest with full legalization. That’s really exciting.”

Michigan could use an economic push from expanding from medical cannabis to include recreational cannabis. Detroit’s deteriorating roads, as LaFleur pointed out, could be repaired with HempCrete.

With two petitions setting out to legalize recreational cannabis, it appears it may not be a matter of if Michigan legalizes cannabis; it’s a matter of when.