The recent legalisation of medical cannabis in the US state of Michigan has once again proved that British policies regarding cannabis have little to do with public health and everything to do with money.
While the world watched Barack Obama accept the nomination of the 44th President Elect, upwards of 11 million voters in Michigan were at the ballot-box, voting on another, entirely different matter. The matter of whether or not patients with a doctors certificate should be removed from the war on drugs, by offering them protection under state law, which allows them to grow, to possess and to consume cannabis, within limits to be set by the state of Michigan.
The Marijuana Policy Project raised some big numbers to assist in getting this ballot as much publicity as they could muster. As a result, the ballot had unprecedented public support. Nice job guys!
The opposition included more than two dozen medical, law-enforcement, anti-drug and other organizations, including the Michigan State Medical Society, the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan and Citizens for Traditional Values.
Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Bill Schuette, chairman of the opposition group Citizens Protecting Michigan's Kids, said he was disappointed with the outcome but not the effort.
In campaign finance reports for the period through Oct. 19, proponents reported raising $1.5 million, most of which came from the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C.
The opposition group raised $125,500 for the same period.
"It appears we came up short," continued Judge Schuette. "We waged a good campaign, a hard-fought campaign. But we were severely underfunded, and that's always a challenge."
The measure passed in every county. With 96 percent of the precincts reporting, 63 percent, or 2,983,388 people, voted "yes" on Proposal 1, which removes state penalties for registered patients to buy, grow and use small amounts of marijuana. Thirty-seven percent, or 1,778,939 voters, were opposed.
Judge Schuette's remarks prove once and for all, public health issues are generally decided by those with the largest advertising budgets.
Little wonder then, while the British press blindly chases its own cannabis shadows, the nation is in the grip of an alcohol epidemic.
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