Official Ballot Proposal Language Proposal 1
A LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVE TO PERMIT THE USE AND CULTIVATION OF MARIJUANA FOR SPECIFIED MEDICAL CONDITIONSThe proposed law would:
- Permit physician approved use of marijuana by registered patients with debilitating medical conditions including cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, hepatitis C, MS and other conditions as may be approved by the Department of Community Health.
- Permit registered individuals to grow limited amounts of marijuana for qualifying patients in an enclosed, locked facility.
- Require Department of Community Health to establish an identification card system for patients qualified to use marijuana and individuals qualified to grow marijuana.
- Permit registered and unregistered patients and primary caregivers to assert medical reasons for using marijuana as a defense to any prosecution involving marijuana.
Should this proposal be adopted?
People Voting YES Argue That:
- Allowing the medical use of marijuana by individuals suffering from debilitating medical conditions opens another avenue for the treatment
of these conditions or obtaining relief from their symptoms. - The proposed law places conditions on the use of marijuana by qualified patients and contains safeguards to prevent abuse.
People Voting NO Argue That:
- Marijuana, when smoked, is a dangerous drug without any accepted medical use, and prescription drugs containing medically useful
compounds found in marijuana are already available to patients who may benefit from them. - The proposed law will make it more difficult for law enforcement to control this harmful drug.
Official Ballot Proposal Language Proposal 2
A PROPOSAL TO AMEND THE STATE CONSTITUTION TO ADDRESS HUMAN EMBRYO AND HUMAN EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH IN MICHIGAN
The proposed constitutional amendment would:
- Expand use of human embryos for any research permitted under federal law subject to the following limits: the embryos…
— are created for fertility treatment purposes;
— are not suitable for implantation or are in excess of clinical needs;
— would be discarded unless used for research;
— were donated by the person seeking fertility treatment.
- Provide that stem cells cannot be taken from human embryos more than 14 days after cell division begins.
- Prohibit any person from selling or purchasing human embryos for stem cell research.
- Prohibit state and local laws that prevent, restrict or discourage stem cell research, future therapies and cures.
Should this proposal be adopted?
People Voting YES Argue That:
- The opportunity to conduct embryonic stem cell research is currently limited by one of the nation’s most restrictive regulatory systems.
- Many scientists believe that embryonic stem cell research has the best potential to treat and cure certain diseases which currently have no cure, such as juvenile diabetes. This stem cell research has the potential to save millions of lives and improve the quality of life for millions more.
- This proposal would not prevent continued research with other types of stem cells; it would just expand embryonic stem cell research.
- This proposal would only allow researchers, with donors’ consent, to use leftover embryos from fertility clinics that would otherwise be thrown away.
- It would also ban the sale and purchase of human embryos for stem cell research and would leave in place Michigan’s current ban on human cloning.
People Voting NO Argue That:
- While a number of cures and therapies have been developed from adult stem cell research, none have been developed from embryonic stem cell research.
- Recent breakthroughs from adult stem cell research and the use of umbilical cord cells have shown promising results without destroying human embryos.
- Since human embryonic stem cell research is already legal in Michigan and is funded with private money, this proposal is really about allowing the use of state taxpayers’ money to fund this research.
- This proposal would also prohibit the state or local units of government from enacting new laws or ordinances to regulate and restrict experimentation on live human embryos in the future.
- This proposal does not protect in the Constitution the current ban on human cloning and does not prevent changing this law in the future to legalize cloning.
