TAKING THE INITIATIVE, A STATEWIDE INITIATIVE

In late 2001, purely coincidental to the announcement of DCCC's Detroit Medical Marijuana Initiative, a story appeared in the Detroit Free Press which struck the Michigan political uber-culture like a thunderbolt.

A major drug policy reform, via statewide ballot initiative, was now in play. The California-based Campaign for New Drug Policies (CNDP) had come to Michigan.

Prior to the Detroit Free Press story, I and DCCC steering committee member, Ron Scott, along with the cream of the Michigan Democratic Party/liberal establishment, among others, were invited to a luncheon meeting at a hotel near Detroit Metro Airport.

California drug policy reform political strategists Bill Zimmerman, and Dave Fratello, representatives of the Michigan blue-chip law firm of Honigman, Miller, Shwartz & Cohn, and other experts from across Michigan and the USA, had invited local reformers and leaders to discuss some ideas.

The thrust of the message was that money and political expertise would be made available to replicate in Michigan California's "Proposition 36" approach, the provisions of which included: treatment instead of incarceration for drug crimes and abolition for non-violent offenders of the much reviled "mandatory minimum" jail sentences (and which, by implication, would amount to decriminalization of personal drug use.)

Most of the locals invited to the luncheon had little to say, except for practical questions regarding the nuances of the polling data, the political philosophy of the funders, and who the likely opponents of the initiative would be. The meeting lasted about two hours. It was agreed by all local reformers present, to get back with CNDP within thirty days with any ideas as to how to improve upon and implement the concept.

CNDP was good on their word, and some positive modifications to the original proposal were made within that time frame.

The news coverage, by accident or design, appears in some way to have been the result of this meeting.

For hard core anti-drug groups in Michigan such as Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) and the Partnership for a Drug Free Detroit (PDFD), as well as various law enforcement institutions and prosecution oriented attorney groups, news of this pending initiative was a heavy blow. Use to the soft, government-funded work of preaching to the choir and scaring the ignorant about "the drug menance," they were now faced with a challenge of nightmare proportions.

Meanwhile - as too often happens - some grassroots policy reformers did not believe the proposal went far enough. Uninvited, they attempted to make contact with CNDP to express their concerns and various political theories, but to no avail. Others, without permission, took matters into their own hands.

When the news story hit, it included announcement of a meeting hosted by the Michigan Drug Czar, Craig Yaldoo, in Macomb County to fight the CNDP menance.

Some Michigan NORML leaders and reformers spontaneously decided to show up.

The circus included uniformed police and speeches by local anti-drug superstarts, who denounced the CNDP plan as "a theat to our kids" which would "destroy everything we represent" and send Michigan "back to the dark ages."

Law enforcement officials spun lurid yarns about the specter of violent addicts "loose on our streets and in our neighborhoods" because of the greed of "drug-dealing billionaires" like George Soros, who "want to get control of our country."

What the Drug Warriors had not anticipated was that their rally had been invaded by a goodly number of brazen Michigan NORML reformers.

The strong and beautiful Donna Paridee stood up and proudly proclaimed "I am a mom, and I smoke marijuana."

Bruce Cain (aka "Professor Hemp") attempted to wrest control of the microphone from Czar Yaldoo. "Are there drugs in prison?" challenged the professor in a loud voice. When Mr. Yaldoo reluctantly agreed, Mr. Cain responded, "then what are you going to do about it? I want a debate!" To regain control of the situation Mr. Yaldoo agreed to a debate - but not at that time. As police officers began to edge toward the podium, Professor Hemp took a seat.

College instructor "Marvin Marvin" founder, leader (and, probably only member) of the "Party Party," a notorious marijuana user for over forty years, attempted to remain anonymous observer, but had to leave the room. He said later that he became nauseated listening to the various anti-drug diatribes and "felt like a Jew in Nazi Germany."

This writer also attempted to remain anonymous, but to no avail. Mr. Yaldoo, who knew him from previous life in the Republican Party, politely and humorously outted his presence to his anti-drug acolytes. In this situation, there was nothing to be said to anyone's advantage or disadvantage, anyway. The picture seemed pretty clear.

The Drug Czar/CADCA anti-CNDP rally in Macomb County was not repeated elsewhere - after their first publicly proclaimed party was crashed by undesirables from NORML.

In reality, the CADCA crowd and its fellow travelers, while shrill and hysterical, were not a genuine political threat to CNDP anyway. The serious warfare was now emanating from corporate and agency board rooms, and law offices in Detroit and Lansing.

It cam as no surprise that the Michigan political and media elite hated and deeply resented the CNDP plan from the beginning.

For one thing, the cultural and political landscape in the Midwest is far more conservative and parochial than either of the coasts. The idea that "outsiders" could simply come into the state with a lot of money and change the rules was treated with suspicion, even among some liberals who actually supported the "treatment vs. incarceration" concept. In their minds, while something like this could be good for us today, what precedent would be established by a CNDP victory? Might some right-wing group then come into the state somewhere down the road - with a very different agenda?

The other thing that unnerved the power players was the way the CNDP goal would be accomplished.

In essence, if CNDP won, "treatment vs. incarceration" would be part of the Michigan Constitution, the money required for treatment becoming a constitutional mandate. Under this plan, the Governor would be stripped of veto power over the measure, and it would be virtually impossible for the Legislature to change the program in any substantial way. From a historical perspective, the CNDP plan was not only bold, it was totally unprecedented in scope.

Unlike many city charters, the Michigan Constitution does not prohibit ballot initiatives which affect the state budget. Thus, the power of the elected and appointed administrative class could be seriously destabilized by "outsiders." So the political elite in Michigan became ferocious opponents of CNDP, led from behind the scenes by Michigan Governor, John Engler, a Republican, working closely with fellow Republican Governor, Robert Taft, in Ohio where a similar "treatment v incarceration" was headed for the ballot. They pulled out all the stops to destroy CNDP in both states.

In Michigan, the legal assault was led by the Governor's close friend, Richard McClellan, who was associated with the elite Detroit law firm of Dykema, Gossett et al., and possessed unlimited time and money to work to keep CNDP off the ballot.

The first line of attack, common to most attempts in Michigan to keep a statewide initiative off the ballot, was the charge that not all relevant sections of the Michigan Constitution affected by the proposal were printed on the petition form itself. Therefore, the petition was "flawed as to form" and the proposal should be kept off the ballot. The underlying argument is that the people who signed the petition were either tricked or misinformed, because the petition document did not disclose the full implications of the proposal.

But this line of attack on the CNDP petition proved to be bogus. Another ballot initiative sponsored by a consortium of powerful Michigan health care corporations, using the same law firm hired by CNDP, proposed to earmark money from a state's general fund, recently enriched by the multi-million dollar settlement from the tobacco industry, for the medical treatment of tobacco addiction victims.

Governor Engler and most of the political and media establishment hated this ballot initiative almost as much as they hated CNDP's proposal. The same line of attack - that all relevant sections of the constitution had not been printed on the petition form - was used to try to keep this one off the ballot, too. But the attempt ultimately failed. The courts ruled that the "Tobacco" initiative, qualified for the ballot (though it was defeated at the polls in November).

As it turned out, what ultimately kept CNDP off the ballot was not clever legal jousting, but something which could be the stuff of a B movie. I'm just not sure if it would be a comedy or tragedy.

The saga of the demise of the CNDP is best told by Michigan political guru and media personality Bill Ballenger, editor of the bi-weekly Inside Michigan Politics (IMP) newsletter. Ballenger is a well-qualified observer of the Michigan political scene, having once been a Michigan State Senator, a Director of the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulation, and a State Racing Commissioner. IMP is virtually required reading for members of the Michigan Legislature and Executive Branch, top state administrative and executive personnel, as well as lobbyists and political junkies of all persuasions. While it is not possible to independently verify all facts and assertions proclaimed in the following story, the account does meet the criterion of "protected political speech" and nicely illustrates the brutality reformers face. The following final analysis of the CNDP proposal, originally in the June 30, 2003 edition of IMP, is reprinted with express permission.

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