A recent report from the Detroit News has confirmed the obvious: that “Big Weed” lobbyists were paying off lawmakers in Lansing to destroy the caregivers system and crush the medical cannabis industry over the previous legislative sessions.
“A group that represented Michigan’s largest marijuana companies quietly contributed $160,000 to lawmakers’ nonprofit accounts as legislators crafted proposals that would have been a boon for the industry, according to documents obtained by The Detroit News…
Likewise, in 2021, the MCMA Advocacy Fund gave $50,000 to MI Vision, an organization tied to then-House Speaker Jason Wentworth, a Republican from Farwell, and $5,000 to Michigan First Fund, a nonprofit led by former aides of ex-Rep. Jim Lilly, a Republican from Park Township. Lilly sponsored part of the package that would have boosted marijuana businesses by requiring those who grow medical marijuana for patients to be licensed and regulated…
The Michigan Cannabis Manufacturers Association formed its separate MCMA Advocacy Fund, which the association provided all the money for in 2020, tax records show.”
It turns out that the messages displayed on the mobile billboards outside of the state capitol were right all along. The Republican lawmakers were as a matter of fact on the take from the Big Weed lobbyists.
There was never any big public health emergency due to so-called unregulated cannabis that demanded immediate legislative action. It was a typical Lansing power grab where the special interests paid off the legislators to destroy the rights of the people and initiate a corporate gang rape of the industry. The MCMA (“Big Weed”) was paying off Republican House leaders. They were paying off the Republican bill sponsors. They were greasing over everyone in order to reap the rewards of an entire monopoly given to them via hostile and unconstitutional legislative fiat.
The work by the Michigan Caregivers Association blew up the entire process. The lobbyists and special interests like to keep their double dealing in the shadows. Media reporters will come in after the fact and expose the process when the takeover has already been completed. The way it was supposed to go was that these disclosures were meant to come out after the fact, after Big Weed monopoly legislation HB5300-02 was signed into law, when it was too late to go back. Then they would laugh in all our faces after their heist had been completed.
We stopped that from happening. We put Big Weed dark money kingpin, Steve “Dr. Evil” Linder’s ugly face at the center of the discussion. We very loudly and forcefully interjected our talking points into the mix. The headlines became about Linder’s power grab, the dealings of special interests and their whore politicians in seedy backrooms, and caregivers and medical patients being crushed by an evil system. This was controversial at the time, even among well-intentioned cannabis activists, some of whom were put off by the crass nature of our tactics. But these tactics were undeniably effective, and the caregivers system has gotten a reprieve as a result.
But we have only achieved a temporary victory. The MCMA has been forced to disband because its reputation is so poor. They have been disgraced and they are no more. But the monied interests behind the MCMA are still very much invested in destroying the caregivers’ system and the medical marijuana industry here in Michigan. They have already worked to flood the marketplace with low-quality cannabis to rig the system so caregivers cannot make a living from their superior grows. Caregivers are frozen out of the legal marketplace while inferior competitors are given access to emerging markets. This is unfair, against the free market, and anti-American.
The interests behind the MCMA may manifest themselves in a new organization, or they may try to infiltrate existing organizations. There is already a proposal to cap new licenses for cannabis grow operations and new dispensaries, which was actually suggested by myself and my partners when the initial medical marijuana regulations were passed years ago. We warned what would happen with oversaturation, but now it is being floated in order to help the established Big Money entities who have been granted favorability in the licensing process. This is a defacto bail out for the corporate vultures. They want their competition to be restricted rather than to live with the error and folly of their greed and avarice. These are the types of “reforms” that are going to be floated, and everyone pushing them must be looked at with suspicion.
We say let the bad guys fail and let the chips fall where they may. You know where we stand. We are going to trash the lobbyists and their pawns. Many of these guys are gone like weak-assed Jim Lilly, Jason the Weasel Wentworth, and the incestuous hooker fiend Lee Chatfield, who may in the slammer soon for cocaine-fueled debauchery that put other Lansing dirtbags to shame. But there are still many villains who remain. Roger Hauck, the crooked House committee chair who served at the altar Big Weed, has received a promotion to the Senate. Here is a piece of advice, Roger: The bow tie needs to go, you are making parents nervous.
The mobile billboard will be in Lansing to expose the likes of Hauck, and the newly-elected demons who are lined up at the trough. We will lionize the handful of heroes with the courage to stand against the evil agenda. It is our hope that Democrats will get behind pro-caregiver proposals, such as our Medical Marijuana Municipal Ordinance Act, in order to profile much-needed relief for caregivers and their patients. Now that Democrats are in charge, they have a chance to rebuke Republican-led corruption and bring social justice to the cannabis industry. But there are Democrats on the take as well, as we have exposed, and it will not be easy getting this and other measures from our Caregivers’ Bill of Rights across the finish line.
That is why we have to fight, and we will never give up on the fight. Your support is appreciated as it will make us more effective in doing our work to support the caregivers’ system. We cannot be bought. We will always be on the front lines. You can rely on us to do what we do best: bring down fury and wrath upon the interests in Lansing who are screwing over the caregivers, their medical marijuana patients, and hurting the business community that sustains these noble industries.
God bless all of you who stand on the side of righteousness.
Sincerely,
Big George