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Welcome to the Kalamazoo Coalition for Pragmatic Cannabis Laws official website. Here you can stay updated on the progress of the Lowest Law Enforcement Priority aimed towards personal marijuana possession in the city limits. Registration is fast and easy. You will need to provide a username, email address, full name, county, city, and zip code. We encourage you to provide accurate information. Join us now

WWMT Kalamazoo LLEP poll

Submitted by Louis Stocking on Sat, 03/13/2010 - 12:14

"Should Kalamazoo Make marijuana their lowest priority?" http://www.wwmt.com/ right column, half-way down on the right.

Lowest Law Enforcement Priority Policy Language

Submitted by Louis Stocking on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 11:20

WHEREAS, Kalamazoo and other Michigan taxpayers are burdened by the
substantial costs of investigating, arresting, prosecuting and jailing
people for charges involving marijuana, with each case amounting in
thousands of dollars of lost revenue;

WHEREAS, in 2008 Kalamazoo law enforcement agencies made 1,600 arrests
involving controlled substances, nearly 60 percent of which involved
marijuana and nearly 90 percent of those marijuana charges were
misdemeanor offenses.

WHEREAS, Kalamazoo funds and supports Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement
Team (KVET) with a $1.5 million annual budget for fiscal year 2008
alone. Besides enforcing statutes concerning marijuana possession by
adults for personal use, KVET is tasked with investigating
and\arresting individuals for possession and/or sales of cocaine,
methamphetamine, heroin and other devastating controlled substances
that have had a dramatic impact on our community;

WHEREAS, federal education loans are denied to middle-income and
lower-income students pursuant to Congressional amendments to the
Higher Education Act where applicant students have been convicted of
charges involving controlled substances;

AMA Chages It's Position on Marijuana

Submitted by Louis Stocking on Tue, 12/01/2009 - 09:11

The largest group representing physicians in the country is the American Medical Association (AMA), which has over 250,000 members. Traditionally, they have accepted without question the government's position on marijuana, and have always supported the idea that marijuana should continue to be classified as a Schedule I controlled substance (like heroin or LSD).

Of course, this is a ludicrous stance since marijuana is non-habit forming and far less dangerous than many legal drugs. Now it looks like the AMA is starting to come to their senses -- sort of. At least they've taken the first step toward sanity.

On Tuesday, the AMA asked the federal government to reconsider their classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no medical use. Dr. Edward Langston, an AMA board member, said, "Despite more than 30 years of clinical research, only a small number of randomized, controlled trials have been conducted on smoked cannabis, insufficient to satisfy the current standards for a prescription drug product."

The Associated Press would not post this story to their website.

Submitted by Louis Stocking on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 12:04

At a time when we Americans may abandon health care reform because it supposedly is "too expensive," how is it that we can afford to imprison people like Curtis Wilkerson? Wilkerson is serving a life sentence in California - for stealing a $2.50 pair of socks. As The Economist noted recently, he already had two offenses on his record (both for abetting robbery at age 19), and so the "three strikes" law resulted in a life sentence.

This is unjust, of course. But considering that California spends almost $49,000 annually per prison inmate, it's also an extraordinary waste of money.

Astonishingly, many politicians seem to think that we should lead the world in prisons, not in health care or education. The United States is anomalous among industrialized countries in the high proportion of people we incarcerate; likewise, we stand out in the high proportion of people who have no medical care - and partly as a result, our health care outcomes such as life expectancy and infant mortality are unusually poor.

New Article: Pro-marijuana group plans to petition

Submitted by Louis Stocking on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 00:06

KALAMAZOO -- A group that seeks to curtail the enforcement of marijuana-possession laws in Kalamazoo expects to begin circulating petitions in the next several weeks in effort to force a public vote on the issue.

The Kalamazoo Coalition for Pragmatic Cannabis Laws aims to amend the city charter to add language making the possession of small amounts of marijuana "the lowest priority for law enforcement."

Group members say they hope to put the measure on the ballot in November. To do so, the group must collect nearly 2,900 signatures from registered city voters.

Louis Cloise Stocking, 21, the organization's founder, said law enforcement agencies are committing too many resources to arresting people who use small amounts of marijuana on private property.

He also said that arrests for marijuana use in situations where no other crime is committed create unnecessary roadblocks to employment and higher-education financial aid.

Local Encounter: Deceptive Tactics

Submitted by Louis Stocking on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 23:35

The reason I (he) wasn't convicted every-time is because of plea deals involving other charges. Both of these cases were in the city limits of Kalamazoo. The first time the marijuana charge was dropped when I agreed to plea to a greater charge CCW. And most recently (2006) I was facing charges for manufacturing mj, r&c stolen property, and domestic violence - when I knew that I could fight (and win) all charges against me except for the manufacturing charge, I couldn't because if convicted I'd be charged as a habitual offender (for all of my prior marijuana convictions) and that would've meant mandatory prison time. So I was forced to take a plea deal pleading no contest to the r&c charge (which I was innocent of) to avoid a harsher penalty (prison) with a mandatory minimum involving the marijuana charge. All other charges were dropped and I got probation and restitution fees.
So my case here was all to do with marijuana but in the end, my conviction was for another crime that I didn't even commit. Now I have that scar on my record that makes me look like a thief, when all I really am is a hippie at heart.

Are you a Veteran?
"Founded by a local Kalamazooian, Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access (VMMA) is the only organization in the United States that advocates for veterans' rights to access medical marijuana for therapeutic purposes. VMMA also works to minimize the harm associated with marijuana use, which many veterans believe to be conviction and incarceration."
www.veteransformedicalmarijuana.org

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