It's called activism. Not sit on your ass-tivism.
one man with an ipad can do alot--
[h=1]St. Clair City Council updated on status of its marijuana ordinance[/h]Is it legal for a Michigan city or state to invoke a federal law when attempting to criminalize the possession and use of marijuana despite the 2008 Michigan referendum that approved the use of marijuana for medical reasons?
That’s one of the questions that the Michigan Supreme Court will address later this year in relation to a Wyoming, Mich., city ordinance that prohibits the possession or use of the drug by anyone except licensed pharmacists.
St. Clair City Attorney Jim Downey recently updated the city council on the legal machinations surrounding the Wyoming ordinance.
“Periodically, I’ve been advising the council on the status of an ordinance on medical marijuana,” said Downey on April 15. “My last update concerned an ordinance very similar to ours. It was passed by the city of Wyoming in western Michigan. After it had been upheld as lawful by a circuit court, it was deemed to be unconstitutional by a Michigan Court of Appeals. At the time, I indicated that it was a setback for our ordinance, that we should wait and see how this plays out, and there has been a development.”
Section 38-60 of St. Clair’s code of ordinances states: “It shall be unlawful for any individual to use or have in his or her possession or under his or her control marijuana or cannabis as defined by the Michigan Compiled Law section
333.7106 unless pursuant to a valid prescription or except as otherwise authorized by Article 7 of the Public Health Code.”
“Last week, the Michigan Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal by the city of Wyoming on the legality … of the ordinance and I think it’s an interesting decision by the Supreme Court because any appeal to the Supreme Court is by permission of the Supreme Court,” said Downey. “If they wanted that ruling to stand, they would simply deny the appeal and the ruling of the court of appeals would stand. So I think the fact that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Wyoming appeal (suggests) there may be a flip back in favor of the city of Wyoming. But that will come sometime later this spring, maybe even into the summer.”
The Wyoming code, Section 50-162, states that “It shall be unlawful for any person who has not obtained a license from the state board of pharmacy as required by Article 7 of the Act No. 368 of the Public Acts of Michigan of 1978 … to knowingly or intentionally possess or use marihuana. The term ‘marihuana’ … means all parts of the plant Cannabis sativa L., whether growing or not.”
“On a related note, on the federal level, United States House of Representative has undertaken debate on a bill that would essentially eliminate this debate by making it lawful for states to pass laws such as the state of Michigan has done, which stand in opposition to the federal law prohibiting the lawfulness of marijuana,” said Downey. “I think a lot of this has arisen because of states, such as Colorado and Oregon, that have passed laws making it lawful, but it would also have an impact on states such as Michigan where you’ve got the medical marijuana provisions which are being essentially attacked on a local basis using, as a basis, the federal law. The house bill, as I understand it, which just began debate last week, would prohibit local units of government from using federal law as a basis for making medical marijuana illegal. That’s the latest. There’ll probably be more to come in the months ahead.”
“You’ll let us know what the bottom line will be?” asked Mayor Bill Cedar.
“I will,” said Downey.
crowds rushing to support the opposition of this I will join in the fray
[fingers crossed]
