Restoring the Revenue III – The Reclassification of Marijuana to a Schedule III Drug

Currently, Marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug with no medical value. This allows law enforcement to prosecute people and is the gateway to placing a person in the court system. The effect of this policy is overcrowded prisons and a clogged legal system. This is an important question to the upcoming Obama administration as he will be responsible for hiring the Next National Drug Czar and the head of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). On December 4th, a new law is in effect to allow people with a medical need to use Marijuana legally without the fear of arrest. On November 4th of this year, the Michigan voters spoke loud and clear as they approved of Medical Marijuana by %63 of the vote. All 83 counties in Michigan voted yes on November 4th.


The current schedule of drugs as defined by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are defined as follows:

Schedule I — drugs with a high abuse risk. These drugs have NO safe, accepted medical use in the United States. Some examples are heroin, marijuana, LSD, PCP, and crack cocaine.

Schedule II — drugs with a high abuse risk, but also have safe and accepted medical uses in the United States. These drugs can cause severe psychological or physical dependence. Schedule II drugs include certain narcotic, stimulant, and depressant drugs. Some examples are morphine, cocaine, oxycodone (Percodan®), methylphenidate (Ritalin®), and dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine®).

Schedule III, IV, or V — drugs with an abuse risk less than Schedule II. These drugs also have safe and accepted medical uses in the United States. Schedule III, IV, or V drugs include those containing smaller amounts of certain narcotic and non-narcotic drugs, anti-anxiety drugs, tranquilizers, sedatives, stimulants, and non-narcotic analgesics. Some examples are acetaminophen with codeine (Tylenol® No.3), paregoric, hydrocodone with acetaminophen (Vicodin®), diazepam (Valium®), alprazolam (Xanax®), propoxyphene (Darvon®), and pentazocine (Talwin®).


Reclassifying Marijuana as a Schedule III drug would move Marijuana to the same status as Aspirin and Cough Syrup. An example is that is someone was overdosing on aspirin; they would go to a hospital and given mental health care instead of a ride to jail. County prosecutors and law enforcement personnel routinely complain about the massive amount of paperwork in prosecuting a person with a small amount of Marijuana. The FDA can focus on healthy living and lifestyles for young and old Americans. This agency would be catalyst to promote better health among Americans through exercise and healthy eating practices. The Department of Agriculture in conjunction with the Dept of Community Health would serve as a catalyst to assist Michigan residents in proper growing methods for the medicine. This would create even more job and career opportunities in both departments.


It would also serve to eliminate the costly legal challenges that seek to thwart the will of the people. It would amount to insubordination to the people of the State of Michigan if civil servants and special interest groups initiate law suits to satisfy their narrow minded selfish thoughts.


So many people and so much documentation exist that shows Marijuana has medical benefits for people with debilitating medical conditions such as Leukemia, Aids, Nausea, Glaucoma, Multiple Sclerosis, etc. DEA administrative law judge Francis Young referred to Marijuana a wonder drug with many uses in his commentary during a trial. Furthermore uses like fuel, clothes and the other 25,000 uses are fully documented in video and print. The person that President-Elect Obama appoints to this position cannot overlook these facts regarding the Marijuana plant.


In order for the Department of Community Health to manage the dispensary program, the agency will need to reorganize resources in Information Technology and staff support. Out of the 148 Information Technology positions that the department has allotted, 10 of them will be redirected to manage the program. An increase in staff positions between 415 to 830 employees will be needed to manage the entire program. These figures are based on 3 FTE positions for each of the 83 counties. An extreme scenario will project 10 employees for each county. Their job will be to maintain the process for the dispensary registration.



Information Technology needs are software to maintain the registry and hardware maintenance. Programs like Microsoft Access, SQL Server, etc are readily available to use and the application is relatively simple to create and maintain at a cost of $20,000 a year. Revenue from dispensary registration fees, annual quality control inspection visits from department personnel, and sales would make the program pay for itself every year.

The State of Michigan Drug Czar duties would be redirected to include the benefits of using Marijuana as a medicine. As an employee of the people, the czar will be the State’s leading advocate for rescheduling Marijuana as a Schedule III drug. We pray that President-Elect Obama elects a realist to the position of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). And we hope the Director-Elect of Health and Human Services former Senator Tom Daschle does the right thing and promote a progressive and smart person to be the chief of the Food and Drug Administration. Some qualified candidates include Dr. Jocelyn Elders, Dr. Ben Carson among others who are clearly qualified to handle the job. At the State level, Rep Cushingberry will be advocating that the State Drug Czar recognizes the vote of the citizens of the State in the affirmative for Medical Marijuana.

I believe that Government is; of the people, by the people, for the people, to maintain and sustain the needs of the people. And as your representative in Lansing, I will always be your activist for the benefit of my constituents.

Restoring the Revenue: Justice in sharing federal TARP money – Can the big 3 tough it out until January 20th 2009?

It is evident that the Bush administration is preparing for retirement. The President and Mrs. Bush have backed up the van to the back door of the White House. So the question is can the Big 3 tough it out until January 20th 2009? Can the members of the auto industry hang on until the “new hire” for the position of President of the United States starts work? With one executive order an entire industry will be re-started. The innovation and creativity that made the Big 3 what they were will be back. Engineers and visionaries will be free to explore new ideas and methods for better automobiles. Contract work from the Department of Defense, State and Local agencies will be increased to restore the revenue to the people.


Auto companies will realize that they will have to use fuel sources other than Gasoline to power vehicles. Natural technologies will be developed by scientists and grow by farmers for all Government owned vehicles. The Department of Agriculture will have additional help from Federal matching funds for the development of alternative fuel sources. Celloustic Ethanol and Industrial Hemp will be the fuels of choice because; we want to start with just two over a 10 year period. $2 million dollars in Federal TARP funds would match the amount that the State grows per year in metric tons.

The hearings being conducted by the United States Senate and House in December 2008 will lay the groundwork for a new business plan for the States to create their own fuel sources for government vehicles with restricted funds. Michigan’s agriculture industry will benefit with minimal funding by utilizing the land that is currently funded not to produce by the Federal Government. The quality of life will rise for the people because farms that produce income will spend the dollars in the community. The cities will benefit when they have to pay for their fuel with restricted funds. The revenues from the fuel will be given back to the cities in the form of recreation centers, rapid repair of utility services, and increased Bulk Day services in Detroit to twice a month for example.


This will cause the Cities to hire more workers who live in the neighborhoods where they work. That would take care of the housing crisis caused by the greedy Wall Street speculators for the last 8 years. We the people will have better oversight over the financial industry because; on January 20th 2009 at 12:01pm a new day will take hold. When Barack Obama takes the oath of office, he will deliver on his promise of helping the manufacturing industry. He said that that help is on the way and he plans to deliver. The financial industry will be providing reports daily to the people in the form of:

1. Increased federal monitoring of funds.
2. An online version of the federal budget for public viewing.


These next 4 years, the Obama Administration will cure the disease of “Paralysis of Analysis” as described by Us Rep. Al Green (D) Texas-09) in a House Banking Committee hearing. This quote from Dr. Martin Luther King clearly describes the lack of analysis before making a decision. This practice will end with better management of federal funds. The Obama Administration will tactically use technology to closely monitor spending and revenue. As your representative I will sponsor legislation to manage this at a State level to the total benefit of the auto industry. This will also guarantee a living wage to everyone who wants to work. If you don’t have the skills, training will be provided from the revenue generated from re-directed funds from the fuel industry. With the additional revenue from the increase in sales of automobiles, everyone will benefit.

In the countdown to the new administration, I believe that if the big three has been suffering for this amount of time, then a few more days would hurt with the feeling that a change will be coming. The rationale behind scrutinizing the auto industry while giving a blank check to the finance industry will be a moot point. GM and Chrysler have good lawyers that can file Chapter 11 and get the filing dismissed on January 20th 2009 in an executive order from the new President.


We are looking forward to the Obama Administration to have smart people in charge to manage the oversight of the TARP funds. Federal Regulators armed with the latest accounting tools will have every penny and transaction accounted for with an electronic paper trail. We are also looking forward to increase funding in the energy area to accommodate the technology of the Chevrolet Volt and other Hybrid cars.

Just hold on everyone, a change is coming. January 20th is less than 60 days away. Think for the future, contact your elected officials by e-mail, fax, YouTube, or any method allowed by law. You can contact me at georgecushingberry@house.mi.gov or call the office at 517 373-2276. Lastly you can visit my website at www.friendsofcushingberry.com and make a donation.

Restoring the Revenue Part II - How Barack Obama and Warren Buffet could regulate the Markets to re-invest into America.

When the renowned Warren Buffet speaks about the perils of Credit Default Swaps, people listen. Mr. Buffet supports a federal bailout of the financial institutions to save America whereas others in the financial and governmental arena do not support the bailout of the big 3 automakers. He will be coming “clean” on how he manages his investments, now that he and his Wall Street investor friends are losing their investments at an accelerated rate. The corporate jets are in jeopardy and now they will have to fly commercial with “the public”.


Downsizing is tough for people who have been living large and in charge when Fuel prices were over $3.50 a gallon and, were making millions off of other people’s misery. This is nothing new to UAW members who have been experiencing this recession/depression, long before the December 2007 declaration by Wall Street of the start of the official recession. Click here to read the “Buffet Story” from the New York Times article of November 25, 2008.


The advantage of bailing out the big three will have a ripple effect in the affected communities. People who work for the Auto Industry are the true middle class. UAW members were the ones doing the spending on things such as electronics, recreational vehicles, and tend to spend their money among the citizens of their respective neighborhoods. The total number of people tied to the Auto Industry is about 10 times the numbers working in the finance area. Autoworkers and suppliers tend to be larger participants in local community activities such as bowling, golf, and spending with neighborhood businesses.


Bailing out the financial industry because of the greed and mismanagement is bewildering to the Middle Class citizen. Mr. Buffet’s concern of the credit default swaps and derivatives in the market is commendable and genuine. One of his primary investments Berkshire Hathaway has lost over %36 in value since October 1st of 2008. He is losing about 1/3 of his total assets in the falling stock market and is a big supporter of the federal bailout of the financial industry. Berkshire Hathaway is an investment portfolio of companies like, Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs, and General Electric. And when Joe and Jane UAW member lose their home in a foreclosure proceeding, Wall Street investors refer to that as a natural course of business. And sometimes the investor’s investments increase in value because the investor was betting that the price of a stock or an investment will fall in price.


The mismanagement and greed has another friend in the un-regulated business practices of Wall Street. The friend comes in a form of a Security Item called Derivates where investors were creating items called futures that are backed by hard objects like homeowner mortgages, corn, rice, gasoline, natural gas, and other physical assets. The investor is hoping (betting) that the price will change upwards or in some cases downward (short position) in a measured amount of time. Usually it is about 3 months. An investor purchases one of these derivates without ever owning the asset that backs it. When the price goes up, the investor skims the profit. If the price goes down, then the investor loses their money. The investor has their bet “insured” by a company like AIG and Goldman Sachs. AIG and Goldman Sach’s job is to pay off the investment in case something goes wrong. This was fine until the adjustable rate mortgages started to default and the financial pyramid came tumbling down.


Mr. Buffet was a willing participant in this process and was a major player in this market. He was also wise to see that the derivative market was a tool for financial mass destruction. He realized that in the wrong hands an unsupervised a rouge investor could manipulate prices by using world events to create a false demand by altering the supply chain. With the help of a few press releases and access to supply lines, investors can control the supply of commodities (electric, fuel, etc) with the click of a mouse.


So why does the opinion of a wealthy person like Mr. Buffet matter to anyone in the middle class? A middle class person is defined as a married couple or anyone making in a range from $30,000 to $100,000 a year. Warren Buffet is a financial consultant and a supporter of President-Elect Obama’s plan for change in America. Rep. Cushingberry sees the relationship between Wall Street and the homeowners and businesses on 7 mile road. Rep Cushingberry knows that the average UAW employee spends their money in the community much quicker than employees of Wall Street firms. The money spent by these union members gets turned over at least 5 to 7 times in the community they live in. UAW members tend to be common people who are actively involved in their community’s growth by participating in PTA meetings, softball tournaments, and other activities that directly impact the people.


Rep Cushingberry knows that the UAW members were the first ones who gave concessions to the big 3 long before the current credit crisis on Wall Street. He finds it appalling that the investors on Wall Street say that Union members make too much money. This is after new UAW members make %50 less than their counterparts working the same job. And the new UAW worker has to pay more for their health care coverage out of their gross pay. And to ask these workers to give even more concessions is an insult, especially when the derivates market is a $531 trillion dollar albatross that is bringing down the economic wealth of the United States.


If you want to support me in my efforts to reform the financial planning of State Government, please give me a call at my office or email me at gcushingberry@house.mi.gov. I would love to hear from you on this. If you have a Gmail account, then log in and comment on my blog.

Restoring the Revenue: Michigan Department of Corrections Budget Savings

Mama Cushingberry once said to me that "you should be careful for nothing". I pondered what she said to me and then I thought about it. Mom was talking about preventive maintenance and boy Mom was right again! After all Moms' are always right and have a lot of insights. And in these times of financial uncertainty ruling life's events, new and creative ways must be developed to restore the revenue to needed State Services. In the Department of Corrections, there are many opportunities to streamline and redirect revenue that is currently being spent on existing programs and policies. Specific policy changes in the Department will generate at least one billion dollars in savings over the next 5 years. One of my visions is when the revenue returns, I want to plan for how long the revenue will last and, how strong the revenue will be. And to do that I am proposing a 10 year master plan to accomplish this.

One of the effective methods that I propose is to start reducing the number of prisons. What will you do with the existing prisoners? Where will they stay? Wont your create prison overcrowding by tearing down and closing prisons? The answers to these questions are not that complex. The main customer of the Department of Corrections is the County Prosecutors who send the prisoners and, the prisoners themselves. Reducing the number of prisoners is an attainable goal. And to accomplish this, you have to look at each one of the prisoners on a case by case basis.

The main requirement is to remove the non-violent, low level, mentally ill, and the seriously ill from the Corrections process. Currently %82 costs are related to maintaining food, clothing and shelter for each of these inmates. These functions truly belong in the Department of Community Health because mental illness is a disease that needs treatment. Too often our Jails are used to house people who are mentally ill where in all reality these people need to be in supervised medical treatment facilities. The closing of Mental Hospitals was a mistake because when these facilities were open, the crime rate went down. Some of the people committing crime are true mental patients who do not need to be in the general population without medical intervention. State supplied medicine is cheaper and more cost effective than housing a prisoner in the Dept of Corrections system.

The second criterion that I would use is to remove all low level drug offenders from the system. Crimes like Marijuana possession and Possession with intent to deliver (a big charge to keep a person in jail) would be reviewed and the prisoner purged from the Correction's system. I would also push for this at the county level because most of the arrests are made by County and Local Police agencies. County Prosecutors would be given broad leeway and encouraged to plead these cases to low misdemeanors or civil infractions. Other alternative measures such as community service jobs such as cleaning bathrooms at State Parks and teaching at public schools as a sub-teacher.

A prisoner would be given a time adjustment for teaching subjects such as Math and Science count for a paid lunch at $15.00 per day. Otherwise 500 hours of community service is much cheaper than keeping these people in jail at $25,000 per year. Additionally, with the adoption of Proposal 1 allowing the sick and dying to receive Medical Marijuana under a doctor's prescription will further reduce the burden on the State of Michigan

These changes in the Department of Corrections would save the taxpayers $250 million dollars a year in prison costs to the taxpayers. We could move the cost savings to Dept of Community Health for proper treatment of mental health patients and still have a surplus.

The Friends of Cushingberry celebrating friendship and support of the cause.

Michigan Democrats Celebrate a Democratic Landslide

Click on the title to see the highlights of all the action as we celebrate the win of President-Elect Barack Obama

The wrongs of Predatory Loans, recognition of the true problem, a prescription to cure the foreclosure crisis and restore homes in America.

As I was visiting New Prospect Baptist Church in Northwest Detroit one Sunday morning, I ran into and talked with my Pasteur School Classmate Dwight Jones a friend of mine from “the old neighborhood”. We both grew up together in the neighborhood just 3 blocks south of 8 mile road and one block west of Livernois.

Dwight is a respected member of the community and currently serves his as an usher and Deacon at the church. Mr. Jones is a proud alumnus of Pasteur Elementary School just like me and we love the City. Brother Jones shared the same concerns that I had about the housing situation so much that he just blurted out. “Hey Cush, how did this foreclosure mess really get started and, what can we do about it to make it right?

Dr. Cush pondered a few seconds and started to break it down to him on how it happened. Basically we homeowners were sacrificed for investors and speculators on Wall Street and throughout the world. The way that they did it was through a process called Securities Derivatives. I explained to my good friend Dwight that a derivative is similar to a bet on a horse, these investors were betting that with the adjustable rate mortgages we could buy a debt for $10,000 and plan to make $4,000 from and to sell pieces of mortgages in an unprecedented way.

But how does that work? Dwight asked.

Here's how it works Brother Dwight. Let’s take the example of a homeowner on Santa Rosa St in Detroit purchasing a house with an adjustable rate mortgage for $100,000 from a lender. The lender sells the mortgage to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac after the closing 3 weeks later for $150,000. A mortgage at 8% over 30 years at about $650 per month will yield approximately $350,000 in total payments.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac then sells the mortgage to Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, etc who creates the SECURITY a derivative which they sell to investors in bundles as a note or bonds. The insurance company (A.I.G.) guaranteed through insurance, as they do with mortgage insurance the derivative.


They sell pieces of the mortgage to investors. The investors are told that the mortgages are backed by insurance companies like (A.I.G.) and that their money is safe. Furthermore, the debt is backed by the homeowner’s property. Bear Stearns or Goldman takes the mortgage to 10 investors, each of them purchasing a piece of the $150,000 mortgage or $15,000 per person, hoping to make $10,000 or higher on the debt. These derivatives equal nearly $516 trillion dollars.

Some of the investors sell their piece of the debt to others who turn around and sell it again and again. This process is called securitization and carried as high bond rating because of the insurance.

To accomplish this, the speculators are would say that in 6 months, the price of property will be at set price more that what is was on a particular date. If it gets there, the investor gets paid a profit. If not then the investor loses money.

The Oil Men in the White House already delivered the nations liquidity to their cronies and now home values have plummeted like no time since the great depression.

They were all counting on the owner of the home to make that monthly payment on time every time for 30 years. The problem starts when the adjustable rates start kicking in and the tax assessment rises. The original $500 a month payment balloons to $1500 a month after 2 years. The homeowner ends up defaulting on the mortgage and the house of cards starts to fall.

The loan is in default, the investors cannot cover their ‘bet’, and the only hard asset that is left is the house itself. The bank forecloses on the property and kicks the people out in the street. The house is priced much more that what it is worth and it sits empty in the neighborhood. The bank takes a huge loss by having to sell the house at pennies for a dollar because the bank does not want to own the home. Meanwhile the investors are screwed out of their money and everyone loses.

These same investment houses speculate other hard assets like Oil, Wheat, Corn, and anything that people use every day. They live on creating and attempting to control the supply and demand through the use of current events in the world, weather, and regulating supply to manipulate the demand price to a higher level. In other words, it is a high stakes poker game with the homeowners being used as chips.

Brother Jones said a deep prayer and asked his old friend “What do we do to fix this situation”? This is a moral disgrace and a criminal act that has been taken against the people of my world! What can we do Brother George? Dr. Cush’s thinking cap went off with bells and whistles. He rubbed his chin and said this is the way to solve this problem.

I would introduce legislation to promote housing for the homeless through the use of State of Michigan and Federal assistance programs. No family without a home to call home. This would include funding set aside for repairs and bringing the property up to code.

If a working person decides to squat in an abandoned property and starts to live there, that person shall be given squatters rights of 60 to 90 days to bring the property up to code. I would also tie this in with Job apprenticeship training in fields of plumbing, home repair, home electrician, and roofing.

Then I would place strict regulations on the process of Derivatives. I would also demand that the Comptroller of the Currency resign immediately. Then I would ask the Federal House Judiciary Committee to start an investigation into the practices of the derivatives. And I would not stop there.

I support increasing the FDIC limit to $250,000 to protect the consumers. I would also advance changes in the credit reporting act to allow local and state courts to resolve credit reporting issues and modify terms of a homeowner’s mortgage based on income and assets. Then I would demand an inventory of all property taken by State, County, and Local agencies, including the land bank authorities.

Once this is all done Brother Jones, this would with God’s help and with all of us working together, we can begin to right this rape of America. My Mom and Dad always told me the rich do well under Republicans and we will do poorly. Boy has it turned out to be true!

1st things 1st, put people in the houses, give cash credit for sweat equity and let’s tackle the Homeless Families issues first. Let the people say Amen. And both of us did just that.