Metro Times, 16 Jan 2013 – Legalization Efforts Grow From the Bottom Up Peeling back the layersof cannabis prohibition is like playing a game of three-card Monte. Now you see it, now you don’t. That seems to be the case with decriminalization efforts that won handily in five Michigan cities in November and energized activists.

Metro Times, 28 Nov 2012 – Why the War on Drugs Is a War Against Black People Attorney Michelle Alexander has been shaking things up across the nation over the past two years, yet you may not have heard of her. Her book, The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, takes on race and the War on Drugs in ways few people would dare to approach.

Metro Times, 14 Nov 2012 – Last Week’s Votes Give Massive Momentum to the Anti-Prohibition Movement Can you get a contact high from election results? It does seem possible with the euphoria among activists over last week’s votes on cannabis issues.

Metro Times, 31 Oct 2012 – Marijuana Law Reformers Aim for Long-Term Change on Election Day The stakes are high for marijuana laws in next Tuesday’s elections. Three states are voting on some form of a tax-and-regulate law, and two states are voting on medical marijuana. In Michigan, where voters said yes to medical marijuana in 2008, there are proposals in five cities that would further mitigate legal penalties for marijuana possession and use.

Metro Times, 17 Oct 2012 – Push to Decriminalize Small Amounts of Weed in Detroit Finds Little Opposition Maybe anti-Proposal M forces were out this past weekend campaigning. Maybe they’re crashing the phones on radio talk shows this week. Maybe, with less than three weeks before the election, they got loudspeakers and made their voices heard. Well, that’s what Lawrence Kenyatta, co-chair of the advocacy committee at the Partnership for a Drug Free Detroit, hoped would happen.

Metro Times, 03 Oct 2012 – Lawsuits part of effort to get state officials to comply with medical marijuana law Medical marijuana laws generally get bureaucratic pushback from administrators, politicians and law enforcement unhappy with the changes made by citizens’ initiatives. Michigan medical marijuana activists claim that is the case with the Michigan Bureau of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), which oversees the Michigan Medical Marihuana program (MMMP).

Metro Times, 19 Sep 2012 – Legalization Advocate Irvin Rosenfeld’s Visit to Michigan Irvin Rosenfeld is one of the four surviving federal medical marijuana patients. There were once 13 of them, and Rosenfeld has been receiving his allotment longer than any of the other survivors. He gets a canister with about 300 rolled marijuana cigarettes from the government every 25 days. Instructions printed on the can instruct the patient to smoke 12 of them each day.

Metro Times, 22 Aug 2012 – Engaging New Book About Marijuana Avoids the Dullness Trap There have been plenty of books published on marijuana in recent years. Many of them have been oriented toward politics and the law, generally arguing that prohibition is misguided and its consequences are abysmal. Another group falls into the "marijuana is medicine" category, with authors citing study after study indicating the curative wonders of the weed. Yet others are how-to books: how to set up a grow room, how to grow cannabis, and how to cook it. However, seemingly in the effort to be taken seriously, marijuana activists often fall into the trap of dullness when writing their perfectly reasonable tracts.

Metro Times, 08 Aug 2012 – Court Case Puts Marijuana Prohibition on the Stand This might be the big one for medical marijuana and marijuana legalization advocates. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., has agreed to hear Americans for Safe Access vs. Drug Enforcement Administration, which challenges the federal classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug.

Metro Times, 25 Jul 2012 – These Michigan Dispensaries Are Nondescript, Businesslike and Law-Abiding Maybe there are marijuana dispensaries where clouds of smoke drift through the air behind beaded curtains as loud music pounds from speakers, dancing girls gyrate and heavy lidded smokers nod while reclining on overstuffed pillows.