Proposal 1 was the main topic of discussion at a breakfast hosted Wednesday morning in Ann Arbor. That's the statewide proposal that would authorize and legalize possession, use and cultivation of marijuana products by individuals who are at least 21 years of age and older, and commercial sales of marijuana through state-licensed retailers. 89.1 WEMU's Jorge Avellan attended the event at the Kensington Hotel and has the story.
About 100 members of the Ann Arbor Ypsilanti Regional Chamber paid close attention as speakers from both sides shared their thoughts on Proposal 1. Josh Hovey is a spokesperson for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. They support Proposal 1.
"When we legalize and regulate marijuana, we're going to end 20,000 unnecessary arrests ever year for low level marijuana posession and the waste of law enforcement resources that goes into that. And on the other hand, we're going to generate hundreds-of-millions of tax dollars in new revenue that will help our roads, our schools and our local government," said Hovey.
But Scott Greenlee, president of Healthy and Productive Michigan says, many times, marijuana is used as an excuse when people get arrested.
"At the same time, they might have been on a probation violation from a more serious crime. They might have been commissioning or in the act of a more serious crime and as they were arrested, marijuana was found on them," said Greenlee.
Greenlee added that if Proposal 1 is approved, it could increase the number of young people who use marijuana.Non-commercial, fact based reporting is made possible by your financial support. Make your donation to WEMU todayto keep your community NPR station thriving.
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— Jorge Avellan is a reporter for 89.1 WEMU News. Contact him at 734.487.3363 or email him javellan@emich.edu
