This article was originally published on the Marijuana Patients Organization site on December 22, 2011.
The year of 2011 can be summarized as interesting, and a year of definite and swift change throughout the State. Governor Snyder has kept to his campaign promises while keeping his head down and mouth quiet, his highlights include:
- Elimination of the small business tax, making the State much more competitive.
- Reformed the Michigan film tax credit while still providing $100 million to the growing industry.
- Eliminated the dated and expensive Item Pricing law.
- And most importantly, the State’s unemployment rate fell below 10% for the first time in 3 years.
These accomplishments were made possible by sweeping changes from a Republican majority, some bipartisan support, and drastic overhauls to the budget. In addition, several social issues were rushed through a once slow and bureaucratic Michigan legislature. The most dramatic reform was the signing into law a ban on partial birth abortion, a bill currently on the Governors desk that seeks to eliminate partner benefits for homosexual State employees, and significant education fixes with an uncertain result.
For the roughly 100,000 marijuana patients in Michigan, no advances or setback came from the legislature, unfortunately the same cannot be said for our familiar foe, the court system. The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act has survived another year.
Our industry has provided the smoke, the cover, and the headline story while many changes unrelated to medical marijuana quietly happened in 2011, resulting in a year unlike any other in our States history. Michigan marijuana patients proved to be the ultimate decoy to effect real change, for better or worse.