Have you ever noticed how prohibitionists in power keep fighting medical marijuana by saying that it is out of control, and somehow causing a breakdown in society, endangering the public, sending the wrong message to kids, etc.? Have you also noticed that they will freely spend time and taxpayer money trying to undermine medical marijuana programs and restrict the rights of patients?
We’re seeing it in Arizona with Gov. Jan Brewer’s egregious lawsuit to interfere with her state’s voter-approved medical marijuana law, which even the federal government thinks is a waste of time. We’re seeing it in Oregon, where a local sheriff is so hellbent on denying the 2nd Amendment rights of medical marijuana patients that he is willing to use state funds to take his case all the way to the Supreme Court.
Now, long-time medical marijuana foe Bill Schuette, attorney general of Michigan, has announced his plans to introduce legislation this fall that would supposedly stop the abuse of the medical marijuana system there.
Hold on a minute. Aren’t law enforcement supposed to enforce the laws, not make them? That’s a topic for another time.
The main focus of the as-yet-unfinished bill will be curbing the amount of “drugged-driving” accidents by severely limiting the ability of medical marijuana patients to ever drive a car.
“Schuette noted confusing inconsistencies between the Michigan Motor Vehicle Code and the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act must be eliminated to preserve safety on Michigan roadways. A longstanding safety provision in the Michigan Motor Vehicle Code prohibits driving with any amount of marijuana in your system. In contrast, the MMMA references driving “under the influence of marijuana,” a term which is not defined in state law or by uniform scientific standards, and creates a different standard for medical marijuana users. …
Schuette cited statistics recently released by the Michigan State Police which indicate that marijuana-related fatalities remain the most common drug-related automobile fatality, and that such fatalities are on the rise in Michigan.
“Driving with marijuana in your system is unsafe and jeopardizes the safety of our roadways,” said Schuette. “If you take drugs, don’t take the wheel.”
It is never a good idea to get behind the wheel while impaired by any substance. That being said, the statements of the attorney general can best be described as baseless fear-mongering.
First of all, multiple studies and mountains of anecdotal evidence have proven that merely having marijuana in one’s system is not an indicator of impairment, or even intoxication. Marijuana metabolites can stay in one’s system for up to a month after using it, and THC can stay in one’s system for a week. Yet the effects wear off within a few hours. The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act recognizes this by changing the wording of driving restrictions for medical marijuana patients to driving “under the influence,”, meaning that the patient has medicated recently and is still experiencing some intoxicating effects. Despite Schuette’s claim, “under the influence” is used in the provision of Michigan’s DUI laws that apply to all other prescription medications — MCL 257.625 (1)(a).
Under the changes proposed by Schuette, this difference would be removed, making it illegal for patients to operate a car with any marijuana in their system whatsoever. Most medical marijuana patients always have marijuana in their system. Even those who only use occasionally may have to use large amounts that can leave traces in the body for some time.
Basically, this amounts to saying that if a person finds that marijuana is the best medicine to treat their condition, he or she must forfeit their driving privileges or wait weeks after medicating to drive. This restriction is not applied to any other medicine in Michigan. This is medical bigotry, plain and simple. Patients are already dealing with trying to live normal lives and treat their conditions. They have it hard enough as it is. And Bill Schuette wants to make their lives even harder.
Secondly, the assertion that marijuana is involved in more automobile related fatalities than any other drug is completely false, unless one uses the definition that the Attorney General would like to apply to medical marijuana patients. The study cited in the press release used just that definition, however, and counted every fatal accident in which the driver had any marijuana in his or her system! This means that if someone smokes a joint, and three weeks later gets in a car (maybe after a few cocktails) and kills someone, it is a marijuana-related auto fatality.
It sure is easy to scare people when you don’t care about science.
This is illustrative of the need to get away from chemical intoxication testing and go back to physical impairment tests in driving situations. It should not matter what is in someone’s bloodstream, particularly for medical marijuana patients. Whether or not they are impaired should be the primary concern for law enforcement, and they don’t need fancy blood tests or saliva swabs to determine that. They’ve been doing just fine since the invention of the automobile.
These prohibitionists are no different than Nazis and we have had enough of their oppression of our American brothers and sisters. We in West Virginia will continue this campaign to show prohibitionists for who they truly are. They are attempting to infringe on Americans rights, persecute, oppress and victimize a % of our population. These prohibitionists will not be happy until they line up every controlled substance user and pull the trigger. They have had 80 years to spread their negative propaganda. We believe can undo that negativity with positive propaganda in 8 months. The devil needs to be shown for who he truly is, the true definition of moral turpitude.
Hooray for incompetent civil servants with an unbalanced sense of entitlement! Yaaay!
Micah Phelps, prohibitionists are different from Nazis. Prohibitions don’t start world wars and commit genocide. They also do not wish to shoot every controlled substance user; rather they want to imprison them. That’s bad enough without the ridiculous hyperbole, which will cause people to not take you seriously.
How are they different. They deny employment, have stripped away their rights, denying social assistance, taking away possessions and using propaganda to further their agenda. Thank god they haven’t began shooting and murdering in broad daylight. And to your agreement they don’t start world wars. What’s the war on drugs? Has it not been expanded to other countries. Have 40,000 Mexicans not lost their life through the indirect results of this war. Prohibitionists are a form of Nazi oppression. I will gladly debate this argument so feel free to try to distinguish the two.
Have you seen any videos of “no knock raids”? They are killing people in daylight
you are right, countries in the middle east and asia are murdering people for marijuana use. The next step will be genocide. Where is your response Henry?
Henry just got owned….lol…
If we are going to criminalize cannabis because irresponsible people under the influence want to drive, then what about alcohol. ban that too. Also, criminalize cheeseburgers and fries because studies have shown eating oily foods like that releases trace amounts of dopamine aka you get high, so ban that too. Oh! And people jump off bridges to commit suicide, we have to destroy those too. People have jabbed themselves with forks, anyone with forks need to be brought down because they might kill others. Fists need to be banned too, because people can punch people. We need to chop off everyone’s arms.
i dont derp often, but when i derp i herp.
irresponsible people ruin it for the rest of us people who can handle our stuff. idiots shouldn’t use drugs , idiots should’ve even be allowed to drink coffee.
‘Schuette cited statistics” But he never provides any hard copy proofs, just conjecture, disinformation, and speculation. He has called terminal cancer Patients “dopers’ and ‘drug dealers’ in the paper and in the public. He was against MM in ’08 and since being named our states AG he has upped his attacks and persecutions. There is a recall effort starting to remove him and a couple other Mich. MM prohibitionists.
Schuette is a despicable man.
He was my state rep back when I was a kid in the 70s, and he was a despicable man then too.
He made no bones about the fact that he opposed medical marijuana, and it’s obvious he hasn’t changed his mind.
Typical Elitist, he thinks he knows better than the people of the state that voted overwhelmingly for compassion.
This is where the people of Mi have to mobilize to protest this. I’ll tell you, if Americans were as good at protesting as illegal citizens then there probably wouldn’t be a problem with this idiot because he would be already gone. It is the job of professionals who want MM and the duty of every citizen with a sense of justice to defy a law that is designed to persecute innocent people and criminalize otherwise law abiding people. I live in S.C. and I am and have been in contempt of the prohibition of marijuana for adult consumption for many, many years and will fight tooth and nail when my husband retires. Like many people, this is a difficult thing to oppose because the fact that it’s illegal means that the professional people who use it have to worry about losing their job, patients or clients. I have to question just why this attny. general is SO opposed to even medical marijuana, because he protests too much. I think that there is some kind of corrupt reason for his stance. Everyone knows that the big time dealers of it want to keep it illegal, because it’s ALL ABOUT MONEY one way or another, you can bet on that.
I think it’s a buch of crap we the people of MI voted this law in now we have to stand by for our rights and on Sept,7 we will be on the steps knocking and asking questions.So be warned Attorney Schuette we want you removed from office uphold our laws as we voted it in.
hey, check this fact: within the last 100 days the michigan supreme court REVERSED a former decision about “metabolites of cannibis in the blood” is NOT reason for arrest/conviction.
the driver MUST be under the influence of delta9THC.
please research & publish.
As a surgeon, I have had no experience advising patients to use marijuana however reading these blogs I sense little evidence of how dangerous it can be.
While in college, I assisted at a “coffee house ” for youth held in a church. it was a chance for youth to get together, talk and share some refreshments. One day we had to physically restrain a girl from stepping out a window which would have resulted in a ten foot fall. Here sense of distance was totally disoriented and her friends confessed that they had been smoking “pot”. Years later, interning at St. Lukes Hospital, Chicago, I had a patient who had been at a pot smoking party, thought he would invite is friend who lived in an opposing wing of the building, stepped out of a third floor window to enter his friends apartment which was over twenty feet away and of course fell sustaining a severe head injury.
So I am surprised that none of the blogs mention that, yes, there is a severe distortion of sense of distance and that studies should be done on how long this lasts and sound advice given about driving.
The very first sentence Fox writes says it all. I have never seen a Schuette interview where he doesn’t make the comment: “It’s out of control.” I’m sure he’s convinced if he repeats it often enough sheeple will start to believe it.
There was a study done not long ago where subjects smoked quite heavy amounts of marijuana and were then tested on their driving ability. The pot smokers were not quite as good at staying centered in their lane, but otherwise did as well as control subjects who were straight. Most of them said they wouldn’t normally have tried to drive in that condition, they thought they were too stoned.
Severe impairment of depth perception occurs only in inexperienced users, the brain quickly learns to compensate. In any case, those who are affected by it tend to drive more slowly because it looks to them like they’re going much faster than they really are. Not much of a hazard.
This is typical politican BS. What is next, restricting people who catch a cold and use Nyquil from driving? There are far more dangerous prescription drugs than marijuana ever will be but our leaders are stuck in the 1950′s mindset. Most folks who use marijuana for medical reasons prefer not to drive anyway. Perhaps we should restrict all drivers who do not sleep 7-8 hours a day? Better yet, our Federal government should have car service for everyone; might create jobs (low paying of course). Ask any medical professional, specifically a GI specialist and the statement is the same, “alcohol is 10 times worse than pot to the body as alcohol slowly destroys the liver and substantially impairs one’s judgement if consumed daily. Perhaps that is why our Senators and Congressmen can not make simple decisions (or add correctly) as they drink too much of the “legal” alcohol and that clouds their judgement. Such stupidity and ignorance on this simple topic. Make marijuana legal in the USA, tax the heck out of it and use the funds to reduce our growning Federal debt. Wow, that is a simple decision and I did not need to go to law school to figure that concept out. Lay off the booze you legal morons.
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/misc/driving/driving.htm
Here is site where you can read the studies on Marijuana and driving abilities done by the US Department of Transportation. Some studies include comparisons of marijuana to alcohol, other impairing drugs, and to non-impaired drivers.
The Federal Government has had evidence since the 70s and 80s that marijuana users are not the threat to others on the road that prohibitionists try to claim.
The studies actually strongly suggests that alcohol encourages risky driving whereas THC encourages greater caution, at least in experiments. Another way THC seems to differ qualitatively from many other drugs is that the former users seem better able to compensate for its adverse effects while driving under the influence. Weil et al. (1968) were among the earliest authors who mentioned the possibility that marijuana users can actively suppress the drug’s adverse effects. They presumed that THC’s effects were confined to higher cortical functions without any general stimulatory or depressive effect on lower brain centers.
I thank Tracy from Texas for enabling others to get good information on the effect of pot smoking on driving. A most interesting factor was the heightened awareness of the participants that they were somewhat impaired after smoking and were therefore more careful. The opposite effect was seen with alcohol . The heightened awareness was totally lacking in my two examples.
One thing lacking in the series of test was the difference between a chronic and an occasional smoker if any.
This is just a scorned man ( mad because Medical Marijuana was passed ) trying to be a hypocrite about a medicine when we are allowed to drive impaired off alcohol and that o.k.??? Personally I know that marijuana can be in your urine/blood for almost 3 months after injesting it, I am proof. But it wears off in 4hours(cited from a Medical Surgery book) . I feel he needs to stick to his job and enforce laws not make up whatever laws he sees fit ! Also if Politicians wouldn’t ignore SCIENCE none of these problems would be happening.
Schuette claims to support legitimate patients right to have their medicine, but the changes he proposed would deny those same patients access on a practical level by closing down dispensaries. The law is fine as it stands. If anything it is providing the meds we need and a small cottage industry for one of the most economically deprived states. They do not mention that there are not enough caregivers to provide one caregiver for every patients or even 5 patients. How are the patients supposed to get connected with a GOOD caregiver who has the variety of meds that are effective for them? Currently patients can shop around the different dispensaries, that all get their meds from the extras that most caregivers have beyond what they give to their patients. They can try different strengths and types which vary widely, some will work, some will not be as effective for their condition. All meds are not the same. If we are restricted to one caregiver, if you can even find one in your area, then many patients will be forced to go back to the “streets” to find what they need. This law was supposed to eliminate the need for street level dealers and keep it all legit and safe for the patients like in a pharmacy. Schuette is a hypocrite (former smoker) and is more interested in making a name for himself to further his own career than in doing his job, which is enforcing the law AS PASSED BY THE CITIZENS OF MICHIGAN, not changing what they voted for into something that would not function for the sick. I do not have time and energy to find a new caregiver that I don’t know and then I am going to trust them to provide all my medical needs….no way….no other legit medicine/therapy would ever be provided this way. The law still wants to treat us like criminals whenever possible, even though the 63% of the voters said we are not criminals. Does Schuette respect the voters and standing laws of Michigan or not? If Schuette wants to stop the current set up for us to get our meds then the state should provide a viable alternative system, not just clamp down on what is working so well now. making it harder for sick people to get their meds is not what a PUBLIC SERVANT is sworn to do. If this goes through then I predict there will be a lot of innocent patients going to jail for trying to find relief for their sickness….impeach Schuette…what an ASS.
GO to a rally against this change!!
Sept. 7th, 12:00PM to 3:30PM at the capital…BE THERE!
Why have i never seen a test that puts Drinking against Smoking Pot.That is ,a”seasoned “Drinker against a “seasoned” Pot smoker on a road course.I can tell you from pessonal experience that the smoker would win in 10 out of 10 tests.There is absolutely no way a DRUNK would beat a STONER on a road course,or any course for that matter.I have actually had too much to drink before and could’nt drive to get home,so i found someone with some weed,had a couple hits,and in fifteen minutes was FINE to drive.Pot makes you more aware of your surroundings and you drive SLOWER. Drinking makes you less aware of your surroundings and you drive FASTER. There is NO COMPARISON!!! Of course, i do not condone driving “IMPARED”,but if i had to choose,I would drive HIGH.
Anything can impair a driver from a heavy downpour where there is no visibilty to drinking a cup of coffee and taking your eyes off the road for a second. Drive responsibly and be safe. It is “OK” to say “NO,” I cant drive right now, regardless of the impairment. Do I really need a law that states, you cannot drive in a heavy downpour? Nope. Teach responsibilty. Be safe.
If everyone was a light weight to alcohol like me!!! MARIJUANA WOULD BE LEGAL BY NOW!!!!!!!!
Bill Schuette I smoke weed a few hours later Im good to drive and u can’t stop me and u wont We will win this war even if it stays illegal we still going to smoke it cause we don’t give a FUCK!!!!!!!!
Morons, get it together. Stop getting off topic and talking about Nazi’s and zombies. Wake the fuck up and realize marijuana is here, its real, and it’s gonna stay. We can drive just fine under marijuana, i have been doing so for 10 years. Anyways who cares about Arizona, it’s time for medical marijuana in Florida.