Flint Voters Weigh In on Penalties for Pot

Marijuana will have a place on the November ballot in Michigan. Paul Armentano, Deputy Director of NORML, writes:

Voters in four Michigan cities will decide this November on municipal ordinances seeking to legalize or depenalize local marijuana offenses. 

City officials in Flint, Michigan most recently approved a citizens initiative to amend the city code so that the possession on private property of up to one ounce of marijuana or cannabis paraphernalia by those age 19 or older is no longer a criminal offense. 

Proponents of the ordinance submitted over 1,000 signatures from registered Flint voters to place the proposal on the November ballot.

Michigan's medical marijuana laws are in flux. The state supreme court is considering a case that questions whether patients can sell marijuana to each other, an issue that cuts to the heart of how dispensaries work. The state legislature has bills pending on the issue. Flint recently extended its moratorium on new dispensaries. 

A new book on marijuana, Super-Charged: How Outlaws, Hippies, and Scientists Reinvented Marijuana by Jim Rendon, provides a deep dig into the topic, with plenty of detail on how California's dispensary system does and doesn't work, the science behind the claims of medicinal efficacy and lots of up close interviews with growers, breeders and dispensary operators. And, on a cautionary note for those hoping to cash in on medical marijuana, in places like California that have become a magnet for growers and dispensaries, prices have crashed and plenty of those hoping to make their fortunes have gone bust.

Citizens Bank Gets Another Bailout

Citizens Bank goes back for more bailout money.

For contrast, here's a story on community banks that did things a little differently. Jim Rendon of The New York Times reports:

"In the midst of the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression, community banks have generally fared well. That’s because they typically shunned the lending practices that led to high default rates. They rarely participated in the securitization of loans, credit-default swaps and other overvalued financial products that put the global financial system in crisis. Instead, they stuck to the fundamentals. They considered the character and history of their borrowers. They required collateral. Without community banks, the current financial crisis would be a lot worse. And even though they operate in a different sphere from global financial giants like Citigroup, some economists now say that they may have a lot to teach our largest institutions."