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About the Initiative

Right now, Michigan patients battling cancer, AIDS, and other life-threatening diseases face prison for trying to relieve their pain. By passing this initiative, we can stop this cruel and unnecessary policy.

What would Michigan's medical marijuana initiative do?

  • Allow terminally and seriously ill patients who find relief from marijuana to use it with their doctors' approval.
  • Protect these seriously ill patients from arrest and prosecution for the simple act of taking their doctor-recommended medicine.
  • Permit qualifying patients or their caregivers to cultivate their own marijuana for their medical use, with limits on the amount they could possess.
  • Create registry identification cards, so that law enforcement officials could easily tell who was a registered patient, and establish penalties for false statements and fraudulent ID cards.
  • Allow patients and their caregivers who are arrested to discuss their medical use in court.
  • Keep commonsense restrictions on the medical use of marijuana, including prohibitions on public use of marijuana and driving under the influence of marijuana.

Read the full text of the initiative here.

Patients

Caprice Wagner

Caprice Wagner, a recent college graduate, was diagnosed with T cell lymphoma this past March and passed away in July. During her short, tragic ordeal, she used medical marijuana to cope with the side effects of chemotherapy and the symptoms of cancer itself. Please read her mother’s powerful account of her struggle here.

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Michiganders Support Proposal 1

67% of Michigan voters support removing criminal penalties for the medical use of marijuana, according to a March 2008 poll. And in each of five citywide medical marijuana votes, medical marijuana won in a landslide (with 62% in Flint in February 2007; with 63% in Traverse City and 61% in Ferndale in November 2005; with 74% in Ann Arbor in November 2004; and with 60% in Detroit in August 2004). It's time for the state to follow their lead and protect seriously ill patients from the threat of arrest and jail.