Skip to Main
Michigan

A Look at Proposal 1: Legalization of Recreational Marijuana

9&10 Logo
9&10 Logo
9&10 Logo

Michiganders will face three ballot proposals at the polls in November, the first being maybe the most controversial, the legalization of recreational marijuana.

There is just a month until Election Day and the debate rages on.

“This is a product that is safer and less addictive than alcohol or tobacco, yet remains illegal,” says Josh Hovey from the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.

“I just see a lot of societal issues that are going to be repercussions from this,” says David VanDyke of the Mt. Pleasant Police Department.

The debate has raged for decades and will continue to for another month, should Michigan legalize the use of recreational marijuana?

“If someone wants to use marijuana in Michigan they’re already doing it,” says Hovey, “But they’re doing it illegally and they’re doing it in an unsafe way.”

Michigan would become the 10th state to legalize marijuana, if passed. The proposal states marijuana would be legal to anybody over the age of 21, would be limited to 10 ounces in a single residence, lower current violations to civil infractions, allow cities and townships to ban marijuana sales and create a 10% excise tax on each sale.

“Within the first five years of businesses operating we will generate half $1 billion in taxes,” says Hovey.

Supporters also say this will make it easier for police by taking minor drug offenses off their dockets.

“You should recall we are a thin blue line. Where do you want to go?” says Howard Wooldridge, a former police detective from the Lansing area, “If we are chasing a Willie Nelson and his friends consuming marijuana on their back porch, not bothering anybody, that means we have less time for the deadly drunk driver we have less time for the pedophiles who are on social media.”

Not all police agree. With the new freedoms, come new responsibilities and headaches.

“We’re going to have incidences of where people are going to drive there motor vehicles while under the influence of marijuana which does impaired driving,” says VanDyke.

When comparing to other states with legal pot, both sides pile statistics to support their claims. Nobody truly knows how it will all work out in Michigan, itmay just come down to what makes sense to you.

“The number one reason my profession wants to continue the prohibition is the ability to go, “I smell marijuana, get out of your car or up against the wall,” says Wooldridge, “Stop and frisk.”

Some of the repercussions go past the numbers. Neil Fernandes works with troubled teens facing expulsion from school, with his program called Rise Above in Jackson. The students he deals with already use marijuana and that’s a major hurdle for their efforts to help the kids turn things around.

“When you give access to a drug that literally deadens the senses, relationships are not something that blossom,” says Fernandes, “In those situations, in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Relationships are the first thing to go.”

He sees it more than the physical disadvantages but the moral ones as well.

“The mindset changes because then all students just say, ‘Well the government tells me it’s not harmful because they just legalized it,’” says Fernandes.

Studies from the legal states show the age group with the highest percentage of new use is actually 65 and up, and use by teens stays steady but some say that is based on a small sample size and time frame and wide legalization can change those in reality.

“I see it a lot like the cigarettes,” says VanDyke, “You know kids can get their hands on cigarettes, if marijuana is legalized, kids are going to be able to get their hands on stuff. It’s going to be there, it’s going to be available.”

9&10 Logo
9&10 Logo
9&10 Logo

Local Trending News