Washington, DC: City Clerks offices in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Berkeley, California certified initiatives this week to liberalize municipal laws pertaining to the use of medicinal marijuana. Voters in both cities will decide “yes” or “no” on the proposals this November.
Ann Arbor’s initiative, sponsored by the Washtenaw Coalition for Compassionate Care, would amend the city’s charter to exempt qualified medical cannabis patients from criminal prosecution. Local Ann Arbor law already stipulates that police treat minor marijuana possession violations as a fine-only offense.
Berkeley’s initiative, sponsored by the Alliance of Berkeley Patients, seeks to replace the city’s 10-plant medical cannabis limit with an amount in accordance with an individual “patient’s needs,” as defined by the patient and his or her physician. The proposal also requests the city to distribute medical marijuana if federal officials close Berkeley’s existing medi-pot dispensaries.
Additional marijuana law reform initiatives are ongoing in several other cities and states. Proponents of an Oakland initiative to direct the city “to tax and regulate the sale of cannabis for adult use” are awaiting certification from municipal officials, after having turned in more than 30,000 signatures this week.
Signatures are also being collected to place marijuana liberalization proposals on the November 2004 ballots in Tallahassee, Florida and Columbia, Missouri.
In August, Detroit residents will vote on an initiative seeking to exempt patients who possess and use cannabis “under the direction” of a physician from criminal arrest and prosecution. Similar medical marijuana statewide initiatives are ongoing in Arkansas and Montana.
In addition, Alaska voters will decide this November on an initiative allowing adults to legally possess, cultivate and use marijuana under state law. A similar statewide proposal seeking to legalize and regulate the use and sale of marijuana is also pending in Nevada.
For more information, please contact Keith Stroup, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500.