Lansing – PRESS RELEASE – The Michigan State Legislature was not able to garner the votes needed to pass the marijuana legalization ballot initiative supported by the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. The issue will now appear on Michigan’s Nov. 6 ballot. If approved by voters, Michigan would become the 10th state to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana for all adults 21 years and older.
“While we would have been happy to see our initiative passed by the legislature as written, we are confident Michigan voters understand that marijuana prohibition has been an absolute disaster and that they will agree that taxing and regulating marijuana is a far better solution,” said CRMLA spokesperson Josh Hovey.
The campaign will now focus its efforts on educating general election voters about its proposal and the benefits of marijuana legalization. This includes the following facts:
- Marijuana has legitimate medical uses and is proven to be safer and less addictive than either alcohol or tobacco
- The continued enforcement of marijuana prohibition wastes law enforcement resources and clogs our legal system
- Taxing and regulating marijuana has the potential to generate hundreds of millions of dollars that will be dedicated to Michigan’s roads, schools and local governments
- The campaign is proposing a set of strict regulations that follow best practices from other states that have already legalized as well as the regulatory system set by the legislature in 2016
- Local communities will have the authority to regulate marijuana businesses within their jurisdictions or ban them altogether
“Multiple polls show that roughly 60 percent of Michigan voters want to see marijuana legalized and regulated but, as we saw with the legislative debates these past few week, there is still a lot of misinformation out there,” said Hovey. “The fact is that our proposal is carefully written to be a model for responsible cannabis regulations and closely follows the medical marijuana licensing law passed by the state legislature in 2016.”
Voters are encouraged to read more about the initiative by visiting www.RegulateMi.org.
