Legalize Pot, Fight Violent and Property Crime Instead: Lawmaker

LANSING, MI – A Detroit lawmaker wants police to leave recreational pot smokers alone and focus their efforts on fighting violent and property crimes instead.

Democratic state Sen. Coleman A. Young II’s 23-page Senate Bill 813, a law he calls the “non-medical marijuana code,” would also generate revenue for education and other public purposes.

Legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes is “in the interest of allowing law enforcement to focus on violent and property crimes,” according to the text of the bill, which has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Marijuana use would be prohibited in public, and violators would face a $100 fine.

Taxes paid by growers — $50 per ounce of marijuana flowers and $15 per ounce of marijuana leaves — would be paid monthly to the state. Half of the tax revenue would go to the state’s general fund, 30 percent would go to education, and the remaining 20 percent would be split between the state departments of Health and Human Services and Community Health.

TELL US

• What do you think about this proposal? Is it a good or bad idea?

Recreational pot is already legal in Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and the District of Columbia.

Michigan legalized medical marijuana in 2008.

Three groups are currently circulating petitions to put recreational marijuana legalization before voters on the Nov. 8 general election ballot, one by the Michigan Cannabis Coalition, another by the Michigan Comprehensive Cannabis Law Reform Committee and a third by the Michigan Responsibility Council.

» Photo by Chuck Grimmett via Flickr / Creative Commons