RAIDS IGNORE PUBLIC WILL

There is something very puzzling about yet another raid on a medical
marijuana facility, this time in Troy. If there is something that
links all of these instances, it is the so-called reasons for the
raids themselves.

Police and sheriff officials claim they are only enforcing the law.
We are scratching our heads on that one, because they are offering a
double message to the public. First, they say the law is unclear --
and it is. Second, they say they are only enforcing what's on the books.

That begs the question: How can law enforcement officials enforce a
law that no one understands, and that some say may be illegal in itself?

If law enforcement officials are trying to prove a point with raids
from Ferndale to Waterford, the only thing they are accomplishing is
a lot of heartache in those who could benefit from the drug.

Correction: There is something else they are accomplishing, namely
provoking the ire of the majority of Michigan voters, including those
in most South Oakland communities, who voted in favor of permitting
the use of medical marijuana in 2008. They must be scratching their
heads, too -- and lawmakers better watch on whom the dandruff falls.

It's just one more instance of an overlord government trying to tell
people what's good for them. Where is the Tea Party on this one?

While the Berkley City Council is split on the issue, in Ferndale,
progressive steps have been taken to facilitate the operation of grow
facilities.

Certainly there are those who abuse the voter-granted premise of
medical marijuana use. And some just go looking for trouble, which
they are likely to find from some law enforcement officials.

Most everyone agrees that the real problem is with the way the
Legislature wrote the law that implements what voters approved. With
the swing toward conservative Republicans in last week's election,
it's unlikely that much will be done about it, which could leave
voters tearing their hair out.

There's nothing worse than a lawmaker who carries to Lansing a
personal agenda, instead of a public mandate. Nothing, that is,
unless maybe you consider law enforcement officials who seem intent
on taking the law into their own hands.