Voters in Michigan have the chance in November to decide if their state will join the ranks of those that have legalized recreational marijuana. If passed, Michigan would join Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia in allowing recreational marijuana sales.
The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol spearheaded the effort to get the referendum on the ballot. It was the group’s second attempt. In the first, they got the required 360,000 signatures but not within the 180-day window mandated by state law. This time, they got it done in the right amount of time to qualify for the Michigan ballot.
“Now, we’ll be out and about talking to people and educating them about the issues,” coalition director John Truscott told the Detroit Free-Press.
The Michigan marijuana ballot measure, if passed, would:
- Legalize possession and sale of up to two and half ounces of marijuana
- Allow state residents to keep up to 10 ounces of marijuana at home
- Allow communities in Michigan to decide if they want to allow cannabis businesses
- Award permits to cannabis growers at three different levels: 100, 500 and 2,000 plants
- Impose a state excise tax on cannabis sales at the retail level
