City of Mount Pleasant Marijuana Decriminalization Proposal (November 2014)

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The City of Mount Pleasant Marijuana Decriminalization Proposal ballot question was on the November 4, 2014 election ballot for voters in the city of Mount Pleasant in Isabella County, Michigan. It was approved.

This measure decriminalized the possession and use of less than one ounce of marijuana on private property by an adult above the age of 21. The measure only applied to city law. Marijuana remains illegal according to state and federal law.

Initiative efforts to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana were announced in 18 cities throughout Michigan for 2014 ballots. Eleven qualified for the November 2014 ballot, while two were postponed to 2015 ballots and three did not make the ballot at all. Two were approved on August 5, 2014.

Election results

Mount Pleasant Marijuana Proposal
Result		Votes	Percentage
a Yes		2,705	62.27%
No		1,639	37.73%

Election results via: Isabella County Elections Office

Background

As of 2014, the Safer Michigan Coalition, which was founded and run by Tim Beck, Chuck Ream and Justin Soffa, had been active in supporting pro-marijuana efforts in the state of Michigan for several years. Chuck Ream and Tim Beck had been working together for a decade on pro-marijuana efforts. The organization was dedicated to defending the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, approved in 2008. The group was also largely responsible for 14 local ballot measure victories, including five in 2012 and three in 2013.

Past local marijuana measures in Michigan

Ream said, “In order to have some change you’ve got to have some way for the voters to express their opinion. In a city in Michigan you can run a citizen’s initiative.” The method was not available, however, for general law townships or counties. Macomb County and Wayne County were the only two charter counties in Michigan, and the charters of both counties allow for initiative and referendum. The Safer Michigan Coalition stated that it had its eye on pro-marijuana proposals in each county for 2015.

Ream explained that the Safer Michigan Coalition created a template and provided support so that local activists could put various initiatives reforming marijuana use enforcement on the ballot. The different recipes offered by the coalition included:

• legalization, which was approved in Ferndale, Lansing and Jackson in 2013;
• a Lowest Law Enforcement Priority model, enacted in Ypsilanti in 2012;
• a proposal requiring medical marijuana dispensaries, which was used in Kalamazoo in 2012; and
• the decriminalization initiatives that were on multiple local ballots across Michigan in 2014.

Ream expounded on the benefits of running local pro-marijuana efforts, saying, “These local initiatives are really, really cheap, compared to anything that can be done on a state level. For a few thousand dollars we can show that the average voter doesn’t support cannabis prohibition any longer.” Ream said that, although statewide petitions have been successful, the expense — at least a million dollars — of running a statewide campaign was somewhat daunting. Ream did say, “Every time that we give the voice to the voters they reject cannabis prohibition utterly, usually by 60% or more.” Attorney Michael Komorn stated, “I think that this strategy has been brilliant. It’s something where you can always claim victory in every year, these local initiatives.”

Five local marijuana measures failed in Michigan in 2014, while eight were approved.

Safer Michigan Coalition banner

Support

Supporters

Brandon McQueen, a member of the Mount Pleasant Board of Education, was the chief coordinator of the Coalition for a Safer Mount Pleasant, which was the group behind the initiative effort in Mount Pleasant. Other members of the coalition included:

• Ian Elliott, president of the Student Advocates for Medical and Recreational Cannabis
• Liz Busch, Green Tree Cooperative vice president
• Heather Neff, a Mt. Pleasant resident
• Jericho Simon, a Central Michigan University graduate and former resident.

The Safer Michigan Coalition was behind multiple initiatives in Michigan to decriminalize marijuana at the local level, including the effort in Mount Pleasant. The efforts were spearheaded by local activists in each targeted city.

Up North Live, "Marijuana activists working towards legalization in Michigan," January 30, 2014

Arguments in favor

McQueen and other supporters said that the measure, while not altering the fact that marijuana is an illegal substance according to state and federal law, would help to prompt a statewide and national discussion about marijuana legalization. Supporters insisted that their initiative was not an effort to flout state law, but was, instead, intended to express the position of the people in conjunction with other local efforts throughout the state and nation.

Supporters of decriminalization argued that possession and use of small amounts of marijuana by consenting adults should not be illegal because it is not harmful and restrictions are not enforceable. They also argued that law enforcement should focus on more dangerous crimes and that any attempt to enforce marijuana prohibition is a waste of time. Tim Beck, co-founder of the Safer Michigan Coalition, said, "It's time for law enforcement and the court system to start dealing with real crime, with real victims; not harassing consenting adults for something that should not be a crime in the first place."

Opposition

Arguments against

Opponents argued that the local decriminalization measures showing up across Michigan were impotent and symbolic at best since they contradicted state and federal laws outlawing marijuana. Many opponents argued that the energy and money put into these petitions could be put to better use for the communities in which the initiatives were proposed.

Dave Coulter, mayor of Ferndale, a city that featured a similar decriminalization initiative in 2013, said, “My understanding is that state and federal drug laws can’t be changed at the local level. Ferndale has a history of local activism through symbolic statements like this and they certainly have their place, but in terms of effecting actual change at the city level, a focus on economic development and jobs, our neighborhoods and our schools will have a greater impact.”

Many opponents of the initiative expected law enforcement officials to continue making arrests under state law despite approved local decriminalization initiatives. In Flint, one of the five cities in which decriminalization and marijuana related measures were approved in 2012, law enforcement officials said that the vote was merely symbolic as police officers would continue to make arrests of marijuana users under state law.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing local ballot measures in Michigan

The Safer Michigan Coalition coordinated efforts in many cities and a county in Michigan. The coalition planned to mobilize local activists to start collecting signatures on April 1, 2014.

Similar measures

Recreational

a Washington D.C. Marijuana Legalization, Initiative 71 (November 2014)

Colorado:

• Nine local 2014 marijuana measures in Colorado

Maine:

a City of Lewiston Recreational Marijuana Legalization Measure (November 2014)
a City of South Portland Recreational Marijuana Legalization Measure (November 2014)
Town of York Recreational Marijuana Legalization Measure (November 2014)

Massachusetts:

• Massachusetts Congressional Districts Marijuana Legalization Public Policy Question Advisory Votes - Eight Districts (November 2014)

Michigan:

• Local marijuana measures in Michigan

New Mexico:

a Santa Fe County Marijuana Decriminalization Advisory Question (November 2014)
a Bernalillo County Marijuana Decriminalization Advisory Question, Measure 1 (November 2014)
City of Albuquerque Marijuana Decriminalization Measure (November 2014)
City of Santa Fe Marijuana Decriminalization Initiative (November 2014)

Wisconsin:

a Dane County State Legalization of Marijuana Referendum (April 2014)

Medical

California:

a City of Santa Ana Council-Referred Medical Marijuana Regulation Ordinance, Measure BB (November 2014)
d City of Santa Ana Medical Cannabis Restriction and Limitation Initiative, Measure CC (November 2014)
d City of La Mesa Medical Marijuana Initiative, Proposition J (November 2014)
d City of Encinitas Medical Marijuana Initiative, Proposition F (November 2014)
d Nevada County Medical Marijuana Cultivation, Measure S (November 2014)
a Butte County Medical Marijuana Ordinance 4075 Referendum, Measure A (November 2014)
d Butte County Medical Marijuana Initiative, Measure B (November 2014)
a Shasta County Outdoor Medical Marijuana Ordinance Referendum, Measure A (November 2014)
d Lake County "Medical Marijuana Control Act" Initiative, Measure O (November 2014)
d Lake County "Freedom to Garden Human Rights Restoration Act" Initiative, Measure P (November 2014)
d City of Weed Permitting Licensing of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Advisory Question, Measure L (November 2014)
a City of Weed Outdoor Marijuana Cultivation Ban Advisory Question, Measure K (November 2014)
a Lake County Marijuana Cultivation Ordinance 2997 Referendum, Measure N (June 2014)
City of Imperial Beach "Compassionate Access Ordinance" Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Act (June 2014)
City of Napa Medical Marijuana Dispensary Referendum (November 2014)
City of San Jose Medical Marijuana Regulation Act of 2014 (November 2014)

Recent Michigan measures

a City of Lansing Marijuana Decriminalization Proposal (November 2013)
a Detroit City Marijuana Decriminalization Question (November 2012)
a Flint City Marijuana Use Exemption Amendment Proposal (November 2012)
a Grand Rapids City Marijuana Decriminalization Amendment Proposal (November 2012)
a Kalamazoo City Medical Marijuana Amendment Measure (November 2012)
a Ypsilanti City Marijuana Amendment (November 2012)

See also

• Local marijuana on the ballot
• Isabella County, Michigan ballot measures
• November 4, 2014 ballot measures in Michigan

External links

Suggest a link

• What is Marijuana? website
• Safer Michigan Coalition website
• Marijuana Policy Project, "Michigan city ballot initiatives status," accessed July 2, 2014