Proposal 1 was the Michigan state-wide proposal which would make medical marijuana legal in Michigan for patients with a qualifying condition. Prop 1 would create the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act. The proposal passed in all 63 counties of Michigan on November 4th, 2008. The act went into effect the following month, with the Dept. of Comm. Health first issuing patient cards on April 4th, 2009.
A Brief History of Michigan NORML
In January of 2000, news was released that Greg Schmid, an attorney from Saginaw, had written a petition that would decriminalize the use of medical marijuan, legalize the responsible personal use of marijuana, and stop the property forfeiture in which police departments share in the bounty of their drug raids. It was called the Personal Responsibilities Amendment (PRA) 2000. This original petition fell far short of the 200,000+ signatures needed, but it pulled a few activists together that were determined to give it another go the next year.
Those involved believed that the shortcoming in 2000 was due to a lack of petitioners, so they decided to use the winter to recruit in order to hit the ground running in the spring of 2001. A website was needed. There were three sites dedicated to marijuana reform in Michigan at the time. After carefully considering each one, Larry Bonner, whom ran "The Mid-Michigan Marijuana Movement," was asked to drop the "Mid" from his title and become "The Michigan Marijuana Movement."
Things were going well with the 2001 petition, and it looked like the goal would be reached. Until a double-tragedy put a damper on it all. On Labor Day weekend 2001, Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rhom were killed by police at their home at Rainbow Farm. (For further information on this event, please read Dean Kuipers' book "Burning Rainbow Farm", or see right.) Many of the early petitioners were friends of Tom and Rollie; very few felt up to signature gathering for the few thousand still needed. But a few grief stricken activists decided to make Tom and Rollie's dream come true. Then, one week after Tom and Rolle were killed, the second tragedy struck: September 11th, 2001. The WTC and Pentagon attacks took all wind from the sails of the PRA 2001 campaign. Petitioners, already feeling low over Tom and Rollie, hit the streets to find nobody wanting to sign. Many people saw them as unpatriotic at such a crucial time; very few would sign the petition. And so, the Personal Responsibilities Amendment died.
But the activists had bound together and were determined to continue the cause! The Michigan Marijuana Movement, headed by Larry Bonner, thought it could be more successful if it had a nationally recognized name. Bonner thus negotiated with Susan West, who was then head of the Michigan NORML chapter, and after approval of Keith Stroup of National NORML, the Michigan Marijuana Movement became Michigan NORML in January of 2003.
Bonner named Mike Segesta as legal counsel, George Sherfield as Assistant Director, Carol Reed as Secretary, and the previous PRA steering committee as the board of directors. Over time Michigan NORML has added a web-master, a treasurer, a membership committee, a Leaflet publisher, and an advisory board.
MI-NORML hopes to continue to be present and grow until marijuana prohibition is a thing of the past! However, we can do nothing without the support of the people of Michigan, and the members of MI-NORML. Please help end this irrational war on the cannabis plant. After all, the war on drugs is a war on Amercian citizens! Join MI-NORML today and help us stop this non-sense.
