Supporters submitted some 354,000 signatures on Wednesday seeking a November ballot proposal to legalize recreational use of marijuana in Michigan. That’s over 100,000 more than the legal requirement of 252,523 signatures. But there’s a reason for the “belt and suspenders” approach.

Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers, the body responsible for validating the signatures, is deadlocked over a policy revision related to proving validity of signatures gathered outside a 180-day collection period. The state’s Bureau of Elections has recommended loosening the rules, but the canvassing board is evenly split on adopting the new rules. The split falls along party lines, with the 2 Democrats favoring the new rules and the 2 Republicans opposing them.

Under the current rules, signatures collected prior to the 180-day window may be counted (“rehabilitated”) if collectors can prove that the signers were registered to vote during the window. That requires an affidavit from individual election clerks, a laborious and time-consuming process.

The rule change favored by Democrats would allow the canvassing board to use the state’s qualified voter database to verify a signer’s voting status.

The Detroit Free Press reported that the state legislature passed a bill last month making the 180-day limit express law, and the bill was sent to Governor Rick Snyder on Wednesday, the same day the signatures were submitted. He has not acted on the legislation, but the chairman of the group that led the petition drive said, “We don’t see how it would apply to retroactively to us.”

Here are excerpts from other recent cannabis-related news stories.

California Assembly Moves to Tax Marijuana Growers.
California lawmakers are moving to levy taxes on medical marijuana growers after hammering out pot regulations last year.

The Assembly voted 60-12 to pass AB2243 Thursday.

The bill authorizes charges of $9.25 per ounce of marijuana flowers, $2.75 per ounce of pot leaves and $1.25 per ounce of immature pot plants.

Legislative analysts estimate the taxes would raise $77 million annually for local police and environmental cleanup.

Read more at the Mercury News.

Parents Permitted to Travel to Obtain Medical Marijuana
Parents of children eligible for medical marijuana will be legally allowed as early as next month to travel elsewhere to get the drug.

It won’t be a short road trip.

Maine is the closest state that welcomes medical marijuana seekers, said Becky Dansky, legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project. The District of Columbia is considering loosening rules to allow visitors with medical marijuana cards to use its dispensaries, too.

Most of the two-dozen states with medical marijuana laws refuse out-of-state buyers. The same will be true in Pennsylvania once its medical marijuana program is up and running.

Without such a program, state health officials plan a temporary rule allowing Pennsylvanians to bring home medical marijuana, Health Secretary Karen Murphy said Wednesday.

It was welcome news to parents who’ve been waiting, and lobbying, for years to get cannabis-based treatment for their children.

Read more at The Tribune-Democrat.

SEC Files Fraud Charges in Alleged Medical Marijuana Scheme
Federal securities regulators in Boston filed civil fraud charges Thursday against a company and four individuals allegedly involved in a scheme to steal from investors in a purported medical marijuana venture.

According to a complaint filed in federal court in Boston, Christopher R. Esposito, 49, of Topsfield, raised more than $550,000 from investors in 2011 and 2012 in his Lionshare Ventures. He allegedly used the majority of the funds for unauthorized personal expenses, such as groceries and pet care, and then spent $75,000 to secretly take control of Cannabiz Mobile Inc. without disclosing that to investors.

Cannabiz had originally claimed to be in the business of gold exploration in Brazil, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in its complaint. The company later said it serviced the medical marijuana industry out of Cambridge. Medical marijuana became legal in Massachusetts in 2012, the 18th state to legalize it.

In reality, Cannabiz operated out of Lionshare’s office in Danvers, the SEC said.

In the second phase of the alleged scheme, from 2012 to 2015, the SEC said, Esposito and three other people participated in selling shares of Cannabiz. The company made false statements in its public filings with regulators, the SEC said.

Read more at the Boston Globe.

Did Marijuana Edibles Make a Man Kill His Wife?
According to authorities in Colorado, on the night of April 14, 2014, Richard Kirk took his pistol from his safe and shot his wife Kristine, instantly killing her. Sadly, domestic violence resulting in murder is nothing new, but the claims arising out of this case are unusual.

Earlier on the night he allegedly killed his wife, Richard Kirk supposedly ate part of a Tootsie-roll-like cannabis edible. This led, again allegedly, to very erratic behavior and hallucinations on his part, behavior that culminated in the murder of Kristine Kirk.

A lawsuit has now been filed on behalf of the Kirk children; the suit claims that the makers of the cannabis edible were negligent in terms of proper warning labels. “The packaging and labeling for the potent candy contained no directions, instructions or recommendations respecting the product’s proper consumption or use,” said the lawsuit filed in May in Denver District Court. “The edible producers negligently, recklessly and purposefully concealed vital dosage and labeling information from their actual and prospective purchasers including Kirk in order to make a profit.”

The retail shop where Richard Kirk bought the edible is named in the lawsuit as well, but they say that Richard was indeed warned about the potency of the edible. Add to this the fact that the amount of THC in Richard’s blood was half the legal limit for so-called “stoned” driving in Colorado, and one begins to wonder just how much THC he ingested and how that could possibly lead to him hallucinating enough to kill his wife.

Read more at The Libertarian Republic.

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