The Lying Liars Behind the Clarkston Medical Marijuana Ballot Proposal

Well, well. The sleazy group behind the medical marijuana proposal have been busy little bees, haven’t they?

Let’s look more closely at their recent antics. After all, if they can’t tell the truth about some of the things, you can bet they’re probably lying about mostly all of the things.

There’s an old saying that a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. That’s an apt description of these people. They interrupted a city council meeting by sending texts to some city council and audience members telling them to vote for their crappy medical marijuana charter proposal, they’ve been sending mailers to people in the community making false claims, and they’re paying people (who admittedly don’t live here) to go around our little town and tell people things that aren’t true and even conflict with the mailer they sent – all to convince you to vote for a charter amendment that would award two medical marijuana licenses that can never be taken away – even if we voted to remove the medical marijuana charter amendment later on. As I’ve said before, these people are more resilient than bed bugs and cockroaches.

Let’s start with the mailer that I’ve cut and pasted below, provided by a fellow resident. (I’ve removed the resident’s name and address because it’s not important to the points I want to make about its content.) Funny, we didn’t get one of these at our house. Perhaps it’s on the way, or perhaps they know that my husband and I have been quite vocal about this scummy proposal and the secret, shadowy group behind it and decided they’d save the postage because we will both definitely be voting “no” on this garbage charter amendment.

Aw, she looks nice, doesn’t she? Gosh, she looks as “bright” as Clarkston’s future!

Did you notice that this mailer is from “Oakland Cares Coalition,” not “Clarkston Cares 2022”? That’s odd, because Clarkston Cares 2022 is the group supposedly behind our medical marijuana charter proposal, and they are the group that sued our city clerk over the ballot proposal.

You might remember I told you Oakland Cares, Oakland Cares Coalition, and Clarkston Cares 2022 are all related and all funded by one shadow group using a 501(c)(3) artifice to hide the name(s) of the funding source. I guess they’re not even trying to pretend they’re different entities anymore. I also told you that Oakland Cares and Oakland Cares Coalition used someone who’d pled guilty to fraudulently collecting petition signatures in the past to collect signatures for some of their recent marijuana proposals. And that same election fraudster and his company are part of the hot mess that was the Republican governor’s primary this year, which not surprisingly, also involves allegations of fraudulent petition signature gathering. (If you want to read more detail, you can find it here: https://tinyurl.com/Shadowy-Group.) Nice group of folks, eh?

Let’s look at the claims in the mailer, one at a time.

Claim #1 – The proposal would “raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in new tax revenue and licensing fees.”

Wow, this sounds so tempting. We could fix our streets and roads in no time with “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” couldn’t we? But as we all know, things that sound too good to be true are never true, and that’s the case with this claim.

I’ve attached the medical marijuana ballot proposal language here: Clarkston Cares ballot proposal. If this proposal is passed, all this language will become part of the Clarkston charter, which is our city constitution.

So where would the supposed “hundreds of thousands of dollars” come from? Not from licensing fees. Section 4(D), page 2, of their proposed charter amendment limits application fees for businesses interested in becoming one of the two mandatory medical marijuana sellers to $100, and the city can charge no more than $5,000 to someone to renew a provisional license or to obtain a full license.

Well, gosh, then all that cash must be coming from revenue sharing, right? Nope. Remember, this proposal is about medical marijuana facilities. The 3% tax that the state had been collecting from medical marijuana sales for redistribution to cities with medical marijuana facilities was eliminated 90 days after recreational marijuana was approved by Michigan voters in 2018.  (MCL 333.27601(1).) 

So, the most that Clarkston would get under this proposal would be $100 for each licensing applicant, which is nowhere near “hundreds of thousands of dollars.” The secret funding group hired out-of-towners to walk around our neighborhoods to sell this proposal, and they are reportedly telling people face-to-face that the amount is more like $58,000 per year. While that’s a lot less than “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” it’s still a lie.

This claim is

Claim #2 – The proposal would “redevelop blighted, abandoned, and vacant property in Clarkston.”

Seriously? 😂😂😂

Where the heck do these people think they are? The City of the Village of Clarkston is 1/2 square mile. There are no blighted, abandoned, or vacant commercial properties here. (There are very few vacant residential properties here, and they don’t stay vacant for very long.) When the hired out-of-towners were asked where this kind of property might be found in the city, they didn’t know.

Of course they didn’t. They don’t live here, and it’s not their job to give you factual information that can be verified. Their job is to convince you to do what their paymasters want you to do, and that is to vote for the proposal. They’re not going to be affected, so they’ll say whatever they are paid to say.

So, where exactly do you think these new facilities will locate? Section 5, page 3, of the proposed charter amendment says that “any other provision or provisions of articles, city regulations, city resolutions and ordinances that conflict with this article are inapplicable to conduct authorized under this article.” Section 3(B), page 2, commands the city council to enact all ordinances or resolutions necessary to facilitate the medical marijuana charter amendment within 30 days. Read together, this means that these people can either buy homes in residential areas to sell medical marijuana, or the city council has to designate an area in the city that’s currently zoned residential to commercial zoning to accommodate them. Section 4(A), page 2, of their proposed charter amendment allows them to operate 7 days a week from 9:00 in the morning until 9:00 at night.  Wouldn’t you love that on your street? Oh, do you think you’re protected because you live in the historic district, so they can’t alter a residential home to accommodate their medical marijuana business? You may want to take a look at Section 5, page 3 again. There is no exception for historic district ordinances.

This claim is

Claim #3 – “New small businesses with more local jobs.”

Well, the businesses would be new, so that’s true.

As for local jobs, there is absolutely no requirement that these medical marijuana facilities hire anyone from Clarkston. The only reference to hiring local citizens is in Section 4(E)(2)(III), page 2, and it’s part of a very complicated point system for licensing. Applicants can earn up to 100 points for various activities and promises, and the two highest-scoring applicants must receive the two Clarkston medical marijuana licenses. Promising to hire 10% of its employees from our small 900-person population is worth only 5 points. To give you some perspective regarding how little these people really care about hiring locally, all applicants automatically get 50 points simply for having a state license. (Section 4(E)(2)(I), page 2.)

In conclusion, it’s true that these would be new small businesses (duh). However, it’s false to suggest that there is an obligation to hire Clarkston residents to work at either of the two stores (but they’ll get a measly 5 points in the licensing scheme if they make the promise).

This claim is

Claim #4 – “No new taxes.”

Horse manure. Section 4(D), page 2, of the proposed charter amendment says, “this article does not contemplate the city expending additional funds for the implementation of [the charter amendment].” Because it’s not their problem – it’s yours. I’ve said before that this is nothing more than a guaranteed medical marijuana bill of rights for sellers. They could not care less about you or how this will affect your taxes or your city services.

Should this proposal pass, our elected officials and city employees will have to immediately authorize two medical marijuana provisioning centers. (Section 3(A), page 2.) The city is required to create any “necessary” ordinances and resolutions for these facilities within 30 days. (Section 3(B), page 2.) This would include allowing them to operate 7 days a week, from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Section 4(A), page 2.) The city attorney will be handling all of the research and drafting of all of those ordinances and resolutions.  (Guess who will be paying all the legal fees to meet the demands of the shadow group behind the proposal. If you guessed you and your fellow Clarkston taxpayers, you’d be right!)

The medical marijuana sellers have a list of mandatory requirements for our city clerk, because she apparently doesn’t have enough actual city business to handle for Clarkston taxpayers. Her new job responsibilities are spelled out in Section 4, page 2, of the proposed charter amendment under “Administration of Medical Marihuana”:

• • If the city doesn’t create its own application form (something that the city attorney would have to create, review and approve at taxpayer expense), then the clerk is required to accept whatever any applicant wants to provide.
  • The clerk has to begin accepting applications within 10 days after the new charter provision takes effect.
  • The clerk must develop a complicated process that assigns points to applications in strict compliance with the shadow group’s demands.
  • The clerk must collect an affidavit from all applicants as well as the $100 application fee (and the $5,000 renewal fees in later years).
  • Even though our clerk doesn’t work a five-day week, she apparently has to make herself available to accept applications until 5:00 on the 10th day after the application process opens, no matter what day that happens to be.
  • The clerk has to make sure that the applications include all documentation for leases or other legal arrangements along with all city permits and approvals (keep in mind that all this must occur within 10 days, so apparently our contract permit officers need to be involved on an expedited basis along with the city attorney).
  • The clerk has to review and score all the applications using the complicated point system demanded by the medical marijuana industry and award two provisional medical marijuana licenses within 30 days after the application window closes. If she’s even one day late, every applicant gets a provisional license. (So, I guess it’s kind of like being a guest on Oprah at that point – you get a provisional license! And you get a provisional license! And you get a provisional license!)
  • The clerk has to run a lottery if there is a point tie.
  • The clerk has to set up rules that allow medical marijuana licensees to move their businesses to a new location, but she can’t say no to a transfer unless the transfer would violate our zoning ordinances. (Please note that this is the only time that our zoning ordinances are mentioned. As for where the new businesses will open, remember that Section 5, page 3, of the proposed charter amendment states that “any other provision or provisions of articles, city regulations, city resolutions and ordinances that conflict with this article are inapplicable to conduct authorized under this article.” This means that new businesses can either locate in a current residential area, or the city council must rezone a current residential area of the city to commercial, without regard to any historic district considerations.)
  • The clerk has to accept notifications when a medical marijuana business owner wants to transfer his/her license to someone else, though the clerk is not allowed to object to the transfer. The clerk must also accept an application from the person receiving the transferred license and ensure that the application conforms to the medical marijuana industry’s express requirements.
  • The clerk must ensure that all medical marijuana licenses renew forever and ever and ever (even if Clarkston voters vote to remove this charter provision at some point in the future).
  • The clerk must set up a hearing system for unhappy medical marijuana applicants who didn’t receive a hoped-for license or those whose licenses are suspended, denied, or not renewed. The city must appoint a hearing officer to hear the complaints from the unhappy people, and apparently the city council needs be involved in these appeals. After that, the unhappy people can sue the city in court if they don’t get the results they want, and taxpayers will have to pay the legal fees involved if this particular type of lawsuit doesn’t fall within our insurance coverage.

The clerk will obviously need to rely heavily on the city attorney to help her with all of these new responsibilities, which means more taxpayer-paid legal fees. Adding insult to injury, if anyone in Clarkton wants to sue the city over this jacked up charter amendment, Clarkston taxpayers will have to pay to defend the charter amendment if this particular type of lawsuit doesn’t fall within our insurance coverage.

The medical marijuana groups claim that there will be no new taxes. I’m not sure how we are going to pay for this giant administrative nightmare and all the hours and hours and hours of legal work involved unless the city either raises taxes or cuts services.

This claim is

Let’s take a look at page two of the mailer:

Oakland Cares Coalition wants you to think that it’s all about helping people, and helpless grandmas living in Clarkston need you! (It’s totally not all about all the money they want to rake in. Nope, not at all. They only care about you – after all, the word “cares” is even in their name so it must be true!)

You should just ignore the takeover of your city’s charter, the fact that your city employees will be spending boatloads of time trying to meet all the medical marijuana industry’s demands (and ignoring your expectations since there’s only so much time in a day), and that this is going to cost you a ton of money. I mean, we’re going to get $100 per application, so I’m sure that will make up for everything.

Here are some facts about medical marijuana, and you can read about it for yourself by going to Section 333.26424 of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (that I’ve linked to here).

Medical marijuana patients who have been given a registry identification card (something they would need to buy medical marijuana in Clarkston) can:

• • • • Possess 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana and usable marijuana equivalents.
      • Grow 12 marijuana plants for their own use if they haven’t designated a caregiver to grow the plants for them.

Section 333.26426 of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (linked here) allows a primary caregiver to provide care for up to five qualifying patients.  Section 333.26424 of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (linked above) allows a primary caregiver to possess and grow a whole lot of marijuana:

• • • • 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana and usable marijuana equivalents for each patient (12.5 ounces total – seriously, that’s almost a pound of lightweight, dried plants!).
      • 12 marijuana plants for each patient (60 plants total, which I think are more plants than I grew in my deck garden this year).

The only reason to have medical marijuana provisioning centers is to allow authorized people to buy medical marijuana directly. To be authorized, you must have a registry identification card issued by the State of Michigan. The medical marijuana charter proposal would not allow just anyone to walk in and buy marijuana for recreational use. That would require an additional vote from Clarkston voters.

Since recreational marijuana has been legal in Michigan since 2018, there isn’t any need to bother with medical marijuana. While recreational marijuana users cannot buy marijuana from a medical marijuana dispensary, any medical marijuana patient or caregiver can go into a recreational marijuana store and buy whatever they want – and no one will ask them for a registration card because it’s no longer necessary. This means that any person with any of the conditions listed on page 2 of the Oakland Cares Coalition mailer can walk into any of the bazillion marijuana sellers in Michigan and get what they need. (You can find a listing of Oakland County marijuana sellers by going here: Oakland County, MI Marijuana Dispensaries Near Me | Recreational & Medical | Weedmaps.)

What can we conclude about all of this?

As I’ve explained in previous posts, this proposal is being pushed by people who have funneled money through a 501(c)(3) organization to hide their identities from you. If this is all above-board and only about helping sick people, why do the funding sources need to hide behind a 501(c)(3)? Why can’t we know who they are? Obviously, the answer is that they believe if you find out who they are, you won’t be so easily tricked into voting for their slimy ballot proposal.

The proponents of our charter amendment really are lying liars, because they have repeatedly lied about what the medical marijuana charter proposal would bring to Clarkston:

• • We’re not going to make hundreds of thousands of dollars – medical marijuana facilities aren’t revenue generators for the cities that house them. We will only receive $100 for each person who applies for a new license. The state only provides revenue-sharing for recreational marijuana stores.
  • There isn’t going to be any redevelopment of blighted, abandoned, or vacant commercial property in Clarkston because there aren’t any commercial properties like that in Clarkton. If these people weren’t out-of-towners, they’d know that. We do have vacant homes in residential areas, and they are free to buy those homes and set up shop, 12 hours a day, 7 days a week in those homes under this proposal (and they can even have flashing neon signs, because our sign ordinance wouldn’t apply to them either).
  • They don’t have to hire anyone from Clarkston as a condition of getting a medical marijuana license.
  • The no new taxes claim is a joke, because we are either going to have to raise taxes or cut services to meet all of the demands that have been made by the shadowy groups pushing this charter proposal.

The medical marijuana charter proposal has nothing to do with being kind to people suffering from debilitating diseases. Marijuana sales are big business and appealing to your natural desire to help sick people is just sleazy. There is no longer a need for medical marijuana facilities – anyone can buy marijuana from the bazillion locations throughout the state. Many marijuana facilities offer curbside delivery, online ordering, and in some cases, they’ll even deliver your marijuana right to your front door.

If you want marijuana, go buy it. If you want recreational marijuana in Clarkston in the commercial district, subject to the same rules any other business must follow, then start a petition to put that on the ballot or contact your elected city council members and let them know how you feel. But what you shouldn’t buy are any of Oakland Cares Coalition’s false claims. Because the shadowy people who are funding this proposal – and sending texts, mailers, and paying out-of-towners to go around and say things to Clarkston residents that are simply not true – really do sit on a throne of lies.