By Phillip Smith
A marijuana legalization initiative in Detroit was improperly barred from the ballot in 2010, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Friday. The appeals court decision overturned the ruling of a Wayne County judge, who had sided with the Detroit Elections Commission’s decision to keep the measure off the ballot because they thought it conflicted with state and federal law.
“It was outside the authority of (city officials) to consider the substance and effect of the initiative and defendants have a clear legal duty to place the matter on the ballot,” the court held in a 2-1 decision.
That means that unless the city appeals the decision, the measure should be on the August municipal ballot.
Sponsored by the Coalition for a Safer Detroit, the initiative would remove from the municipal code all references to the adult possession of up to an ounce of marijuana in private from the municipal code, in effect legalizing up to an ounce within the city limits. The initiative would not change state law, which still criminalizes marijuana possession.
The appeals court ruling marked “a great day for voters’ rights in the city of Detroit,” the Coalition’s Tim Beck told the Detroit Free Press Friday. The election commission’s decision to deny the measure a spot on the ballot was “total hocus-pocus,” Beck said. “We did everything right. Every “i” was dotted, every “t” crossed.”
There is an ongoing campaign led by the Committee for a Safer Michigan to put a legalization initiative on the statewide ballot in November, but it appears likely voters in the state’s largest city will have the chance to make their voices heard well before then.
Article From StoptheDrugWar.org — Creative Commons Licensing
