Marijuana legalization should have gone to Detroit voters, appeals court rules

[marmar]

from the Detroit Free Press:



A petition drive aimed at giving voters in the City of Detroit voters the option of decriminalizing the possession of marijuana was improperly barred from the ballot in 2010, the state Court of Appeals said in a decision released this morning.

The appeals court reversed the ruling of a Wayne County judge, who let stand a decision by the Detroit Elections Commission to keep the issue off the ballot because they believed the proposal conflicts with state drug law.

A 2-1 majority of the appeals panel said city officials did not have the authority to make that determination.

“It was outside the authority of (city officials) to consider the substance and effect of the initiative and defendants have a clear legal duty to place the matter on the ballot,” the court wrote. .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.freep.com/article/20120210/NEWS01/120210017/Marijuana-legalization-should-gone-Detroit-voters-appeals-court-rules?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

[Bozita]

1. Here's a snip from the MLive report on the topic...

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2012/02/appeals_court_ruling_energizes.html

-snip-

"They basically used junk law to keep us off the ballot," Beck told MLive.com this morning. "We dotted every i. Crossed every t. We had amost double the amount of signatures we need, and they said they weren't going to do it, that in essence rule of law does not apply to things they don't like."

Barring an appeal to the State Supreme Court, Beck expects the city will be forced to put the proposal on the ballot for the upcoming August primary.

Beck's group, The Coalition for a Safer Detroit, acknowledges that state and federal law both trump city code -- and that Detroit police could still charge a marijuana user under state law if they choose.

But they hope that amending the city could would send a message to local officials: "The City of Detroit has so few resources to deal with real crime -- robbery, murder, vandalism, breaking and entering -- we don't have time for this," Beck said.

more...

[mdmc]

5. ..

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Silly people. Thinking they can govern themselves.

They need to be TOLD what they can or can't do. By the folks who KNOW BETTER.

[Bozita]

3. kicking for additional exposure

[RainDog]

4. k&r n/t

[RZM]

6. Good. Put it on the ballot.

Let PEOPLE decide!

[mdmc]

7. ..