ANN ARBOR, MI – The message at the 46th annual Hash Bash rally in Ann Arbor was clear: “Free the weed!”
Efforts are underway to put the question of legalizing marijuana in Michigan on the statewide ballot in 2018, and speakers ranging from local politicians to longtime cannabis activists lined up to voice support.
The message was embraced by thousands of pot enthusiasts who filled the University of Michigan’s Central Campus Diag on a sunny Saturday afternoon, April 1, many of them lighting up joints and filling the area with smoke.
Rabhi, who recently took over Irwin’s seat in the state House, said it was an honor to be a part of this year’s Hash Bash.
“You know, some communities have a chicken broil, some communities have a tulip festival. In Ann Arbor, we have Hash Bash,” he said.
Rabhi said the war on drugs has been a failure and has cost many millions of taxpayer dollars spent locking up the wrong people, hindering their ability to get jobs after they’ve been criminally convicted. He said it’s a race war against people of color and is being used to target minority communities.
“And that is unacceptable,” he said, speaking in support of a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana in Michigan.
“I’m here with you today because the reality is, whether you like it or not, people are using marijuana, and so the prohibition, it doesn’t work. And so what we need to be doing is looking at ways to decriminalize and legalize, so that we can ensure that everybody is using marijuana safely. It is about safe usage.”
Rabhi said legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes and taxing it would bring in new state revenue for schools, roads and other infrastructure.
Eaton, a Democrat who represents Ann Arbor’s 4th Ward on the City Council, said the city decriminalized marijuana in the 1970s and hasn’t seen more crime because of it. He called it a positive public policy.
“We’re going to continue in Ann Arbor to insist that people be free to use marijuana without serious consequence. We’re going to continue in Ann Arbor to fight to make sure that marijuana is legalized in all of Michigan,” he said.
Diane Brown, a spokeswoman for UM’s Division of Public Safety and Security, said campus police arrested one person for possession of marijuana at Hash Bash, confiscated marijuana from four or five others, and issued two traffic citations, while one person was taken to UM’s emergency department for excessive drug intake.
Lissa Satori, a grassroots organizer who recently moved to Michigan from Ohio and is coordinating the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol, said signature collection for the group’s ballot initiative is beginning in May. She said they’ve got the money to do it and they’re pulling the trigger.
“We’re going to turn this state into the craft state for cannabis and create places for people who are currently caregivers in the medical system and for everyday small businesses in Michigan to be able to flourish in this market,” she said.
Satori said about 20,000 people are arrested for marijuana in Michigan every year and the initiative, if successful, could put an end to that.
Multiple speakers at the rally alluded to divisions within the Michigan marijuana legalization movement and encouraged unification.
There have been some disagreements over draft ballot language and organizers of a separate group known as MI Legalize, which was behind a previous legalization effort that fell short in 2016 because of invalidated petition signatures, have their own plans for a 2018 ballot initiative.
Chuck Ream, a retired kindergarten teacher and longtime marijuana activist in Ann Arbor, said he helped put together MI Legalize, but now he’s “totally on board” with the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol, “because I’m sure they can win legalization and they are good people.”
Ream said he hopes the two groups can unify. He said cannabis policy will continue to evolve as voters see there is nothing to fear and much to gain.
“After legalization, we will keep on pushing until we someday have free, legal, backyard marijuana. We have worked, we have waited. We have suffered for too long to screw this up now,” he said.
“We have seen our people arrested and fined and jailed, their property confiscated, their children taken away, their student loans prevented, their housing denied, their driver’s licenses taken away, promising lives wrecked,” Ream continued. “We will have legalization in 2018. The only question is whether we are united or divided. We could fairly easily sail to victory in 2018 under the umbrella of the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol.”
credit: mlive.com
