We’re announcing the return of the highly-anticipated High Times Cannabis Cup Michigan 2024! 

It’s the fifth year we’ve set up a competition in Michigan—one of our most enthusiastic event markets—and the most recent rundown of winners showcases Michigan’s finest products. With a massive 20-category breakdown this year, we’re proud to display the winners of a variety of categories, as determined by our Michigan judges.

Anybody can be a Judge and you don’t need to be an esteemed member of the cannabis community—just have the passion and grit needed to determine the next year’s winners. Act fast, as product submissions will be taken May 27 through June 7 in the Detroit area. Judge Kits go on sale June 22.

Judges will analyze products in their Judge Kits and a backpack full of potent submissions, using a variety of criteria. For the categories involving flower, pre-rolls, vape pens, and concentrates, judges will take note of a product’s aesthetics, aroma/scent, taste/flavor profile, burnability, effects/effectiveness, and terpene profile. Edibles have a slightly different list of considerations, including packaging and labeling. For categories like Sublinguals, Capsules, Tinctures + Topicals, judges will rank them based on ease of use as well. They’ll have about three months to narrow down their choices. Saturday, August 24 is the judging deadline for Cannabis Cup Judges.

On Sunday, September 15, the winners will be announced! The entry categories include the following:

1. Rec Indica Flower (4 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
2. Rec Sativa Flower (4 entries max per company)  (state-licensed adult-use)
3. Rec Hybrid Flower (4 entries max per company)  (state-licensed adult-use)
4. Rec Pre-Rolls (3 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
5. Rec Infused Pre-Rolls (2 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
6. Rec Solvent Concentrates (2 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
7. Rec Non-Solvent Concentrates (2 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
8. Rec Distillate Vape Pens & Cartridges (2 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
9. Rec Non-Distillate Vape Pens & Cartridges (2 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
10. Rec Edibles: Solvent Gummies (3 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
11. Rec Edibles: Non-Solvent Gummies (3 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
12. Rec Edibles: Non-Gummies (3 entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
13. Rec Sublinguals, Capsules, Tinctures + Topicals (3 Entries max per company) (state-licensed adult-use)
14. MEDICAL Indica Flower (4 Entries max per company) (State-Licensed Medical-Facility)
15. MEDICAL Sativa Flower (4 Entries max per company) (State-Licensed Medical-Facility)
16. MEDICAL Hybrid Flower (4 Entries max per company) (State-Licensed Medical-Facility)
17. MEDICAL Pre-Rolls (4 Entries max per company) (State-Licensed Medical-Facility)
18. MEDICAL Concentrates (4 Entries max per company) (State-Licensed Medical-Facility)
19. MEDICAL Infused Pre-Rolls (4 Entries max per company) (State-Licensed Medical-Facility)
20. MEDICAL Edibles (3 Entries max per company) (State-Licensed Medical-Facility)

Entry Requirements

One entry requires a $250, non-refundable fee, while two entries require a non-refundable fee of $100 per entry. Three or more entries requires a $100 refundable deposit per entry held, refunded when all entries are successfully submitted. Entry fees are waived for sponsorships. As medical patients are allowed to have higher amounts of certain forms of cannabis in Michigan, entry requirements vary for adult-use and medical products as follows:

Recreational:

• Flower: (228) 1-gram units. We will not accept any 3.5-gram entries.
• Pre-Rolls & Infused Pre-Rolls: (228) units: Pre-Rolls will be capped at 2-gram flower-only each;
• Infused Pre-Rolls will be capped at 3-gram flower-equivalency or 1-gram concentrate-equivalency each by METRC equations.
• Concentrates & Vape Pens: (228) .5-gram units. We will not accept any 1-gram entries. Batteries are required for Carts.
• Edibles: (100) units with 100mg THC max.
• Sublinguals, Capsules, Tinctures + Topicals:  (60) units with 500mg THC max

Medical:

• Flower: (228) 1-gram units. We will not accept any 3.5-gram entries.
• Pre-Rolls & Infused Pre-Rolls: (100) units: Pre-Rolls will be capped at 2-gram flower-only each;
• Infused Pre-Rolls will be capped at 5-gram flower-equivalency or 5-gram concentrate-equivalency each by METRC equations.
• Concentrates & Vape Pens: (100) .5-gram units. We will not accept any 1-gram entries. Batteries are required for Carts.
• Edibles: (100) units with 200mg THC max.

Looking Back at Events in Michigan

Let’s take a look back at a few past highlights in the Midwest. Michigan has hosted many Cannabis Cups with notable faces over the years, and we have some signature years underneath our belts. 2018’s High Times Cannabis Cup Michigan festivities, for instance, were headlined by Lil Wayne, Waka Flocka Flame, Vic Mensa, Machine Gun Kelly, Yo Gotti, and more. 

The 2019 Michigan Cannabis Cup showcased amazing submissions of strains like Critical Mass by Mrs. Berry Kush or Tropicana Cookies by COCO Extracts.

Last year, at the High Times Cannabis Cup Michigan 2023, winners received the coveted High Times Cannabis Cup trophy, a longtime symbol of quality in the cannabis community. It was designed by Alex and Allyson Grey, made from zinc and 24k gold plating.

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A psychedelic church in Detroit is petitioning a federal court to hear a case against it brought by the city, with church officials arguing that the distribution of psilocybin as a religious sacrament is protected by the U.S. Constitution. 

The church, known as Soul Tribes International Ministries, was raided by Detroit police in September. The following month, the City of Detroit filed a nuisance claim and obtained a temporary restraining order against the church, which is located inside the Bushnell Congregational Church, and its owner Shaman Shu. Under the terms of the restraining order, the church building was padlocked by the city and Shu was barred from entering the building.

On November 6, Shu, also known as Robert Shumake and Bobby Japhia, filed a motion to have the case heard in federal court. Shu argues that the city’s closure of the church is an “illegal” violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. 

City Wants Case Returned to State Court

Earlier this week, lawyers for the city filed a petition to return the case against Shu and the church to the Wayne County Circuit Court. The parties in the legal action are now waiting for a judge to rule whether the case will remain in the federal court system.

Soul Tribes considers psilocybin mushrooms to be a religious sacrament and was selling the psychedelic fungi on church property, according to a report from the Metro Times. After a news story from the outlet about the church was published in September, officers with the Detroit Police Department raided the property, seizing more than 99 pounds of what is believed to be psilocybin mushrooms and 120 pounds of “material believed to be marijuana” from the church, according to court documents. Officers also discovered a laboratory on the premises that was allegedly being used to manufacture psychoactive substances.

Officials with the city declined to comment directly on the case because it is still pending. However, Detroit Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallet issued a statement, saying, “Exercising one’s religious freedom does not give them license to break the law.”

“The subject property is poorly masquerading as a church but instead is a distribution center for unlawful controlled substances,” the city’s original complaint against Shu and Soul Tribes reads.

The Subject Property has been the source of numerous complaints from Detroit City Council and neighboring city residents,” the complaint adds.

In 2021, Detroit voters approved a ballot measure supported by Shu and the group Decriminalize Nature Detroit that effectively decriminalized entheogenic plants and fungi. However, the drugs are still illegal under state and federal law.

The city maintains in court documents that the case should be heard by the state court that the complaint against Soul Tribes does not involve federal issues.

“Although psilocybin mushrooms are illegal at the federal and state level, the City can prove all elements of their claim without reference to federal law,” attorneys for the city wrote in court documents. “Further, nuisance law is necessarily regional, the focus is on the harm to surrounding neighbors.”

Lawyers Cite Religious Freedom

Shu was previously represented by attorneys with the law firm Detroit’s Cannabis Counsel. But his lawyers withdrew from the case when Shu filed the motion in federal court without their prior knowledge.

Court documents defending Soul Tribes signed by Cannabis Cannabis Counsel attorney Thomas Lavigne argue that “Soul Tribe’s free exercise of religion was adversely affected by the unlawful search warrant executed by the City of Detroit Police Department and this subsequent nuisance abatement action pursued on behalf of the City.”

“Michigan follows the Religious Freedom Restoration Act which requires a compelling governmental interest and the least restrictive way to achieve that interest,” the lawyers continued in the state court filing. “Every person in Michigan is at liberty to worship God according to the dictates of that person’s own conscience; and the civil and political rights, privileges, and capacities of any person may not be diminished or enlarged on account of a person’s religious belief.”

Shu is now represented by Florida-based attorney George Lake, who is temporarily licensed in the Eastern District Court of Michigan to handle Shu’s case. Lake is reportedly considered an expert in “the free exercise of religion and the sacramental consumption of psychedelics/entheogens.”

“This raises very substantial questions of free exercise of religion and how we define religion,” Lake told the Metro Times about the Soul Tribes case. “Entheogens, scientifically, have been shown to produce primary religious mystical experiences. If a church or person chooses to consume these substances with those types of intentions, is that a protected religious exercise? That’s really where the fundamental question is for me and what ultimately I want the court to address.”

Shu and Lake have announced plans for a $1 billion countersuit against the city, alleging racial and religious discrimination. They also maintain that Soul Tribes suffered $500,000 worth of vandalism and damage, including stolen plumbing and flooding while the building was padlocked by the city. On December 6, Shu removed the padlocks from the building to reopen the building when he discovered the damages.

“When we talk about religious freedom, how do you really put a price tag on having your religious freedom limited even for like one day?” said Lake. “But also there’s some appreciable economic damages that have occurred since the city got that temporary order and took possession of the building.”

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A church that purportedly uses entheogenic plants like psilocybin mushrooms as a holy sacrament was raided by officers with the Detroit Police Department Friday just two days after having a newspaper article about them published in the Detroit Metro Times.

According to a follow up article by the Detroit Metro Times, officers confiscated about $700,000 Friday in psilocybin mushroom products as well as ayahuasca and iboga from Soul Tribes International Ministries at 15000 Southfield Freeway in Detroit. Officers with the Detroit Police Department confirmed the raid took place to the Metro Times but would not comment on what was taken or any other details about what happened there.

Owner of Soul Tribes, ‘Shaman Shu’ (formerly named Robert Shumake) said 15 officers from DPD showed up armed and masked, seized the mushroom products and ordered a closure of the church. Shu told the outlet he believes the actions taken by police were in violation of Proposal E, a 2021 city initiative that decriminalized the use of psychedelic plants and fungi like psilocybin.

“They stole ancient sacrament. It was prayed over and meditated over. It’s a healing sacrament… They blocked my property down without due process. You can’t do that,” Shu said to the Metro Times. “They think we’re not a church. But that’s why the federal government was created, to separate church and state so that cities do not opine on what churches are [and] what ministries are. We’re a ministry and a religious organization.”

The original article said Soul Tribes was operating a “sacrament center” within the church where they sold dried psilocybin fruits, capsules and gummies to church members based on language in Proposal E that included using psilocybin therapeutically under the supervision of religious leaders, though they remain illegal under Michigan state law.

Regardless, Proposal E did not allow for the sale of entheogenic plants and fungi, which is likely where Soul Tribes ran into trouble with the police. The Metro Times asked for comment from the Mayor of Detroit’s office regarding the raid and whether or not DPD’s actions were sanctioned by the City, to which they received the following comment from Doug Baker, the city’s assistant corporation counsel:

“The Detroit Police Department worked in close coordination with the city’s law department and building safety, engineering and environmental department in preparing this enforcement action,” Baker said. “It is the law department’s position that this local ordinance, despite its intent, does not override state law, which considers psilocybin to be a controlled substance. Most importantly, the city ordinance itself does not allow for the sale or distribution of psilocybin.”

DPD Sgt. for media relations, Jordan Hall, told the outlet, “My understanding was that [the raid] was due to a lack of licensing and the amount of substances that were distributed.”

Soul Tribes operates out of a long vacant church on the West side of Detroit on a 60,000 sq. ft campus which Shu purchased about three months prior to the raid. The church planned to open formally in November but the sacrament center opened over Labor Day weekend and Shu told the outlet all the products came from mushrooms he grew himself, citing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as his legal defense for doing so.

“We have a right to our sacrament. We have a right to our belief system,” Shu said to the Metro Times before he was raided. “We’re a small indigenous belief system that believes we can heal the world with these techniques and our plants. You become a member of our church, just like you would any church, temple, or mosque. We’re no different.”

Shu had actually been in talks with DPD prior to the raid and emails reportedly obtained by the outlet showed they were working on setting up a meeting just the week prior.

“As you may already be aware, your ministry has definitely perked up some ears in the community,” said Sgt Crystal Johns in an email to Shaman Shu on Sept. 17. “Many of the questions and documented laws are above my understanding but the City’s legal team and our Police executives would like to have a conversation with you.”

No arrests appear to have been made and it was not immediately clear if Shaman Shu had any legal recourse for a lawsuit, though one Detroit attorney told the Metro Times Shu might have a precedent for his case. Shu maintained to the outlet that he was fulfilling his obligations as a religious leader and had a legal right to do what he was doing.

“We have a Percocet crisis, we have an Oxycontin crisis, and we have a fentanyl crisis,” Shu said. “It’s been proven that the sacred plant medicine has been used to heal people from mental health [issues], and that’s what this is about.”

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According to the most recent monthly report from the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency, Michigan cannabis sales reached a record in July, recording $276 million in sales, with the lion’s share of sales coming from adult-use cannabis. Local cannabis businesses say they aren’t making much in profits, however.

The state will likely surpass the $3 billion mark in revenue for the first time in 2023. It reinforces the importance of the state’s cannabis market. If the trend continues, Michigan will become the second largest market in the nation after California. 

But insiders say making a profit in this industry is an entirely different scenario, nearly impossible for businesses following the rules. In addition, the constant flow of new licenses is increasing competition to unworkable levels.

“It’s kind of a race to the bottom, as they call it,” Beau Whitney, senior economist for the National Cannabis Industry Association, told Bridge Michigan. “Prices are going down, down and down because there’s so much competition, but at some point, prices won’t be able to go down any further.” 

Some locals say the current system won’t work for long under the current circumstances.

“I think that big corporate stores thought they could throw money at this and just keep throwing money at it, and it would work and it’s not working. That’s why most of your major dispensaries … are for sale,” said Jerry Millen, owner of The Greenhouse, a dispensary located in Walled Lake.

The incoming flow of new licenses doesn’t seem to be helping existing businesses much. During the past month, Michigan received 97 applications for adult-use use licenses, and issued 87 new licenses. Seventeen of the licenses were designated for class C growers, with a limit of up to 1,500 plants, per state regulations. 

A 10% excise tax was imposed on retailers in addition to a 6% sales tax after adult-use was legalized in Michigan in 2018. Thanks to high production costs and oversaturation of the market, consumers are happy but businesses are not. 

That average price of $99 for one ounce of adult-use cannabis is much cheaper than it was this time last year. The price for an ounce of medical cannabis is only slightly higher. 

A Boon for the Michigan Economy

While small businesses aren’t likely making much profit, local governments, however, are loving it. Tens of millions of dollars in revenue are being allocated to local governments across Michigan as a result of the state’s adult-use cannabis industry. 

According to FOX 2 Detroit, “Only 30% of total adult-use sales go to local governments, with the other 70% going to schools and roads. When contributions from last year are paired next to figures from 2021 and 2020, they show an industry that shows no signs of slowing down.”

Michigan voters legalized adult-use cannabis in 2018, when they approved Proposal 1, which made it legal for adults 21 and older to consume cannabis, and paved the way for a regulated cannabis market that launched in 2019. 

But despite strong sales numbers, Michigan, like other regulated cannabis markets, has become oversupplied with pot.

Illegal cannabis sales continue to thrive in the state, and Michigan regulators are taking action. Last October, The Detroit News reported that Brian Hanna, the acting director of the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency, told assembled media that “the agency is planning actions that will expose bad actors and serve as a warning to other regulated businesses.”

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Detroit officials on Thursday issued nearly three dozen licenses for retail adult-use cannabis shops, more than four years after Michigan voters approved a measure to legalize recreational marijuana in the state.

The licenses were issued after U.S. District Court Judge Bernard Friedman on Wednesday morning denied a request to postpone the issuing of cannabis retailer licenses. The judge’s decision was made in a lawsuit challenging Detroit’s licensing regulations, which include provisions to encourage ownership in the regulated marijuana industry by local residents and those harmed by decades of marijuana prohibition.

“Our goal from the day voters approved the sale of adult-use marijuana was to make sure we had a city ordinance and a process in place that provides fair and equitable access to these licenses and the courts have affirmed that we’ve done just that,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said in a statement on Thursday.

Recreational Pot Legalized In Michigan In 2018

Following the approval of a 2018 statewide ballot measure to legalize adult-use cannabis, licensed sales of recreational marijuana began in some Michigan cities in December 2019. An ordinance to regulate adult-use cannabis sales was passed in Detroit last year, but legal challenges led a federal judge to rule that the measure was “likely unconstitutional.” 

An amended ordinance was subsequently unveiled by the city council in February. A lawsuit was filed again, with plaintiffs arguing that the city’s cannabis ordinance unfairly favored longtime residents. The Plaintiffs in the case had asked Friedman to pause the licensing process while the case was decided, but the judge denied that request on Wednesday.

“I am thankful for Judge Friedman’s wisdom in ruling today against the Temporary Restraining Order that would have again prevented Detroit from moving forward with our current Adult-Use Marijuana Ordinance,” Council President Pro-Tem James Tate said about the judge’s decision.

“We make sure we do the right thing,” Tate, who led the drafting of the ordinance, said at a press conference Thursday morning. “I’ve always said — and I’ve been told — if you do the right thing, everything will work out. It may not happen exactly when you want it to or not always how you want it to, but eventually, it’ll work out.”

The city issued a total of 33 licenses for adult-use cannabis retailers on Thursday. Twenty of the licenses were issued to so-called social equity applicants, including people who live in communities that have been disproportionately impacted by marijuana prohibition policies and those with certified Detroit legacy status who currently live in Detroit or another disproportionately impacted community. The remaining 13 licenses for cannabis retailers issued on Thursday were awarded to non-equity businesses.

A total of 90 applications were received by the city for the 60 adult-use cannabis retailer licenses available in the first round of dispensary licensing, but city officials said that only 33 of the applicants met the requirements for the highly coveted permits. The city also received several licenses for cannabis microbusinesses and consumption lounges, but regulators have not yet issued those types of licenses. Detroit regulators began issuing licenses for cannabis growers and processors in April. 

“The recreational marijuana industry has tremendous potential to generate wealth in income for our city, as well as personal and generational wealth for those who participate,” said Detroit Deputy Mayor Todd Bettison.

City leaders plan to hold at least two more rounds of retail cannabis dispensary licensing, with the next round opening as soon as next month with city council approval, according to Anthony Zander, director of Detroit’s Department of Civil Rights, Inclusion and Opportunity. The city will award up to 30 additional retail licenses, 20 microbusiness licenses and 20 consumption lounge licenses in the next round.

Although the federal judge decided against putting a halt to issuing the first adult-use dispensary licenses, Tate said the city should be prepared for more legal action.

“By no means is the so-called battle over,” he said. “We’ve already been told that we’re going to get sued again. We know that’s the nature of this game.”

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The top cannabis regulator in Michigan said Tuesday that the state is planning to “expose” businesses operating in the legal marijuana market that have engaged in illicit practices and sold illegal products.

The Detroit News reported that Brian Hanna, the acting director of the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency, told assembled media that “the agency is planning actions that will expose bad actors and serve as a warning to other regulated businesses.”

“If there’s anybody cutting corners or cheating, we want to expose that and take a strong enforcement approach on that,” Hanna told reporters, as quoted by the Detroit News.

The publication reported that some of the issues the regulatory agency intends to address are “proper tagging and registering of marijuana products in the statewide system and proper maintenance of required cameras — both requirements that, if abandoned, allow for a proliferation of illegal weed in regulated facilities and snarl state efforts to identify it.”

Hanna, who took over as acting director of the agency in September following the resignation of Andrew Brisbo in August, told reporters on Tuesday that “his focus over the first 90 days as acting director is to engage stakeholders to better understand what’s working in the industry and what isn’t, and to crack down on illicit cannabis products in the market, including marijunana that is grown and processed in other states,” according to the Detroit News. He also said that the “the department is hiring six new regulatory agents, two inspectors, two analysts and a laboratory specialist, is planning more unannounced inspections and is taking a second look at the department’s current operating procedures as it emerges from the pandemic, when the agency had pulled back much of its field staff.”

Michigan voters legalized recreational cannabis use when they approved a ballot measure in 2018. Adult-use marijuana sales began in late 2019. 

Earlier this year, the state consolidated the regulatory bodies overseeing the the processing and distribution of cannabis there, which resulted in the newly created Cannabis Regulatory Agency. 

Prior to the restructuring, hemp was regulated by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), while the Marijuana Regulatory Agency handled cannabis.

Now, the Cannabis Regulatory Agency oversees both.

“Consolidating multiple government functions into the newly named Cannabis Regulatory Agency will help us continue growing our economy and creating jobs,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in announcing the changes in February. “And to be blunt-safe, legal cannabis entrepreneurship, farming and consumption helps us put Michiganders first by directing the large windfall of tax revenue from this new industry to make bigger, bolder investments in local schools, roads, and first responders.” 

Earlier this month, the Cannabis Regulatory Agency issued a 30-day suspension of a marijuana retailer in Detroit, after it conducted “an unannounced compliance visit at the licensed provisioning center and observed multiple bags, backpacks, and duffle bags of suspected marijuana products that did not have the tracking identification numbers assigned by the statewide monitoring system (METRC) attached.”

After advising the retailer to “not to sell or destroy the untagged products until the investigation was completed and until guidance was given,” regulators returned “to the provisioning center facility and inquired about the untagged marijuana products,” only to discover that the remaining untagged products had been destroyed. 

“The Cannabis Regulatory Agency has a legal responsibility to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public,” said agency spokesman David Harns. “Our licensees must follow all of the rules and laws that govern the cannabis industry. Untagged marijuana products and the inability to provide video footage is simply unacceptable.”

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A lawsuit filed on Sept. 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan claims that the city’s adult-use cannabis ordinance is unfair to longstanding city residents. The lawsuit comes from plaintiffs Arden Kassab, who owns multiple medical cannabis dispensaries in Detroit, and PharmaCo.

In June 2021, a lawsuit concluded with an opinion from U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman stating that the city of Detroit’s process of obtaining an adult-use cannabis license was “unconstitutional” and “gives an unfair, irrational and likely unconstitutional advantage to long-term Detroit residents over all other applicants.” The most recent lawsuit claims that “…Detroit has essentially rebranded the ‘legacy’ program’ as a ‘social equity’ program.”

The result of that case caused a delay in the processing of recreational cannabis applications, and the city revised the rules later that year in November 2021.

However, the newest lawsuit claims that the revised ordinance did not solve the problems. “While Detroit alleges that its new cannabis ordinance cures the constitutional deficiencies found by Judge Friedman, the … (ordinance) remains ‘far more protectionist than it is equitable,’” the new lawsuit states, quoting Judge Friedman’s original statement from 2021.

According to the Detroit Free Press, one example was provided to illustrate the issues with the ordinance in its current form. Plaintiff Arden Kassab lived in Pontiac for “many years,” which is an area that is both negatively affected by the War on Drugs, and they also have a cannabis conviction. However, Kassab no longer lives in Pontiac and no longer qualifies under the current rules.

Similarly, plaintiff PharmaCo (a subsidiary of Red White & Bloom) can’t currently obtain a recreational license because “it must divest itself of substantial real property or business ownership interests in order to obtain social-equity points needed to compete,” the Detroit Free Press states.

The revised ordinance set aside half of the licenses to be reserved for “equity applicants,” such as those who are current residents in the city, as well as those who live in specific areas of Michigan that have higher cannabis convictions, and also where 20% of the population lives below the poverty line, according to federal standards. Previously, the ordinance reserved half of the licenses for “legacy Detroiters,” or people who have been residents in Detroit for a specific amount of time.

Although Michigan legalized recreational cannabis in November 2018, the city of Detroit didn’t approve adult-use sales until November 2020. The first lawsuit arrived less than one year later in June, followed by the revision release in November 2021. The ordinance took effect in April 2022, but in May a new lawsuit (from House of Dank) emerged to address concerns about conflicts with state law. Another lawsuit (from JARS Cannabis) arrived in June claiming that the ordinance violated state law.

By August, both of the lawsuits were dismissed. On Aug. 30, Wayne County Judge Leslie Kim Smith wrote in an opinion stating that the ordinance was fair. “Although the city’s 2022 marijuana ordinance is a complicated scheme, it is unambiguous and provides a fair licensing process, which comports with the mandates of the MRTMA [Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act],” Smith wrote.

Applications for adult-use licenses opened on Sept. 1, 2022 and closes on Oct. 8. In a statement, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan expressed his confidence in the ordinance. “We are going to make sure there is equity in this process for Detroiters.”

Likewise, City Council President Pro Tem James Tate told CBS News Detroit in early September that the process has been lengthy, but the ordinance is fair. “Getting to this point has been an overly protracted process dating back to 2020 when the first ordinance was unanimously approved by Detroit City Council,” said Tate. “Now with the lawsuits and the failed ballot initiatives seeking to overturn our ordinance behind us, Detroiters and other equity applicants will have a fair opportunity to compete for adult-use licenses in a city that welcomes all to participate in the multi-million-dollar adult-use cannabis industry.”

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Two lawsuits filed in Michigan earlier this year challenged the recreational cannabis ordinance in Detroit. However, the lawsuits have now been ruled on, and the city can proceed with recreational cannabis license applications.

One lawsuit was originally filed by House of Dank (which owns four dispensaries) in May, and argued against the ordinance’s rule that prevents medical cannabis dispensaries from applying for a recreational cannabis dispensary license until 2027.

Wayne County Judge Leslie Kim Smith on Aug. 30, who presided over House of Dank v. City of Detroit, wrote about the ruling in his opinion. “Although the city’s 2022 marijuana ordinance is a complicated scheme, it is unambiguous and provides a fair licensing process, which comports with the mandates of the MRTMA [Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act],” Smith stated.

Additionally, Detroit City Spokesperson John Roach said that “the law department is reviewing the recent rulings and we will know more about the licensing process and application timeline in the next couple of days,” according to the Detroit Free Press.

Detroit’s first round of recreational applications were set to begin on Aug. 1, but Judge Smith issued a restraining order that prevented Detroit city officials from proceeding.

The second lawsuit was issued on June 3 by JARS Cannabis, which owns two dispensaries in Detroit, and more throughout the state. The lawsuit claimed that it violates state law, and presented issues with the city’s scoring system.

Recreational cannabis sales began in Michigan in December 2019, but the city of Detroit didn’t introduce its ordinance to allow recreational cannabis sales until November 2020. Now with the resolution of the two lawsuits that were putting the plans on hold, those who want to apply for a license to operate a dispensary, microbusiness, or consumption lounge, can do so as of Sept. 1.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan spoke at a press conference on Aug. 30, explaining how the last two years of litigation has slowed Detroit’s progress. He described medical cannabis being “controlled by wealthy folks who don’t live in the city, and Detroiters have not benefited from it. Since the beginning, Councilman [James] Tate has said we want recreational marijuana businesses in the city but not if that means Detroiters are going to be excluded.”

Duggan also expressed his confidence that the system is fair. “Everyone is entitled to apply tomorrow but we are going to make sure there is equity,” Duggan said. 

Registration is open between Sept. 1 and Oct. 1 through homegrowndetroit.org. During the first phase, 60 licenses are available (40 dispensaries, consumption lounges, and 10 microbusinesses. Half of these licenses will be awarded to social equity applicants, which are individuals who either living in “any community where marijuana-related convictions are greater than the state of Michigan median and where 20% or more of the population is living below the poverty line.”

Later on, 100 more retail licenses, 30 consumption lounge licenses, and 30 microbusiness licenses will become available, spread out in three phases.

Councilman James Tate was also at the press event. “The city’s 2022 marijuana ordinance is unambiguous and provides a fair licensing scheme,” Tate said, reading out a portion of the opinion written by Judge Smith.

In his own words, Tate also spoke about the future of cannabis in Detroit. “I am excited that we are on the verge of having Detroiters and other equity applicants having a fair process that will allow them to participate in this multimillion-dollar industry. It is complicated, it is challenging, but it is now possible and that’s the beauty of this fight.”

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By Steve Bloom

“The bus was busted!” HIGH TIMES Executive Editor John Holmstrom informed me as I walked into the office, only hours before my train to Toledo was scheduled to leave. It was March 28th—just four days before the Hash Bash, the main event on the spring Hemp Tour. I was planning to catch up with the bus in Toledo, Ohio, then hitch a ride to Lansing, Michigan, for a rally on March 30.

“What happened?” I asked. John had spoken to Ben Masel, the Hemp Tour’s primary organizer. “They tried to search the bus in Bowling Green [Ohio]. Someone was arrested and they towed the bus away,” John explained. “That’s all I know.”

The white Hemp Tour school bus had made the rounds during the previous fall’s Hemp Tour.

It wasn’t exactly psychedelic, but it certainly stood out. I was worried that the bust would grind the three-month Hemp Tour to a halt. I was also concerned that one of my friends had been arrested. With this sketchy information in mind, I left the office, walked over to Grand Central Station, and boarded my train. Next stop, Toledo.

March 30

Before leaving, I call a number in Toledo that was given to me by Doug McVey, who along with Rick Pfrommer and Debbie Goldsberry (one of the Hemp Tour’s key coordinators) wrote up the Hemp Tour ’90 Organizer’s Manual. A woman named Lara answers and promises that someone from the Tour will meet me at the train station when I arrive at 7 AM. I find that hard to believe. But believe it or not, a familiar white VW van is waiting for me as I walk out of the Toledo station that rainy morning. Ben is driving, and Monica, Shan, and Kevin are crowded into the back. Sort of a guest of honor, I’m given the passenger seat.

I quickly learn that the bus is in the possession of Debbie and members of Red Fly Nation, a hot new band from Kentucky that joined the tour in Lexington a week ago. But there’s another problem: The bus won’t run. Fortunately, Amazin’ Dave (from last year’s HIGH TIMES psychedelic bus trip to Ann Arbor) is on the scene, fixing the transmission so the bus can at least make it to Ann Arbor by the 1st.

So what happened in Bowling Green? Shan Clark, a veteran of the fall Tour, explains: “We had to park pretty far away from the rally, near a school. A cop named Cowboy, who wears a cowboy hat around Bowling Green, watched us unloading our material. Paul [Troy] was asleep on the bus while the rally was going on, and two cops knocked on the door at about 2:45 PM. They said they were coming on the bus. Paul said, ‘No, you’re not. I’m afraid you need a search warrant.’ They threw him out of the bus, onto the ground, and handcuffed him—when we saw him, he had a bloody nose and his hands were purple from the cuffs. They impounded the bus and then went ahead with a search. When we got to the tow yard the next day, the bus was trashed. They ransacked our bus, went through all our bags, and found two seeds. That’s been the low point so far.” Paul was freed on $100 bail (he pleaded no contest and accepted a year’s probation); the bus was fined $10 for a crack in the windshield and charged $50 for the tow. As far as the rally on the campus of Bowling Green State University was concerned, 500 people came to hear the news about how hemp can save the world and why marijuana should be legalized.

As we drive north to East Lansing for today’s rally, the rain subsides. Somehow, Ben finds Valley Court Park, where the rally is being held. Large black-and-white banners proclaiming HEMP FOR THE OVERALL MAJORITY OF EARTH’S PAPER * FIBER * FUEL * FOOD * PAINT * VARNISH * MEDICINE AND TO LIVE LONGER, OR THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT-CHOOSE ONE and the simpler HEMP FOR VICTORY (as well as a huge American flag) are already hanging from a baseball cage. These signs can only mean one thing: Jack Herer is here.

The burly, gruff-voiced author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes preceded our arrival by half an hour. His team, which includes Maria Farrow, Willie, Nelson, J.S. and Brenda, quickly posted the signs and are already selling books, stickers, and hemp clothing. In a particularly impassioned fashion, Shan introduces Jack to the spring break crowd. Waving a copy of The Reign of Law, which was printed on hemp paper, Jack ignites sparks with this fiery commentary: “We only have to be committed to the ideal that no human being on earth will ever go to prison again for a natural substance. People aren’t aware that the government has outlawed vegetables. There should be no laws against natural things. We have to drive a stake through the heart of prohibitionism.”

NORML’S National Director, Don Fiedler, also speaks, as do Ben and several locals. A band named 47 Tyme follows the speakers. This causes a problem. Seems that just beyond the park is a senior citizen’s residence. After receiving a few calls about the noise, the police decide to make their presence felt. Ben engages in conversation with them, then is told that someone has to accept the charge of disturbing the peace. Like a good Hemp Tour trooper, Ben takes the fall instead of the local organizers. He’s driven to the stationhouse, pays a $25 fine, and returns to the rally. No big deal. But it’s another reminder that there’s always a price to pay in the rally business.

March 31

It’s Hash Bash weekend, and Freedom Fighters from all over the country are beginning to converge on Ann Arbor. The first sight we see when we leave our hotels is a shiny purple bus in the parking lot. We decide to investigate. Inside is the West Virginia Freedom Fighter contingent, led by Roger the shaggy-bearded driver. Kind bud they call “hackweed” is being passed around. A coughing siege ensues. Now we know why they call it hackweed.

The morning papers bring good news. “Judge OK’s U-M Pot Rally Permit-Says U-M Violated Free Speech,” reads the front-page headline of the Ann Arbor News. In October, the University of Michigan granted NORML a permit to hold the Hash Bash at its traditional location—on the campus’ Diag. But in February, the school rescinded the permit. Fortunately, Washtenaw County Circuit Judge Donald Shelton recognized the impropriety of that decision and restored the permit literally at the 11th hour. “The University’s mishandling of the NORML permit application completely undermines its contention that any danger presented by the NORML rally is ‘clear’ or ‘present,’” the judge ruled.

But first things first. Saturday’s reserved for the first annual Freedom Fighters convention. Roger’s purple bus carts dozens of FFs to the picnic-style meeting, where spliffs are smoked, state chapter heads are elected, Chef RA’s rasta-riffic eats are chowed, and networking and partying are generally accomplished.

April 1

The Hash Bash begins at noon—without amplification. But thanks to the boys in Red Fly Nation, a PA is set up. Herer, Fiedler, Masel, Hash Bash organizer Rick Birkett, and Gatewood Galbraith, who introduces himself as the next governor of the state of Kentucky (he’s running in the 1991 race), all speak. Red Fly Nation plays a few songs before the PA is cut off at 2 PM. Even a midday downpour and numerous arrests can’t dampen the spirit of the 5,000-plus ralliers.

After the rally concludes at 6 PM, the scene shifts to the Heidelberg, where the HIGH TIMES contingent stages a high-energy benefit concert for NORML, featuring the Soul Assassins, the Nozems, and anti-folk artists Bobby Belfiore and Dave Herrera. The revelry continues through the night. Once again, the Hash Bash is a blast.

April 2

The backdrop for the Hash Bash was today’s pot referendum in Ann Arbor. In 1972, the city established a $5 fine for marijuana use and possession. Though the $5 fine was repealed the next year, it was written into Ann Arbor’s charter in 1974. Nine years later, another attempt to repeal it was voted down by a 61 percent majority. Now, in 1990, a referendum to raise the fine to $25 for a first offense has made it to the ballot. Hopefully, the spirit of the Hash Bash will bring voters out. A vote of no on Proposal B would keep the fine at $5.

Meanwhile, Jack, Don, and Gatewood leave for Detroit early this morning to appear on the morning show Kelly & Company. A 10 AM rally at Wayne State University is next on the agenda. (Herer’s crew handles that one.) Back in Ann Arbor, we’re moving rather slowly. Our only hope is to get to Detroit in time for a 1 PM legalization debate at the University of Detroit’s Student Union. We fill up the bus and hit the road.

Everyone on the panel is wearing a suit except for Jack, who’s wearing his tan hemp shirt (he never leaves home without it) over a tie-dyed t-shirt. Zolton Ferency, a Michigan State prof who’s running for the State Senate on a legalization platform, is there along with Rep. John Conyers and several others. Ferency quotes the following National Institute on Drug Abuse figures (1988): deaths from tobacco, 346,000; alcohol, 125,000; alcohol and drugs mixed, 4000; cocaine, 2000; marijuana, 75 (HIGH TIMES would tend to question this figure). Directing himself to Conyers, Ferency says:

“Deal with the drug problem as a public-health problem. Keep it out of the criminal justice system. It is not going to be solved by police, prosecutors, criminal courts, or prisons.”

Conyers, who is black, explains that he’s “against the way William Bennett runs the anti-drug strategy because it’s racist. When you focus on crack, you focus on blacks, by and large. The profile of the average drug user is white, middle class, and suburban. I want to change the laws that deal with the prosecution of drugs. Why don’t we get a justice system that really works—in which we get the drug dealers and the government out of it, rather than making it legal? I put treatment as a higher priority than making it all legal.”

Herer hammers away with the hemp argument. “The greatest tax on earth is the harm to the environment that the fossil fuels and synthetic fibers are causing to this planet,” Jack offers. “There is one single plant on earth that replaces 100 percent of our need for any of those—something that can be grown by American farmers, not mined by oil companies. We’re talking about hemp—the safest therapeutically active substance known to mankind.” At this point, Conyers picks up a copy of The Emperor Wears No Clothes and leafs through it.

From the audience, Ben issues his chess challenge to Drug Bizarre William Bennett or any prosecutor, narcotics officer, or anyone else who believes that marijuana is harmful to the intelligence. “I’ve been smoking it for 23 years,” he says. “If it causes permanent brain damage, I must be in bad shape—so prove it.”

Fiedler walks to the podium and addresses Conyers, who serves on several House committees that deal with drug issues. “We’re not asking you to legalize marijuana at this point, but if you’re holding hearings…”

Conyers interrupts. “Would you like to be a witness?”

“I’d love to,” Fiedler says.

“I would love to discuss the matter with you—here and in Washington,” Conyers adds.

Afterwards, Ferency tells me about his plan to legalize pot. “I’m not for taxing it. We don’t tax liquor, we sell it. In Michigan, you’re allowed to make 200 gallons of wine for personal use; I’m suggesting the same thing for marijuana. You want to grow your own pot, fine—it’s the same as wine. I deliberately came up with a plan that deals with merchandising marijuana in Michigan.

“I did that in response to our Drug Czar’s suggestion that it couldn’t be done. It can be done—very easily.”

Ferency ran for governor in 1966. He headed the state’s Democratic party for five years and was the liquor commissioner 30 years ago. He’s a lawyer by trade. “I’m the state’s best known liberal. I’ve been all over the road. I’ve been at this for 40 years. I know how it goes. I was in the anti-war movement, all the movements. What you need is middle-of-the-road presentations. People are convinced that we’re losing the War on Drugs by just reading the daily papers. They’ll listen to anybody who comes along and tells them, ‘Here’s one way we might be able to get out of this mess.’ That’s been my experience.”

Ferency’s opponent has the support of the governor. “It’s a tough struggle, it’s uphill. The governor wants that seat. All my opponent will have to do is sit in it. The governor’s raising $400,000 for her. Four hundred grand for a state legislative seat? Unheard of!” If you’d like to contribute to Zolton Ferency’s campaign—the primary is in August—send a donation to: Ferency for Senate Committee, PO Box 6446, East Lansing, Ml 48826.

Following the debate, we’re invited back to an off-campus party house. That evening, Herer is feted at a book reception at Alvin’s, a club near Wayne State.

April 3-4

Tuesday’s a rare off day for the Hemp Tour. I’m hanging out with Jack, who usually goes his separate way from the bus. He spends hours on the telephone, doing radio interviews, taking care of business. He’s a bundle of creative energy and never seems to relax.

Jack loves to see himself in print, whether he’s doing the writing or is being written about. Today’s Detroit Free Press runs a profile of Jack entitled, “Rebel With an Illegal Cause.” He’s pleased. Reporters seem to be gravitating toward the hemp issue; Jack’s book and his tireless efforts to promote the plant are the primary reasons why.

But there’s bad news, too; Ann Arbor voters, by a 53 to 47 percent majority, have decided to raise their town’s pot fine to $25.

A call from Fiedler, who’s returned to Washington, swings the mood back in a positive direction. Rep. Conyers has asked that Jack testify before the House Judiciary Committee. It’s cause to celebrate. Jack lights up a bowlful and kicks back for a few moments.

“We’re gonna win this thing, Bloom,” he barks. “No fucking way we’re gonna lose.”

Jack takes particular pleasure in converting people to his hemp message. One convert is David Hamburger, an otherwise conservative fellow who met Jack last November at the “Just Say Know” rally in Athens, Ohio. Marvin Surowitz, the organizer of the Detroit events, invited him to Athens. “Before I met Jack, I was totally on the other side—talk about quick political conversions,” says David, who is a private investor and former Bush supporter. “After the conference, I saw things differently. Cannabis, used in reasonable amounts, is an excellent natural relaxant and should be legalized. I smoke pot to increase my productivity and to take away tension headaches. But, to be honest, I find marijuana politics much more stimulating than marijuana.”

Around midnight, Jack begins mobilizing his troops for an early-morning trek to Cleveland—the next stop on the Hemp Tour. He’s scheduled to appear on The Morning Exchange TV program at 8 AM. Jack designates me as the driver. It’s an excruciating ride, but we make it right on time. A middle-aged man named Bernie Baltic is responsible for setting up the morning debate. He deposits us in a hotel and rushes Jack to the studio. Except for a change of tie-dyes, Jack’s dressed the same as he was two mornings ago. We turn the TV to channel 5 and await the debate.

The first question asked is: “Can hemp really reverse the Greenhouse Effect?” Jack rattles off all the glorious uses for hemp. The anti-drug advocate weakly challenges Jack’s hemp information and then begins reciting the standard litany about marijuana: it kills brain cells, it’s a “gateway drug,” and so on. Jack flicks these arguments away like so many marijuana ashes. From my point of view, the debate’s not even a contest.

There’s hardly any time to catch a few minutes sleep before the noon rally at Cleveland’s Public Square. Surrounded by tall office buildings and buffered by traffic, the location is perfect: No one can complain about the noise. And no one does. The rally runs five hours—Red Fly Nation plays for nearly two—without a hitch. What makes this event special is the turnout—not so much the numbers (about 400 total), but the mix of people who stop by for a quick listen. “In many ways, this has been our most successful date yet,” Ben says. “We were in front of the whole city, not just a student crowd—we had business people coming through, it was a much more mixed reception.” Even blacks, who are notably absent on the Tour, were in attendance. Thank Red Fly Nation’s funkadelic sounds for that.

John Hartman, Ohio NORML’s North Coast coordinator, who along with Ohio NORML leader Cliff Barrows organized the rally, is also excited about the “variety of people” who turned out. So where do people who attended the rally go from here? “I want them to write their representatives, take some of our literature and xerox it, pass out 100 copies here, 100 copies there—just get it out,” John says. “There’s nothing illegal about going door-to-door or standing on a street corner and handing pamphlets out. It’s a standard way of soliciting people—and the cheapest. Right now we don’t have the dollars, so it just comes down to getting out in the streets and informing people—leafletting or making calls or taking opinion polls, any contact with people.”

John invites the Hemp Tour back to his house to party and spend the night. Without people like John, the Hemp Tour would be forced to run up some pretty high hotel bills. Considering that the Tour runs on whatever it makes in sales of t-shirts and assorted products, this hospitality is invaluable.

April 5

Today’s headline in the Cleveland Plain Dealer reads, “Hemp is Given a New Twist—Fair Promotes Pot’s Many Uses.” In the article, a botanist from Case Western Reserve University admits he doesn’t know much about hemp other than its fiber is tough and it grows at a phenomenal rate. He suggests Flax, which is used to make linen and linseed oil, has similar properties to hemp.

During the ride down to the next stop—Kent State University—with Ben and Cliff, Ben says, “I want to reach the farm press and the farm researchers on this tour—make a particular effort to touch base at the agriculture schools, find the professors who might be motivated to take a closer look, and meet the kind of people who can convince the agriculture departments to give them permits to study the plant.”

Ben Masel is a professional activist. He not only runs the Hemp Tour, he also publishes The Zenger, an underground newspaper, out of his home base of Madison, Wisconsin. Ben’s style is more academic and less charismatic than Jack’s. He’s an expert polemicist and quite a good storyteller (his country twang and ironic outlook reminds me of Arlo Guthrie). Ben was the HIGH TIMES’ 1988 Counterculture Hero of the Year. I ask him to tell me when he first became politically active.

“One turning point was during the fourth grade, when we did Inherit the Wind as a class play. I was the teacher who was on trial for teaching evolution,” he laughs. “In the sixth grade, we were the first kids in the country to be bussed to integrate a black school. This was in Teaneck, New Jersey. By the 10th grade, we had been resegregated. While we were all in the same building, the classes weren’t integrated anymore. This led us to occupy the principal’s office in the spring of 10th grade. We held it for three days, and won most of our 13 unconditional demands. The principal resigned on the third day.

“Upon hearing about the shootings at Kent State, we got together a meeting of 150-200 students in the auditorium after school and we decided to call a strike. Next we heard that the Student Council wanted to join us. Then the principal came by and offered to cooperate with us if we called it a teach-in instead of a strike. A couple of days later, the Board of Education wanted to can the principal because one of the speakers at the teach-in had referred to ‘that motherfucker Nixon.’”

Appropriately, we arrive in Kent as Ben’s discussing his reaction to the events that devastated this small college town 20 years ago. Ben has a lot of personal history connected to Kent State University. He joined the May 4th Coalition in the late 70s in its efforts to prevent the University from building a gym over part of the area where the 1970 shootings occurred. They lost that battle. Perhaps today would be another.

The Hemp Tour was unable to obtain sponsorship from a student group for the rally. The Progressive Student Network balked out of fear that it would lose its registration if a legal problem arose. In addition, the school only allows use of a PA system in the plaza outside the Student Center for one hour a day—from noon to 1 PM. At 12:30, Ben plugs in the PA and begins to speak into a microphone. A crowd of about 100 congregate. By 1 PM, the local police are about to close in. Debbie warns Ben that they mean business, but he keeps talking until the police pull the plug at about 1:25. Ben races over to the PA and plugs it back in. The police grab him; the battle is on.

Ben clearly resists. They pull his hair. It takes four cops to lead Ben to their car, which is waiting about 200 feet away at the curb. The crowd chants, “Bullshit!” and “Let him go!” The cops don’t listen. In the chaos, a female frosh named Sharon Burns gets caught up in the activity. She and Ben are both arrested and taken to the nearby police station.

Sharon is charged with disorderly conduct and released on her own recognizance. Ben is hit with three charges: obstructing offical business, resisting arrest, and assault (they claim he kneed a cop in the groin). At first, we’re told that bail will be $1,250. After we make the necessary arrangements to pay a bail bondsman and drive six miles to Portage County, where Ben has been taken, we’re told the bail has been raised to $12,500. It’s fairly common to require 10 percent of the bond, but because of Ben’s long “rap sheet” and the fact that he’s from out-of-state (no doubt his previous run-ins at Kent State are also a consideration) they refuse to reduce the bond—at least until the morning. So Ben has to spend the night in jail.

Meanwhile, the Hemp Tour people are waiting for Debbie and me at a gallery on Water Street. Later on, Red Fly Nation and some local bands are supposed to play across the street at J.B.’s. There’s some anger over Ben’s decision to get arrested, but some good smoke mellows everyone out.

Water Street, it turns out, was where the calamitous events at Kent State began almost 20 years ago to the day. On May Day, 1970, Nixon announced that the US had invaded Cambodia. That night students poured out of J.B.’s and other clubs and into the streets; then they lit a bonfire and began smashing store windows. The next day, the ROTC building on the Kent State campus was firebombed. Two days later, the National Guard opened fire on the students.

Alan Canfora was there. He was shot in the wrist. He stood 50 feet in front of his friend, Jeff Miller, who took a bullet in the head. “As the guard got to the top of the hill and they stopped and they started to fire, I heard the guns go off and took a step away from them,” he tells me. “I thought, ‘Well, just in case they’re firing live ammunition, I’ll get behind a tree.’ I got behind one at the last possible second before a bullet went through my right wrist. It was the only tree in the line of fire. I’m convinced that that tree saved my life, because it was hit by several bullets and I could see many other bullets zipping through the air and ripping through the grass.”

Canfora puts today’s confrontation with the police in perspective when he explains: “Kent State remains now as it has been during the last 20 years—a very repressive institution which is controlled by the Republican interests in Ohio.”

April 6

Ben has a 9 AM hearing. A public defender named Bill Carroll shows up and asks for a reduction of the bond to $5,000. The judge agrees to that, plus he allows for 10 percent payment. Debbie counts out $500 and Ben is free.

Ben doesn’t exactly get a hero’s welcome when he returns to our Kent crash pad. There’s a noon rally slated for Athens in Southern Ohio at Ohio University. Herer has gone ahead and will run the rally. Cliff, Ben, and I again travel together; the bus is the last to leave.

For the first time on the Tour I get to see some pretty country. Southern Ohio is full of rolling hills. We take a few small roads to get there, with Ben doing the navigating. Does he regret the arrest? “Only that I resisted,” he says, proudly noting that it was his 106th arrest.

We get to Athens just as Jack is wrapping up. He applauds Ben’s arrest—’That’s how Ben teaches the kids,” Jack says. Plus, it got good press.

That evening, the University’s history and political science departments are sponsoring a debate/teach-in. It’s Jack and Gatewood versus Lois and Robert Whealy, a husband and wife prof team. The debate turns out to be quite a hoot.

The profs aren’t all that opposed. One point is well-taken: Don’t look for simplistic answers to our environmental problems. Gatewood proclaims, “I don’t apologize to anyone anymore about smoking pot. Any society that can accommodate alcohol and tobacco has room for pot.”

Later that night, Vicki Linker invites us all to her backwoods digs for a well-deserved and desperately-needed party (the type where dessert is served first). Red Fly Nation sets up in the living room and jams (I even get to play percussion on my fave songs—”Do the Feelin’” and “Strictly Wet”). Gatewood unknots his tie and opens his collar. Maria rolls the ugliest joints ever. Ben tries to recruit me to leave immediately for Indianapolis, where Farm Aid is scheduled to start in a few hours. He wants to leaflet the concert. Good idea, bad execution (the van barely made it to Vicki’s). Everyone sleeps it off.

April 7

Last stop for me—Columbus, Ohio. Everything I’ve been told to expect about the Columbus rally is right. This is one stop where there was little or no advance work, and it shows. The rally, tucked away on the campus of Ohio State University, fizzles. Hey, the Hemp Tour was due for a dud.

I’m ready to head home.

Tomorrow, Dayton hosts a rally, and then it’s off to a swing through Indiana (the Tour runs through May). Jack is packed and ready to roll. “C’mon, Bloom, you’re driving to Dayton,” he yells. Sorry, Jack, I’m booked on a flight back to New York. But he has me thinking. Should I spend just a few more days on the Hemp Tour?

At that moment, the bus pulls up; it’s being tailed by a cop. Apparently, Dean hopped a curb and is getting written up. Hey, you know what? This is one nutty Hemp Tour.

This article appears in the July 1990 issue of High Times. Subscribe here.

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A Michigan cannabis retailer has filed a lawsuit against the city of Detroit over a newly passed ordinance that took effect last month.

The Detroit News reports that the suit was “brought by four House of Dank dispensaries—each operating under a unique name,” asserting that the ordinance passed by the city council runs afoul of Michigan’s adult-use recreational cannabis law that was approved by voters in 2018.

According to the Detroit News, the ordinance, which officially took effect on April 20, “doesn’t allow medical marijuana establishments to be eligible to obtain a recreational license for five years.”

Per the Detroit Free Press, the plaintiffs assert that “state law specifies that once municipalities opt into allowing cannabis businesses within city limits, they cannot prevent medical marijuana licensees from obtaining recreational licenses,” and that the ordinance is also problematic because it “prohibits ownership interest in more than one such retail license, meaning even if a medical marijuana business owner gets a recreational license, they could only have it for one store location.”

Should the city adhere to that ordinance, the plaintiffs argue that “medical facilities would not be given a shot at getting a recreational license until 2027, when the medical businesses would have likely already closed their doors from lack of sales,” the Detroit Free Press reported, adding that the plaintiffs have asked “the court to intervene and stop Detroit from prohibiting dispensaries that sell both medical and recreational cannabis.”

The lawsuit represents just the latest setback in Detroit’s effort to belatedly implement an adult-use cannabis market in the city. 

While a majority of Michigan voters approved a ballot measure legalizing recreational pot use for adults in 2018, the state’s most populous city opted out.

In 2020, a year after the first recreational dispensaries opened in the state, Detroit’s city council approved a plan clearing the way for adult-use sales to begin in the city.

The Detroit News reported at the time that the plan sought to “ensure residents will have an equitable opportunity to participate in an industry that’s estimated to yield $3 billion in annual sales,” ensuring that “legacy Detroiters be able to purchase city-owned land at 25% of the fair market value and that all application fees be slashed to 1% of the total cost.”

But last summer, a federal judge ruled that ordinance was likely unconstitutional because it awarded “an unfair, irrational and likely unconstitutional advantage to long-term Detroit residents over all other applicants.”

That forced the Detroit city council to start from scratch once again. Last month, the council passed the latest ordinance, setting the stage for the city to begin processing applications from would-be retailers.

But the latest lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, asserts that the city is “attempting to give certain preferred newcomer applicants an artificial head start by preventing existing medical marijuana provisioning center licensees in the city from even applying until at least 2027—which clearly violates both the letter and spirit of the Michigan Regulation and Taxation Marihuana Act,” the Detroit News reported.

Michael DiLaura, the general counsel for House of Dank, told the Detroit News that “existing [medical cannabis] stores employ thousands of people, pay taxes, paved the way for this industry, and now they’re being legislated out of business unlawfully.”

DiLaura said that there “are a number of stakeholders that feel they were wronged by” the ordinance.

“It’s like the old taxi medallion or golden ticket,” DiLaura said. “That’s just not right and not the best way to design inclusion and opportunity. These stores should be open; We should encourage more people to get into the business but prioritize those that paved the way.”

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