Michigan Voters Fight Back

Recent attempts to restrict the distribution of medical marijuana in Michigan are raising cries from the population. On Wednesday, September 8th, almost 1,000 people took the streets of the state capitol in order to express their unhappiness with legislators seeking to limit a law that was passed by popular vote in 2008.

The Medical Marijuana Act was voted into Michigan legislation three years ago with a 63 percent majority. Despite voter support, the state legislature and Attorney General Bill Schuette are pushing bills to restrict the rights given by the law to qualified patients.

These restrictions are coming in many forms, including prohibiting dispensaries within 500 feet of a church or youth institute. Other threats come in the form of prohibiting felons from being caregivers, eliminating private, large-scale dispensaries, and requiring extensive medical work before a prescription is approved.

All those who worked so hard to get the Medical Marijuana Act passed are now left to question the motivation of their elected officials. The voters approve medical marijuana, so why are those in power ignoring their wishes?

Bureaucracy and politics are standing in the way of free democracy, once again, and it has not gone unnoticed. The Wednesday protest helped to open the eyes of many, with signs reading “Fight Criminals, not Sick People,” and “Let My People Grow” decorating the streets.

There were many speakers at the protest, as well as sign holders, and many of them spoke out against a recent ruling by the Court of Appeals. The ruling threatens medical marijuana patients because it reinterprets the 2008 Act not to include legal dispensaries.

This ruling led to a number of unforeseen raids on dispensaries that were previously considered legal, and it makes the selling and purchasing of medical marijuana much more difficult. Patients are now being left without medicine because the whole method of distribution is being changed.

Hopefully the protest sent a strong message to legislators that what they're doing is not only wrong, but also incredibly unjust. Their reaction remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure; Michigan marijuana supporters are not going to sit back quietly.