By Richard C. Clement
In
light of the recent raids on Medical Marijuana facilities in the City of Detroit this
week, we asked Detroit Police Chief James Craig how much money does the
Department make from Asset Forfeiture. The Chief responded with a chart that shows
over a 3 year period, the Department made $7.3 million dollars from taking
assets under the Civil Forfeiture programs. The breakdown is as follows:
Year
|
Federal
|
State
|
Local
|
Total
|
2012
|
$ 451,542.05
|
$ 7,394.00
|
$2,224,477.40
|
$2,683,413.45
|
2013
|
$ 410,168.87
|
$ -
|
$1,938,511.05
|
$2,348,679.92
|
2014
|
$ 348,461.79
|
$ 36,254.07
|
$1,882,748.57
|
$2,267,464.43
|
| Totals |
$1,210,172.71
|
$ 43,648.07
|
$6,045,737.02
|
$7,299,557.80
|
The figure shows that there needs to be a redirection of
assets so that Marijuana based businesses and, the policy on Civil Asset forfeiture
needs some serious re-direction of funds toward expenses like retiree pensions
and healthcare. This is a large amount
of money to make from taking someone’s money and property for Marijuana
possession and, never charging the person for the crime in a court of law.
People on the receiving end of this lose everything seized to
the agency who made the initial contact if; the person does not contest the seizure
in 10 days. After 10 days, the money or asset(s) that was taken from a home or person
during a police raid is kept by the arresting agency and sold for profit. The
raid on the facility at Puritan and Hubbell on July 14th, 2015 is a prime example of this type of
asset forfeiture abuse by law enforcement.
On Puritan there are 7 churches that are within 3000 feet of the
school. City wide, there are numerous
hair shops and churches that are across the street from each other.
This un-even enforcement of the Marijuana Laws creates an incentive
for police agencies to conduct raids as a profit center for the Department instead
of the protection of the citizens.
The only way this will stop is if you show up to vote and
elect people who want to make this type of change. You can also direct change through a ballot
initiative that will take 2000 signatures from registered voters in the City of
Detroit. Or you can force change by
signing the legalization petition hosted by www.milegalize.com
to fully decriminalize and stop the War on Weed. The
revenue from legal Marijuana sales will make more money than the Water and Sewage system maintained by the
Great Lakes Water Authority.
We have more people in new jails with no pot holes in their
walls and, at the same time we have horrible roads, declining education
opportunities and, retirees that have dwindling pension benefits. Participation
in the MI Legalize www.milegalize.com effort will address these problems. We are expecting much better out of our
elected leadership because, the War on Weed in the City of Detroit and the
State of Michigan is a complete failure and, a waste of law enforcement
resources.
Finally if the Detroit Branch and the Michigan State Conference of
the NAACP can honor Kid Rock, then they are morally obligated to support
decriminalization of Marijuana use because of the impact on the community
especially citizens of color.
