POT, POLS AND POLLS STATE AG RACE AN IMPORTANT ONE FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Just because the Detroit Election Commission chose not to put the
question of legalizing marijuana on the Nov. 2 ballot doesn't mean
there's no cannabis drama in this election. At least for Michigan
medical marijuana activists, the contest for attorney general is crucial.

"We're concerned about the potential election of Bill Schuette as
attorney general," says Tim Beck of the Detroit Coalition for
Compassionate Care, an organization that supports the use of medical
marijuana. "He is obsessed with destroying the Michigan Medical
Marihuana Act. He led the opposition back in '08. There's a lot of
stuff that he can do that is pretty damaging. We've got some people
who are actively helping David Leyton, not that he is a person that
wants to give joints to everyone. He believes the will of the voters
should be respected. Under Bill Schuette it would be lucky if
terminally ill people had access to medical marijuana."

In a debate broadcast on East Lansing's WKAR Public Television last
week Schuette, a Republican and former state appellate judge, state
senator and congressman, re-stated his opposition to the law that was
passed by 63 percent of Michigan voters in 2008. Leyton, the
Democratic Genesee County prosecutor, did not take a definitive
stance either way during the debate.

According to a Sept. 16 Epic/MRA poll, Schuette leads Leyton by a 39
percent to 25 percent margin among voters, with 31 percent undecided
and 5 percent going with minor candidates. A key finding in the poll
was that most Michiganders just don't know who Leyton is, while
longtime officeholder Schuette enjoys wide name recognition. I left a
voice mail message at the campaign office of Schuette and sent an
e-mail to the campaign of Leyton; neither of them got back to me by
press time. Other candidates, Gerald Van Sickle of the U.S. Taxpayers
Party and Libertarian Daniel Grow, were not included in the debate.

Overall, Leyton has focused his campaign on government reform;
Schuette has highlighted a tough-on-crime message. However, the
attorney general's office is important to the medical marijuana
question because it can set the agenda for the state by choosing
whether to go after compassion clubs or even doctors who seem too
prone to recommend marijuana to patients -- which qualifies them to
apply for state cards. The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act clearly
states that patients can legally grow, possess and use the plant, and
designated caregivers can grow plants for specific patients. It is
less clear when it comes to distribution between patients in more
dispensary-like settings.

California-like dispensaries are not addressed in the act and are
illegal, which is why Michigan has compassion clubs, places where
transfers between patients and suppliers who aren't necessarily their
designated caregivers take place. When it comes to these clubs,
current Attorney General Mike Cox has left any enforcement up to
local authorities.

The result is that things are all over the place -- mirroring the
hodgepodge of medical marijuana laws across the 14 states and the
District of Columbia that allow it. Communities such as Livonia and
Royal Oak have taken fairly prohibitive stances toward distribution
centers, while Ypsilanti, Roseville, Niles and Allen Park have
allowed compassion clubs with various restrictions. Oakland County
Sheriff Mike Bouchard has taken a tough stance, busting
dispensary-style compassion clubs in Ferndale and Waterford in August
for alleged violations of rules about how much and between what
parties marijuana can be transferred. Advocates say
patient-to-patient transfers are legal; that is where the legal debate stands.

"Each municipality has to figure out for themselves how they want to
deal with this, with no guidance from the attorney general," says
Jamie Lowell, of the Third Coast Compassion Center in Ypsilanti.
"I've been to a lot of meetings. They all have a different idea. For
some people, their mind is open but it's totally foreign to whatever
they've thought before. They need to be educated, sometimes opposing
forces get there first. Sometime they restrict it to home growing,
some allow for commercial enterprises, sometimes they're completely
prohibitive."

Dispensaries, or compassion clubs as proponents call them, are
cropping up all over the state with different levels of response from
their communities. That could change under an attorney general who
decides to take on the issue and use the position as a bully pulpit
to challenge dispensary-like operations across the state. The costs
of fighting busts in court could financially crush some operations,
regardless of the legal outcomes; the threat of busts could dissuade
others from getting into the business at all.

"Schuette's guidance is, 'No, they are prohibited, they need to be
busted,'" says Beck. "He can lean on prosecutors to do that."

The medical marijuana law itself can't be changed without a
three-quarter super majority of the state Legislature, but the
details of how it's administered will be fought out in the courts.
Decisions and precedents will govern what's allowed. Some of it comes
down to a question of whether you can teach an old dog new tricks.
After a lifetime of drug wars and prohibition, can our law
enforcement officers change their attitude toward marijuana used for
medical purposes?

"It actually happens quite quickly," says Allen St. Pierre, executive
director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws in Washington, D.C. "As juries come back and nullify the
prohibitions, when law enforcement comes back with a similar case,
prosecutors don't take them on. If past is prologue, across all
states, the statistical chance of getting a jury to go against a
well-defended medical marijuana patient or grower will go down."

While Leyton may have waffled on where he stands vis-a-vis medical
marijuana during his WKAR debate, activists are very clear that they
want him as attorney general rather than Schuette.

Hazy outlook: Trying to get the lowdown on the International Holistic
Health Cannabis Convention 2010 Halloween Harmony and Harvest
Festival (you try to say that real fast) is like playing a game of
find the roach in the back seat of a crowded Camaro circa 1975. The
event was scheduled for the Pontiac Silverdome Oct. 29-31, but it
will definitely not happen there. Apparently some fear and loathing
among the financial backers of the convention, and a
less-than-friendly attitude from Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard
that made getting various permits more onerous, put the kibosh on
things there. There has been some word circulating on the Internet
that it will take place at Cobo Center, but as of press time that was
far from certain. At this point, organizers may be rethinking the
nature and scope of what they want to do, not to mention when and
where. Stay tuned in here for further news.

National outlook: Although the question of actually legalizing
marijuana in California is on the Nov. 2 ballot, lawmakers there
aren't waiting to see what happens. Last week Gov. Arnold
'Terminator" Schwarzenegger signed a law downgrading the possession
of an ounce or less of marijuana from a misdemeanor to an infraction.
That means as of Jan. 1, 2011, petty possession is punishable by a
$100 fine and no criminal record. California voters could render that
moot on Election Day, but either way the Golden State continues to
lead the pack in liberalizing marijuana laws.