Grand Haven Tribune, 12 Oct 2010 – Spring Lake Township — The Township Board approved a home-occupation medical marijuana zoning text amendment Monday night. The language falls in line with the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, which voters approved in November 2008. The state law allows the use of marijuana by qualifying patients who have a debilitating medical condition. The act also permits registered caregivers to help up to five qualifying patients to acquire and use medical marijuana.

Press and Guide, 12 Oct 2010 – DEARBORN HEIGHTS –Whether medical marijuana dispensaries and manufacturing facilities should be allowed into the city, or whether ordinance, should be like Livonia’s and not allow them was one decision City Council discussed Tuesday. Currently, the city has a moratorium on medical marijuana that has been extended for four months. It was created to give council time to adopt ordinance dealing with the changes in state law.

Jackson Citizen Patriot, 10 Oct 2010 – Considering all the beating of chests about Michigan’s two-year-old medical marijuana law, it’s encouraging to see that local government and police officials are handling this issue responsibly. Police in some Michigan counties are trying to crack down on marijuana. Attorney general candidate Bill Schuette exaggerates on his website that "pot shops are literally sprouting up everywhere." An appeals court judge warns state residents to "avoid all use of marijuana if they do not wish to risk violating state law."

Saginaw News, 11 Oct 2010 – CITY ORDINANCE ALREADY ADDRESSES MEDICAL MARIJUANA ISSUES SAGINAW – City Hall’s top attorney says officials won’t need to adjust the community’s ordinance to fit state medical marijuana laws after all.

Metro Times, 06 Oct 2010 – Re: Metro Times’ new Higher Ground column, the drug war is largely a war on marijuana smokers. In 2009, there were 858,405 marijuana arrests in the United States, almost 90 percent for simple possession. At a time when state and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and teachers, this country continues to spend enormous public resources criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis. The end result of this ongoing culture war is not necessarily lower rates of use. The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. Decriminalization is a long overdue step in the right direction. Taxing and regulating marijuana would render the drug war obsolete. As long as organized crime controls distribution, marijuana consumers will come into contact with sellers of hard drugs, such as methamphetamines, cocaine and heroin. This "gateway" is a direct result of marijuana prohibition.

Detroit News, 07 Oct 2010 – Not only should medical marijuana be made available to patients in need, but adult recreational use should be regulated. Drug policies modeled after alcohol prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market. Illegal drug dealers don’t ID for age, but they do recruit minors immune to adult sentences. So much for protecting the children ("Judge calls for clarity in medical pot law," Sept. 16). Throwing more money at the problem is no solution. Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant only increase the profitability of drug trafficking. For addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits. The drug war doesn’t fight crime, it fuels crime.

Detroit News, 09 Oct 2010 – Hundreds of chanting protesters turned up outside a Waterford district court building to chant against legal proceedings against 10 of 16 people who were arrested on Aug. 25 in a series of raids on marijuana users claiming protection under the state’s medical marijuana law. The local courts will have to sort out the validity of the charges against the defendants, but state lawmakers should heed the words of Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Peter O’Connell, who upheld charges against two Madison Heights marijuana defendants in an earlier case. Nevertheless, in the course of his ruling, O’Connell called the medical marijuana law confusing and badly drafted and called for clarification of the law on medical marijuana use, noting that the law conflicts with sections of the state Public Health Code. People have a right to have their rights and responsibilities clearly spelled out, and confusion still abounds in this area of the law. – — MAP posted-by: Richard Lake

The Daily Tribune, 09 Oct 2010 – FERNDALE – The City Council on Monday will decide whether to expand the number of zones in the city where medical marijuana businesses are allowed. Council members are set to discuss if pot businesses should also be allowed in the commercial districts along Woodward Avenue or mixed-use districts along Livernois, Hilton and part of Eight Mile Road.

The Oakland Press, 07 Oct 2010 – A request by three people – arrested during an August medical marijuana drug raid – to be allowed to smoke medical marijuana while on bond was denied in Waterford’s 51st District Court Wednesday. William Joseph Teichman, Candace Jean Teichman, and Brian Vaughn – medical marijuana patients – had been instructed as part of their bond not to use medical marijuana. The Teichmans own Everybody’s Cafe in Waterford and Vaughn had worked with them.

Detroit Free Press, 08 Oct 2010 – More than 200 protesters gathered this afternoon to defend their use of medical marijuana outside the Waterford District Court, while inside a judge set hearing dates for 10 medical marijuana defendants in cases that experts say could land in the state Supreme Court. District Judge Richard Kuhn Jr. set preliminary exam dates of Nov. 4 for four defendants, and Nov. 19 for six others, all arrested during raids in August of a medical marijuana dispensary — where patients bought the drug — and a compassion club where they socialized while using it.