Quick story: a couple months ago I was up late with my neighbor discussing things like what kind of religions aliens have and whether or not it’s true that putting Pantene Pro-V in the microwave will turn it into a hard wax. We had no Pantene to test this myth, so we went for the next best option: YouTube. Have you ever searched YouTube for “Pantene Pro-V microwave”? If not, let me save you some time: Don’t. We settled for a video of a guy microwaving a bottle of VO5 in his garage to see what would happen, and what happened was we watched a 5 minute video of a guy microwaving a bottle of VO5, in real-time microwave minutes, where nothing happened except we got an apology at the end for the waste of time.
What’s this have to do with cannabis? Nothing, but the feeling I had at the end of that video (confused, sad, and like maybe I hit my head a little bit) is similar to how I felt reading Healthy and Productive Michigan President Scott Greenlee’s responses in this Metro Times interview with Violet Ikonomova. The entire thing is worth a read, but here are a few of his best displays of grand incompetence when it comes to the subject of cannabis:
Scott Greenlee on how recreational marijuana will lead to dangerous epidemics like tourism:
“It will definitely attract people from [other] states — as Colorado has proven — that are looking to get marijuana and take it back to their states where it might not be legal. I don’t think that’s the type of tourists we want to attract.”
Sometimes my husband and I drive down to Ohio for Waffle House and a couple cases of Yuengling for the holidays. I don’t hear Ohio complaining about it.
Scott Greenlee on how marijuana will become a burden to truck driving businesses:
“No transportation company wants bus drivers that are using marijuana. And when you consider that marijuana stays in your system for up to 30 days, it can cause a real strain on companies looking to hire people.”
This is exactly why a more precise THC test that indicates if someone is high at that moment is needed. I don’t care if a driver smoked weed a month ago, last Thursday, or even last night for that matter. Just don’t drive anything while you’re high, drunk, or hungover. Driving is way too dangerous for that kind of nonsense. We need more effective drugged driving tests if we’re going to take it seriously and enforce the rules of the road properly.
On marijuana arrests:
“When folks get into an arrest situation that is typically, absolutely the vast majority of time, someone who has either been dealing or who has committed other crimes and this is piling on top of those particular crimes.”
Per the ACLU’s website – “Of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, 88% were for simply having marijuana.”
In 2016, more people were arrested for marijuana possession than for all violent crimes combined.
Tax revenue? Scott’s not here for that, either:
“I think most of the tax numbers that are quoted are gross, not net numbers. I’m old enough to remember in Michigan where we legalized the lottery, because we didn’t have that for years and other states did and look at all this money… And one of the great arguments was once we legalize the lottery… our schools will never be underfunded again and this is going to be a huge windfall. But years later, as I take a look at financial reports from Michigan’s public schools, I see that they’re in as dire straits as they’ve ever been before. So while there could be some tax revenue brought in, and we don’t know how much it would be, it’s all speculative. Certainly there are costs of enforcement and there are questions as to where that money may actually wind up. I don’t buy the tax argument and many of the people I talk to don’t either.”
I’ve never had a clue how much money the Michigan lottery puts into schools. But after a couple minutes of research, I found that the lottery gave $886 million to Michigan’s School Aid Fund in 2016, which covers everything from at-risk programs and special education to school lunch programs and vision and hearing screenings. The School Aid Fund’s budget for this fiscal year is over $14 billion. Education is not cheap.
So what will Michigan get out of the whole pot deal?
If Michigan residents vote to legalize recreational cannabis this November, the state will collect a 10% excise tax for marijuana retail purchases on top of the 6% state sales tax. Of this revenue, 35% will go toward K-12 education, 35% will go to roads, 15% to communities allowing marijuana businesses, and 15% to counties where marijuana businesses are located.
Recreational cannabis is not going to relieve all of Michigan’s economic pitfalls, make people less afraid of Detroit (it’s actually quite nice), or solve the Flint water crisis. It’s also not going to turn children into dropout delinquents who sit around all day eating canned ravioli. But maybe the money the state makes off weed sales will buy a few more books and computers for students and fill in a few more potholes while giving adult residents safe, legal access to a substance healthier than the alcohol, McDonald’s, and soft drinks available on every corner.
In Colorado, the first $40 million of the marijuana excise tax goes to a school construction fund. According to the 2017-18 appropriations report, $9.6 million will be given to the School Health Professionals Grant Program from the Marijuana Tax Cash Fund. Here’s a few other Colorado programs getting money from legal weed cash:
Diversion from the Criminal Justice System ($2.5 million), which supports pilot programs within law enforcement agencies that offer rehabilitation assistance over incarceration for people with substance abuse problems.
Community Mental Health Center Services (2.4 million), which provides services to juvenile offenders suffering from mental health problems. According to the appropriation report, this brings its funding back to levels it hasn’t seen since 2009-10.
Tony Grampsas Youth Services Program Funding ($1 million). This program provides grants to youth prevention, intervention, and mentoring programs.
It’s possible to have a healthy and productive Michigan that includes access to legal cannabis products.