Global Ganja Report

More than 1,000 people carrying colorful home-made signs gathered on the steps of the Michigan capitol building in Lansing on Sept. 7 to protest a recent state Court of Appeals ruling that made commercial sales of medical marijuana illegal. "Marijuana smoke hung in the air most of the afternoon," one reporter wrote, while protesters chanted "Whose house? Our house! Show me what democracy is made of!" The protest—held on the first day the Michigan legislature returned for the fall session—was called by the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association to demand that lawmakers uphold the will of the voters in the Medical Marijuana Act, a ballot initiative passed overwhelmingly in 2008.

But Sen. Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge) said the rally reinforced his view that most patients do not have serious medical conditions. "A number of people who talked to me [on the Capitol lawn] obviously were not sick," Jones said. "It seems clear to me a large part of the crowd wants recreational marijuana." Jones, along with several other legislators and Attorney General Bill Schuette, recently unveiled several proposals designed to toughen penalties for those who abuse the medical marijuana law. Jones said the original law was intentionally vague, and many Michigan voters who voted for the act in 2008 were misled. (The State News, WLIX, Lansing, Sept. 7)

Photo by the Mad Pothead