Mmi Petition Drive Mobilizes

MMI PETITION DRIVE MOBILIZES

Right now the Michigan Marijuana Initiative is two weeks into an 8 week drive to collect 265,000 signatures from registered voters in Michigan who want to see the question of legalization of weed on the ballot in November. We're all pushing hard towards a July 1st deadline so the 400 people still in jail for the sacred herb can be liberated this year! Our next chance won't come until the next state-wide election in 1974, so get out and circulate those petitions now!

All you have to do to become part of the Initiative drive is come over to the Michigan Marijuana Initiative Office at 304 S. Thayer or call 668-7206. In Ann Arbor you can pick up and sign petitions at a number of far-out places. Pizza Bobs and Campus Corners have been the vanguard of the local drive, handing in record amounts of petitions so far, closely followed by Discount Records. We want to put petitions in every store, restaurant, or gathering place in Ann Arbor, so come over and pick up your quota.

In the past two weeks area offices have been set up all over the state, with overwhelming support from Detroit to the U.P. The Plum Pit has volunteered an office in Birmingham, Micky Shor has donated money, Record House in Ferndale is an office, Wayne State has come through, Radio City has petitions, and so does the Fifth Estate. We have offices in every city from Saginaw (The House) to Flint (Touch Boutique) to Heil, Michigan. In cities where there is not an office, there are contact people who are working out of their homes 24 hours a day to distribute petitions in their area. So far, we have distributed 10,000 petitions to every corner of the state of Michigan.

DONATE THE PRICE OF A LID

This whole operation takes hours and hours of work from thousands of people. We have to staff the Ann Arbor office seven days a week to keep up with the demand for petitions and information requests that are coming from every conceivable area. We need people to commit themselves to specific jobs-right now we are in need of people to take phone shifts. They are from 10-4 and 4-9 every day, so come down or call and sign up for a shift. We know lots of people are looking for a way to help get the Initiative get over the top, so this is a perfect opportunity to help and stay high at the same time. Our Birmingham office also needs lots of help, so if you live in that area, check out what you can do at the Birmingham Plum Pit. The subject that always seems to come up when we're talking about the Initiative s money-we need it! There are so many things that we want to do in order to get this drive going right, but we are limited by our financial situation. We're putting out a call for donations from all dope smokers and dealers. If everyone who smokes dope in Michigan donated the price of a lid, we'd be in killer shape! We'd like to put a can for donations in every place that is distributing petitions but don't wait for us, come over and demand to contribute!

To help finance ourselves we are offering for sale a startling array of sought-after items to Initiative supporters. People have been going crazy over the small gold and silver marijuana leaf pins which are selling for the low price of one dollar. Amorphia has donated Acapulco Gold cannabis papers (you all need papers- buy from us and all the money will go directly to the Initiative) which are 50V. There are bumper stickers and mailing stickers and soon we'll be selling MMI posters, buttons and T-shirts! Right now the main place to get a hold of these things is the MMI office on 304 S. Thayer. Soon they'll be available at all offices.

MARIJUANA MOBILIZES MOTHERS

We've been getting a lot of support for the petition drive from many sources. On Saturday, May 13 (the day before Mother's Day), a news conference was held at Trinity Methodist Church in Detroit. The participants were mothers from all over the state (including Elsie Sinclair, mother of John Sinclair, who came together to voice support for the drive. In their statement they urged people to sign and circulate the petition so that next November people can vote against the irrational marijuana laws which "send hundreds of our sons and daughters needlessly to jail. Our children should not be harrassed and subject to prison life for smoking a harmless herb. Families have been torn apart by these unfair and unnecessary laws; mothers have been the victims of untold anguish as their children are taken away from them by the state." Elsie admitted, 'I've smoked marijuana a few times and it didn't affect me much."

On May 18, another news conference was held at the State Capitol. Senators Coleman Young and Jack Faxon, Representative Jackie Vaughn, and Zolton Ferency, State HRP founder, all were on hand to come out publicly for this people's drive. They expressed their dissatisfaction with the legislature for not taking action on this issue. Senator Young said that "it is obvious that the legislature isn't going to move on this issue at this time," and Senator Faxon added that "this is an effort to bypass the legislature. We have an opportunity now to bring it before the people for a vote so they can decide the future of our present marijuana laws, which are still too harsh." Representative Vaughn spoke about two bills which he has introduced, one which would allow people to smoke marijuana in the home, and another which would repeal all drug laws. Zolton Ferency explained why he is backing the effort fully: "I favor the decriminalization of all victimless crimes. Prosecutions of this type are a tremendous waste of police resources that need to be redirected."

Sunday, the Flint office of the Marijuana Initiative kicked off its drive with a "MARIJUANA MOBILIZER" rock and roll, frisbee-in and toke down!! We'll be having rock and roll events all over the state in the next month to promote the Initiative. Our next event is Wayne State where the dangerous Up and RPP Chairman John Sinclair will help kick off the local drive.

One last thing that we want to stress, in case people don't realize what will happen if we are successful, is that when we get the required number of signatures and are certified to be on the ballot, and when we reeducate the voters of Michigan so the amendment is passed next November, we will have FREE, LEGAL BACKYARD MARIJUANA NEXT JANUARY FIRST!!' So if you have any spare time or money, this is indeed a worthy cause!! Help FREE MARIJUANA!! CIRCÚLATE THE PETITION AND STAY HIGH!!!

-Walden Simper, Jan Ridgell and Linda Ross, MMI co-ordinators

USE THE TOOLS ON HAND-KNOW THE PETITION PROCEDURE

1. You must be a registered voter to sign or circulate the petition.
2. Sign the petition exactly as you did when you registered to vote.
3. People signing the same petition must all be registered in the same
4. No abbreviations or ditto marks should be used.

MMI AREA OFFICES

People who want to get into the petition drive and who don't live in Ann Arbor should get in contact with the area office closest to them.
BATTLE CREEK-Mike Garfield, 89 Broadway Blvd. (616) 963-3718
DETROIT-Brimingham Plum Pit, 1405 South Woodward, 642-0325 Wayne State, 5120 Old 2nd. Monteiss Student Union 577-4385 I
Record House, north of 9 mi. on Woodward 398-3881
Fifth Estate, 4403 2nd at Canfield, 871-6800
FLINT-Touch Boutique, 804 Detroit St. 767-1223
KALAMAZOO-Patroit, 417 Douglass (616) 382-3822
SAGINAW-The House, 303 Linton, 752-5908