LANSING, MI — A ballot initiative to legalize marijuana would give Michigan the highest possession limits in the nation, an MLive analysis found.
The language the group plans to circulate would legalize and regulate marijuana for recreational use. Those over 21 could use marijuana, but would still be unable to consume it in a public place or drive under the influence.
The language circulating would also give Michigan the highest marijuana limits in the nation, allowing residents to legally carry 2.5 ounces of marijuana on their person and have 10 ounces at home.
Nine states have already legalized recreational marijuana.
Under the push to do so in Michigan, Michigan would be tied with Maine, which allow allows 2.5 ounces on your person, for the personal possession limit. It would tie Massachusetts, which allows the possession of 10 ounces at home, for the limit on at-home possession. But neither of those states allows as much as Michigan in the other category, meaning Michigan has the highest possession limits overall.
In addition to harvested marijuana, would join states like Maine and Massachusetts in allowing unlimited possession of what citizens grow in the form of their own, limited number of legal plants.
A large amount of marijuana
Mark Kleiman, a professor at New York University who is a nationally recognized expert on public policy and criminal justice in relation to marijuana, said he wasn’t familiar with any limits higher than what’s being proposed in Michigan.
Most states with legalized recreational marijuana use cap the amount somebody can have on their person at 1 ounce.
A recent study published in the scientific journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence pegged the average joint, a hand-rolled cigarette commonly used to smoke marijuana, at 0.32 grams.
Using that estimate, there are 88 joints in an ounce, and 2.5 ounces is enough to make 220 joints. From the 10 ounces Michiganders would be allowed to have at home, they could make 880 joints.
Kleiman said Michigan’s proposed 2.5 ounces a person could carry would be a lot of marijuana.
“I’m not clear why anybody would need 2.5 ounces on his person unless he’s selling,” Kleiman said.
Josh Hovey, the spokesman for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, the main ballot group behind the legalization effort, said there were other explanations for wanting to carry that much marijuana.
“I can see a situation where someone’s going up north to their cabin and is going to take enough for the summer or for the weekend,” Hovey said.
In most states, people can carry 1 ounce
Hovey said the group formed the legislation, including the possession limits, with input from stakeholders in the marijuana, legal, business and law enforcement communities.
“…it was a combination of many conversations with our coalition member organizations who have been working on this issue for many years, reviewing best practices from states that have already legalized marijuana and conducting an opinion poll of Michigan voters to determine what the public would support,” Hovey said.
Possession limits in most states that have legalized it are one ounce on your person, a figure Kleiman said dated back to when marijuana was less potent.
“An ounce was the usual purchase quantity back when pot was $25 an ounce. And where it might take more than a full joint to get somebody stoned,” Kleiman said.
He does not favor marijuana possession limits in general, saying the low probably of being arrested for possession means the laws aren’t an effective deterrent.
Of the eight states to have legalized marijuana, seven allow people to possess about 1 ounce of marijuana. The only exception is Maine, with its 2.5-ounce limit.
Jeffrey Zinsmeister, executive vice president and director of government relations for Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a group that has advocated against marijuana legalization, said the 2.5 ounce limit on one’s person being proposed in Michigan was excessive.
“That’s just a lot of weed, and there seems to be no reason why somebody would want to be carrying that much marijuana for personal use,” Zinmeister said.
Federally, possession is still illegal
While a number of states have moved to legalize or decriminalize marijuana, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency still classifies the drug as a Schedule I substance.
Sam Mendez, an attorney with C3 Law Group in Washington state and former director of the Cannabis Law and Policy Project at the University of Washington School of Law, said the possession of marijuana was still illegal under federal law, and punishments including prison time could get “draconian.”
“Possession of any marijuana at the federal level is illegal, and the charges get increased depending on whether it was the first, second or third offense,” Mendez said.
But most enforcement for marijuana possession falls to local police, he said. Mendez said in Washington State possession arrests have gone down. The state has a one ounce limit on the amount of marijuana a person can carry, which he pointed out was a difference from another legal substance, alcohol.
“You could have probably as much alcohol in the trunk of the car as you want, and there’s no limit to that,” he pointed out.
He said the two substances weren’t terribly different in terms of danger.
“I’m of the belief, but there’s also plenty of evidence showing, that marijuana in terms of danger to society is either comproable to alcohol or less dangerous than alcohol,” Mendez said.
Michigan’s proposal still collecting signatures
The ballot proposal to legalize recreational marijuana in Michigan is still being circulated. It’s a legislative initiative, meaning it would need 252,523 valid signatures to get on the ballot and then be subject to an up-or-down vote from Michigan citizens on the November 2018 ballot.
credit:mlive.com
