All Together Now

GETTING READY FOR MICHIGAN'S BIGGEST MEDICAL MARIJUANA EXPO

What looks to be Michigan's biggest medical marijuana expo to date is
set for this weekend at the Suburban Collection (formerly Rock
Financial) Showplace in Novi. Mostly sponsored by Michigan-based
organizations - MINORML, the American Medical Marijuana Professionals
(AMMP) certification clinic, Brighton Area Compassion Clubs, High
Times magazine, and others - the Medical Marijuana Expo 2011, THC
(treating health concerns) in Michigan seems to be a solid event with
about 100 vendors. Big Daddy's Hydro and Metro Times have hosted
smaller events of this nature before, but this one looks to take it
to a higher level.

"Hopefully it will grow from this," says Tom French, expo promoter
and owner of AMMP. "We're putting it on to educate the public and
promote all of these local companies."

Indeed, the Friday to Sunday schedule is packed with demonstrations,
classes and speakers such as Tim Beck, who helped write Michigan's
medical marijuana law, giving some insight into the process. Doug
Orton of Oakland County NORML will address methods of ingestion, and
the Rev. Steve Thompson of MINORML will discuss coming out of the
closet with marijuana. Mike Whitty is to take on the psychological
and spiritual benefits of cannabis. Those are just some of the
speakers. Classes and demonstrations cover things like edible
medications, growing, harvesting and activism. Dr. Dean Fior of AMMP
will host an "ask the doctor" session.

There should be a very interesting mix of people at the Suburban
Collection. The medical marijuana expo is in Hall A. Novi High School
has a fundraiser scheduled for the American Cancer Society in Hall B,
and there's a gun and knife show in Hall C. It doesn't get any better
for the survivalist cancer patients who want to grow their own
medicine back in the woods while hunting.

In addition to being an industry expo, the event raises the profile
of the medical marijuana community in the public eye. It's the kind
of thing people who attended a two-day activist training by Americans
for Safe Access in February see as an opportunity to help the cause
in Michigan. Michelle Selzer, who lives on the western side of the
state but didn't want to give her exact location, took the activist
training and plans on working at the ASA booth during the expo.

"I consider myself a volunteer patient advocate," says Selzer. "I've
been following the medical marijuana movement since the act went into
effect a couple of years ago. I have friends and family who are
patients and caregivers. I think it's important to be the face that
ends up in front of the city councils and talks about the importance
of medical marijuana. Some people are too scared or too sick to do
this. I think one of the things I really didn't appreciate before was
the need to organize. There are a lot of different groups engaging at
many different levels. I never really thought about how to go about
building a coalition, building common ground and strategic planning
for how we can go about doing that."

Dondi Meitz, a medical marijuana patient active in the Brighton Area
Compassion Clubs who took the training, says, "It was good for honing
my activist skills. ASA is a bigger group than I'm used to, so
there's more outreach available, giving us the ability to network
throughout the United States. ASA has been around a long time and
it's in all of the states. It really is about networking."

ASA says it is the United States' oldest medical cannabis group and
maintains a full-time lobbyist in Washington, D.C. The organization
claims to have convinced President Barack Obama to back off on
raiding medical marijuana dispensaries. Brandy Zink, a local
ambassador, and Raudel Wilson, ASA's community development
coordinator, will both speak at the expo. Then Wilson will stay in
Michigan for a week to work with community activists. Wilson can be
reached at raudel@safeaccessnow.org.

The Medical Marijuana Expo is an example of what can happen when
people do get organized. You can find out more about it at ammp.com,
or call 877-794-2099. There is a promotional video for the expo on
YouTube under the title AMMP Medical Marijuana Expo. Also, ASA has a
DVD of the activist training available. The organization can be
reached through its website at safeaccessnow.org.

Remember the petition initiative to put the question of legalizing
marijuana in Detroit on the ballot last year? If you don't, it may be
because discussion pretty much died after the Detroit Election Board
decided not to put it on the ballot. The proposed ordinance would
have decriminalized possession of 1 ounce or less by a person 21 or
older while on private property.

"We never really talked much about it because we knew it would be
pre-empted by state law," City Council member Saunteel Jenkins told
me when I spoke to her about it several weeks ago. Not that she has
anything to do with the election board, but the comment tells you
something about the sentiment at City Hall.

Maybe there will be more talk about it now. The Coalition for a Safer
Detroit, which ran the petition effort, filed an appeal of the Wayne
Circuit Court's decision last August backing the election board. The
coalition argues that the election board's decision keeping the
question off the ballot was clearly based on the members'
"disapproval of the objective the initiative petition seeks to
accomplish." Translation: They just didn't want to see marijuana
legalized in the city.

"The appeal says that the city of Detroit created a fictitious
conflict between state and city law as far as pre-emption," says
Beck, a coalition leader. "The bottom line is we are determined that
the rule of law is going to exist in the city of Detroit period, and
in Wayne County. That is why we are so determined to go forward. This
is a complete abuse of their authority. We may as well be living in a
Third World country the way these people can arbitrarily and
capriciously disregard the rule of law. And we're taking this as far
as we can. We are also asking the appeals court to publish their
opinion; that means that it becomes binding law. So that Detroit and
any other city cannot play that type of game again. Either a ballot
initiative process exists in Detroit or it doesn't. If we lose the
case that means we don't have a ballot initiative process in Detroit."

One reason the appeal wasn't filed until January is that the
coalition had to file a motion for contempt of court against the
court reporter in order to get a transcript of the first hearing,
which is required for an appeal. The coalition finally got its
transcript on Jan. 6. The appeal argues that since the petition
fulfilled all legal requirements to go on the ballot, it doesn't
matter what anyone thought about its content.

This one will see a lot more time in court before we see it on the
ballot - if ever.