Michigan appeals court throws out transporting pot law

I think I was the only idiot obeying that stupid law, ha ha ha.

I love how our governor keeps on signing laws that the courts later on say it is unlawful.

First was the ban on straight party voting, that law is on hold, now this law is almost in the trash. Be interesting if Michigan will appeal the appeal court ruling, they could, so don't celebrate just yet..in fact they likely will since they did it also with the voting law.

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The Michigan appeals court says the state's medical marijuana law protects people who are accused of illegally transporting pot.

In a 2-1 decision, the court threw out the misdemeanor conviction of a man in Clinton County, north of Lansing.

Callen Latz is a registered medical marijuana user. But he was charged in 2014 with violating a law that requires pot to be stored in a case in the trunk of a vehicle or in a spot that's not easily accessible.

The marijuana transportation law was signed in 2012, four years after voters approved medical marijuana for certain illnesses. The appeals court says the transportation law doesn't fit because it puts additional requirements on compliant medical marijuana users.

The court says that conflict can't stand. The decision was released Wednesday.

Opinion:
http://publicdocs.courts.mi.gov/opinions/final/coa/20161220_c328274_50_328274.opn.pdf

Dissenting Opinion:
http://publicdocs.courts.mi.gov/opinions/final/coa/20161220_c328274_51_328274d.opn.pdf

Good read

Does any other states have MM transportation laws ?

I got little problems with the weed in the trunk law. It just stucks when U switch cars, which sometimes I do. Same with being in some scary areas, I rather just jump in my car, then walk towards the back of it.

I think the law came about to stop toking while driving.

We can't have open beer or wine in the car, expect when its in the trunk. Open, meaning the seal on the bottle is broken, not that the cap is off. If it wasn't for that law, one could lightly sip on a beer while driving......yet one could chug one beer down and then jump behind the wheel and if under .08....make that .05 to be extra safe...they be legal to drive. I would think a few oz of beer in 20 mins, would be safer then 12 oz in 20 mins but U can't sip on a beer while driving, even if U are way under .08

It makes little sense to me ? Its OK to drink one beer and then drive but just sipping on some beer while driving is a big no no. But thats how the law has been for ages now.

Excellent news and one less way LEO can harass legal patients minding their own business. Sorry Otsego and Crawford Co...

The stacking of Improper transport upon possession charges seems abusive IMHO



Props need to go out to attorney Josh Covert out of Lansing! That cat may not have much experience (5yrs), but he is a hustler with great promise and some very impressive recent accomplishments.

Just a week or so ago Josh secured a section 8 dismissal by bench trial for 3 felonies (Manufacturing, Distribution and Firearms) in Detroit. Impressive

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) says that a new “war on drugs” is needed to combat the opioid crisis ravaging his home state ― a reference to a policy boondoggle that has spanned four decades and cost the U.S. more than $1 trillion, while destroying millions of lives and cementing America’s position as the world’s leading jailer.

“We need to declare a war on drugs, on illicit drugs,” Manchin told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead” when asked what President-elect Donald Trump should do to address the opioid epidemic.

West Virginia has been hit especially hard by substance abuse and addiction. A recent report by West Virginia’s Charleston Gazette-Mail detailed how drug companies have poured 780 million opioid painkillers into the state and cashed in while ignoring warning signs that the opioid epidemic was spreading as overdoses spiked.

But the drug war, first declared by President Richard Nixon in 1971 when he characterized illicit substance use as “public enemy number one,” has in recent years become widely derided as a public policy failure.

The U.S. spends about $51 billion a year enforcing the war on drugs, and arrests nearly 1.5 million people for drug violations, according to Drug Policy Alliance, a drug policy reform group. The U.S. is now home to nearly 25 percent of the world’s prisoners, despite having less than 5 percent of its population. Harsh and lengthy sentences for nonviolent drug possession or distribution crimes have helped bolster that figure. Meanwhile, as drug control spending has ballooned over the decades, addiction rates have remained relatively steady.

The public’s attitude has also shifted dramatically on drug policy since the drug war’s inception. About two-thirds of Americans believe illegal drug use should be met with treatment instead of incarceration, according to a 2014 Pew study.

In an attempt to explain how drug users in his state got addicted to opioids, Manchin told Tapper that they “started out as a kid, smoking what we call recreational marijuana. Then from there that led to prescriptions ... and before you know it ... they were just hooked. Then heroin comes on. Now we have fentanyl coming on. It’s just been unbelievable.”

Manchin is discussing what’s known as the “gateway” theory, a widely debunked criticism of marijuana use that suggests drug users begin with marijuana before graduating to harder drugs over time.

Bah, anti's still trying to push lies.

I have spoken with many mothers over the years that have stated that they hid their cannabis
while leaving booze and pills accessible because they were legal.
This resulted in their children having alcohol and opiate addictions as teens and young adults.
The comment I hear most is; I wish I had hidden my alcohol and pills and not my weed.

Won't a decision that overturns the illegal transport law include marijuana infused products?

outsideinthecold said:

Won't a decision that overturns the illegal transport law include marijuana infused products?

Click to expand...

No. The transport law was a separate law. The medibles bill amended the mmma.

Lol..marijuanna use caused this opiod epidemic..no, Doctors over prescribing them caused it. Period. I have two friends who got thier start from thier doctor. Myself as well. All after being described rather hard narcotics for minor injurys during motrocycle accidents. Who in thier right mind would prescribe 10mg oxycodones for simple bruises and overall soreness. Makes no damn sense except when you look at "legal" kickbacks.

The GOP for all its electoral victories of is not fairing well in the judicial system!!! Wouldn't it save a lot of tax dollars litigating their illegal laws if we just quit putting them in power to begin with???