Friday, October 24, 2008

Proposal 1

Crossposted on RightMichigan

Proposal 1 was put on our ballot here in Michigan by a group almost entirely funded by the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington D.C.

They spent a couple million dollars to hire petition circulators to get enough signatures to put this on our ballot. They then wrote a 100 word description of the proposal and went to the Michigan Board of Canvassers and were successful in getting pretty much their wording of the issue.

The problem is not what is in the proposal but what isn’t.

Because the law is very vague and full of loopholes,it will not be legalizing marijuana for extreme medical reasons,it will be legalizing marijuana pretty much across the board.

In California where this was done a few years ago, the law is used to allow anyone to get a doctors note and they can grow their own or “designate someone” to grow it for them. This designation of someone else to grow it for you opens the door to “Pot Clubs” which they have in California and they actually outnumber Starbucks in Southern California.

Proponents of Proposal 1 want us to believe that “medical” marijuana will only be smoked by those who have extreme serious medical conditions. Again one only needs to look to California to see who is really being “treated.”

In cities like San Diego where the issue has been closely examined, only 2% of those smoking marijuana under the guise of medicine have serious conditions such as AIDS, glaucoma and cancer. A full 98% are “treating” more minor conditions such as back and neck pain, anxiety, muscle spasms, insomnia, headaches and other insignificant conditions. But even more troubling is that 12% of the users are under 21!

And while this proposal does not require an employer to “accommodate the ingestion of marijuana in any workplace or any employee working under the influence of marijuana,”it does not address what would be required of any employer if an employee tested positive on a drug test during employment.

Supporters of this proposal say it would not allow an individual to be intoxicated while on the job, but no impairment level has ever been established, and drug tests detect the presence of drugs,not impairment. Studies however, indicate the impairment caused by marijuana use can persist as long as 24 hours - even though the user may no longer be aware he is still impaired.

This proposal is very misleading and if it passes, it can only be repealed or changed by a super-majority of the legislature or a statewide vote (which would take millions of dollars).

In the last 3 weeks,a coalition of Doctors, Hospitals, Law enforcement and Family groups have come together to oppose this and get the word out. They include:

Michigan State Medical Society,
Michigan Osteopaths,
Michigan Health and Hospital Association,
Michigan Sheriffs,
Prosecuting Attorneys of Michigan,
Michigan Chiefs of Police,
Michigan Fraternal Order of Police,
Citizens for Traditional Values,
Michigan Family Forum and More).

I wanted you to be aware of what’s about to happen in Michigan. There is no campaign staff, there aren’t lots of dollars but we have been aggressively getting information out to the press and in fact the Grand Rapids Press just came out with their editorial on the issue
Mlive.com

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO SPREAD THE WORD.

The biggest need right now is to get lawn signs out which say “Docs and Cops agree NO on 1” with the website www.nopotshops.com

If you would like to help, please email noonproposalone@gmail.com

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