Eastern Michigan University
hosted a discussion panel about
the impact of the legalization
of
recreational
marijuana
in
Michigan on the Ypsilanti and
Ann Arbor communities. About
40 community members attended
the event Thursday night, which
came less than a week after
recreational
marijuana
sales
began in the state. The discussion
touched on plans for racial equity
in the marijuana industry, new
drug testing availabilities for
companies and the dangers that
can accompany edible marijuana.
The three panelists included
Tim
Secinski,
EMU
police
department community relations
officer, state Sen. Jeff Irwin,
D-Ann Arbor, and Kevin Boehnke,
University of Michigan research
investigator in the department of
anesthesiology.
Michigan passed Proposal 1 in
November 2018, which makes it
legal for people age 21 and older
to possess up to 2.5 ounces of
marijuana. Irwin, who served as
political director for the Coalition
to
Regulate
Marijuana
like
Alcohol, which worked to pass
Proposal 1, said he does not like
the term “recreational” marijuana
due to the fact that legalized
marijuana can often make its
way into the hands of underage
consumers.
“I try to use those terms as
much as possible, because I
feel like that’s a more fair and
accurate way to describe what
we’re really talking about here,”
Irwin said. “When we talk about
it as recreational, which is sort
of the term that has caught fire,
it creates a certain connotation
that is sometimes but not always
accurate about how people are
using cannabis.”
Though experts say it is
nearly impossible to overdose on
marijuana, legislators still worry
about the effects of the drug.
Irwin and Boehnke said they
did not think it was appropriate
for a company to drug test its
employees to monitor if they are
using drugs while at work. They
noted that drug tests in the past
have only been able to show if
marijuana had been used in the
past month, not necessarily while
they were at work. Irwin said
newer and more advanced drug
tests are being developed
that can detect if marijuana
has
been
used
in
the
immediate time frame or
further in the past.
“So,
what
I’ve
been
encouraging employers to
do, is to start looking at some
of the newer tests that are
available,” Irwin said. “You
might have heard of some of
the roadside swab-tests that
are going on across the state
of Michigan. I don’t think
that these produce data that
would be reliable in a court of
law, but I think it would be a
better tool for our employers
to use something that would
give them a better read on
the recency of use.”
Siecinski
disagreed,
saying
employers
administering
drug
tests
was proper and reasonable.
He said as a member of the
police force, the federal law
governs what he does in his
free time, rather than state
law.
“I would say certainly
employers should be able
to limit whether or not their
employees partake in cannabis,”
Siecinski said. “One example is
law enforcement. Despite the fact
it’s legal in Michigan, it remains
illegal federally, so police officers,
for example, by federal law,
you’re not allowed to possess a
firearm and be in possession of a
scheduled drug illegally.”
All three panelists emphasized
what they described as the
extreme need for research on
the effects of marijuana usage.
Boehnke said not only is the lack
of research harming people, but it
is also what created such a fear of
the drug in the past decades.
Irwin agreed, acknowledging
that
many
legislators
feel
anxious about approving laws
regarding its legalization due to a
misunderstanding about the drug
and its impacts.
“We certainly couldn’t pass it,
you know, out of the Michigan
legislature,” Irwin said. “We
had to go through the vote of the
people, because we knew that
we wouldn’t get the support in
Lansing because, once again,
there’s a huge generational divide
in this issue, and the people who
tend to be in the legislature tend
to be a little older and a lot of these
people built their career on this
sort of ‘tough on crime’ position.”
In addition to Michigan’s 6
percent
sales
tax,
marijuana
sales are subject to a 10 percent
excise tax. Irwin pointed out that
revenue generated from the taxes
would go to schools and local
governments and infrastructure.
“However, here’s a part of it
that I don’t think many people
have even seen, which is that for
the first two years of taxation,
the state of Michigan is going to
generate $20 million for two years
for a total of $40 million, which is
going to go into research,” Irwin
said.
2 — Friday, December 6, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Jeff Irwin highlights effects of legalization, recreational drug use in local community
State senator joins EMU panel
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“
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