State officials to re-appear before House Oversight Committee to answer questions regarding the Medical Marijuana Program on 4/15/2010

The Friends of Cushingberry
March 30, 2010



On April 15, 2010, administrators from the Departments of State Police, Information Technology, and Community Health will be testifying before an Intergovernmental and Oversight committee of the House of Representatives at the State Capitol in Lansing MI. They will be compelled to answer questions, complaints, and concerns regarding participation in the Michigan Medical Marijuana Program. One of the major issues is that patients are being arrested by City, County, and State police officers and their medicine confiscated. Law enforcement officials are confused on the issue of a person’s status in the program based on a Xerox copy of an application. This document can be easily forged and is very impractical because of its size.


What happens next is beyond belief and an embarrassment to the citizens of the State. When a person is arrested, the arresting agency has to call between the hours of 8am to 5pm Monday through Friday. A good example of this is if you arrested at 5:01PM on a Friday, you have to wait until Monday morning until you are “verified” with a phone call as a valid participant in the program. Your weekend is all screwed up and any plans that you had that week are forever changed.


The law specifically states that after 20 days a person’s application is deemed valid if there are no anomalies and paperwork is properly filed. The wait up to 120 days for a card is basically un-acceptable and must be dealt with immediately. Currently some local law enforcement agencies have the ability retrieve information in their squad cars about the driver such as: warrants, status in the 7411 diversion program, and the lien holder of the car.


David Newman legislative liaison of the Department of Information Technology will answer to the committee regarding improving this current debacle in the bureaucracy. According to Mr. Newman no request for help was ever received from the Department of Community Health. He also admitted that the Department of Community Health has only one printer for the cards. When he was asked why is that printer not running 24/7 there was no answer.


The issue of privatization of the process will be addressed at this hearing. The State of Michigan’s Information Technology Department is a hodge-podge collection of contractors and consultants that the taxpayers support. These contracts are necessary because the agency’s employees do not have the time, money or ability to do the job.

Scofes Consulting Inc. has a program that can be quickly implemented to relieve the backlog in processing. The owner Stephen G. Scofes has stated that this program is already being used in California and, can be implemented in Michigan. The ultimate goal is to process the cards as fast as or faster than the Secretary of State, the gold standard in information processing for a government agency. Given the urgency of the situation it appears that Scofes has the answer to the problem. His company may qualify for a no-bid contract if they can perform the following tasks in a timely manner.


The bid will be based on the following parameters:
1. Registration of patients and caregivers via a secure web page to MDCH.
2. The processing of cards within the 20 day period including renewals.


The Department of Information Technology and Scofes will be asked to demonstrate how this proposed system will be implemented and maintained. If Mr. Scofes can demonstrate that his company can implement the system by April 20, 2010 @ 4:20AM, he will have earned the honor of being awarded a contract to perform that service for 2 years from the date of acceptance. If the demonstration shows that these participants can’t do the job, the process will be put out to a bid for the general public. When this bid is let out, there will be a required demonstration before a panel of committee members, department officials, and private citizens who have a vested interest in the process.


MDCH officials will answer to the committee regarding the status of the review board(PA 368 of the Public Health Code of 1978). According to the law there is a requirement for a 15 member board to review requests for additional qualifying conditions. As of March 30, 2010 there have been NO members selected and NO meetings scheduled.




Some of the questions the committee will ask are:
1.What is the delay in appointing this board(SOAHR Adm Rule 333.131)
2.What is the department doing to address the appointment of members to this board?
3.The benefit of allowing a private company to manage the Medical Marijuana Information System?
4.How can the MMJ program assist in sharing information with local law enforcement regarding a patient’s status in the program?
5.What is the cost savings to the taxpayers by storing additional information on the microchip of the enhanced driver’s license from the Secretary of State? Printing ONE card instead of two.


These questions and others from the committee and the public will be asked to these agencies. If you have additional questions that you want asked by the committee please leave it as a comment to this article. These questions will be compiled by Rep. Cushingberrys staff for review by the committee. If there are duplicate questions, they will be combined to address the main idea being expressed by the commenter.


Rep. Cushingberry appreciates the input from the following organizations: Americans for Safe Access(ASA), Michigan Medical Marijuana Educational and Defense Organization(3MED), Michigan Medical Marijuana Association(3MA), Michigan Chapter of the National Association for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (MI-NORML). Also appreciated is the Michigan Departments of Community Health, and Information Technology to improve the system for Michigan citizens. The ending result will be a system that will address the needs and wants of its customers. Government can work for the benefit of the people when the citizens provide positive and rational input to be reviewed, analyze, and implemented to the satisfaction of all sides of the issue.

Rep. Cushingberry sponsors House Bill 5976 to rescue the City of Detroit's pension system.

The Friends of George Cushingberry Jr.
March 27, 2010





House Bill 5976 is known as the distressed municipal pension system act. This legislation will protect employee’s pensions by allowing pension managers to apply to the State of Michigan for assistance if the transaction goes into a negative status. When this situation comes into effect, a financial management team from State of Michigan would monitor the loan until paid off. This bill would be the Donald Trump moment for the current pension board whose performance in office is a total disgrace to all principles of Managerial Accounting methods and procedures. The current members would be replaced and a new management team would take over.

The City of Detroit Employees pension system is currently being supported by credit default swaps, a financing shell game that was implemented during the Kilpatrick administration. Credit default swaps are transactions that are similar to a bet at Motor City Casino or your favorite team. If your $100.00 investment makes %10 you gain $10.00 dollars for a total of $110.00 dollars. If the investment loses %10 you lost $10.00 and now have $90.00. You get the drift now and, given the current status of the financial industry, the pension fund for the city is exposed to greater financial harm.

The damage that credit default swaps create is evident when you walk down any street in the City of Detroit these days. In last ten years empty buildings and homes are the new face of the neighborhood. The rapid urban decay of the city is due to the abuse and criminal behavior of financial managers and government co-operation at the highest level of previous administrations at Federal and local levels.


According to information provided by the Detroit Free Press under the Freedom of Information Act, the current pension board lacked the oversight and investigation from neutral parties such as the Auditor General and other government agencies. There is currently a severe lack of transparency in the system at the moment.

Does the city have an additional $350,000 to support the current system from the property tax base to eliminate this credit default swap status?


Like the great stateswoman Wanda Sykes would say if she was sitting in Baker’s Keyboard Lounge one night “I want a receipt”. This bill if it became law would allow a citizen to generate that receipt by accessing the city website. That receipt would be generated in real time and displayed on your blackberry, cell phone and the screens of local radio station talk show hosts. Radio personalities like Mildred Gaddis (WCHB 1200 AM) and Frankie Darcell (WMXD 92.3 FM) would have access to the same information in real time.


As for the soon to be former employees of the board, when one door of opportunity closes, another one will open up or, will close behind them for a few years. They may possibly join the line of incarcerated city officials like Alonzo Bates, and Kwame Kilpatrick. However all hope is not lost because like Michael Vick and Martha Stewart, they will prosper after they serve their time.

Mayor Bing and his financial advisors feel that this legislation would serve as a life vest for the system protecting current and retired City employees from further financial damage and bureaucratic mismanagement. Deputy Mayor Saul Green has reviewed the current situation from a legal perspective. The “City has few choices and this is the best option to take for the financial safety and integrity of the fund”. If Mr. Green was in his old job as a federal prosecutor, some of these people would be in jail already. The bill is in line with the Obama administration’s policy to put more transparency in government by promoting the use of technology in all accounting matters.

If you would like to give us comment on this legislation feel free to use our blog. These comments are compiled and reviewed by Rep. Cushingberry’s staff.

Contact Information:
State Rep. George Cushingberry Jr.


Email: gcushingberry@house.mi.gov

House Committee issues a notice to appear to the leadership of the Michigan Department of Community Health and Information Technology.

The Friends of George Cushingberry Jr.
March 22, 2010


The departments of Information Technology and Community Health were issued notices to appear before the House Intergovernmental and Oversight committee by March 25, 2010 to address the concerns of the citizens regarding the Michigan Medical Marijuana Program.

TFOC Blogger Richard Clement appeared with members of Americans for Safe Access, Michigan Medical Marijuana Educational and Defense Organization (3MED) , Michigan Medical Marijuana Association (3MA), and Michigan Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (MI-NORML) to testify before the House Appropriations Intergovernmental and Oversight committee regarding the Michigan Medical Marijuana program on March 18, 2010. Representatives from the Medical Marijuana community testified on the behalf of the newly enacted law.

One of most glaring concerns is that the law enforcement community is currently arresting legal patients with their paperwork. A police officer views the paperwork as a forged document because of the verification process is all by hand. As of March 18, 2010 the program has a 120 day backlog in the processing of a person’s application. For example, if you got arrested on Friday after 5:00pm, you would have to wait in jail until Monday morning until your paperwork got verified by the Department.

After the meeting, there were comments from the public regarding penalizing the department by fining them $1.00 a day per application that has not been processed within the 20 day time limit. This is an abomination in the face of the 21st century given the technology equipment that is currently available. We cannot let this happen because the state is already broke.


In a follow-up session with other cannabis colleagues, we wanted to ask this question:

Can the State of Michigan provide the means for authorized doctors to prescribe and recommend Medical Marijuana applications via a secure webpage by April 20th, 2010 @ 4:20AM?

Officials from the Department of Community Health and Information Technology will be on hand to answer this and other questions from the public before the House Appropriations Intergovernmental and Oversight Committee next meeting.

I received a call from one of Rep. Cushingberry’s staff members by the name of Cleo Wiley. She asked me the following questions:

Ms. Wiley: Richard, how is this going to work?

Richard: Currently doctors and pharmacies are allowed to fill prescriptions by phone, fax, email, and online. At the State of Michigan, doctor’s information is currently kept at the Department of Labor and Economic Growth along with drivers’ license information. The IRS has figured out the situation by allowing for the e-filing of returns and that has worked reasonably well.

By allowing doctors to enter the information at the point of action (in the office) the time spent on verifying applications would be reduced and, the 120 day backlog would be eliminated. Doctors already have a unique identification number and this would just be a matter of cross referencing information with various departments to verify an application. Currently the employees of MDCH are calling doctors by phone to verify their information. This is very impractical and inefficient given the number of applications received per day. As of March 2010, it has exceeded 80 per day.

Ms. Wiley: Why April 20, 2010 at 4:20AM?

Richard: This day is recognized as International Marijuana Appreciation Day and we have the talent in Michigan to get the job done by this date. The State of Michigan spends a massive amount of money on Information Technology products and with a $50,000 investment in resources; the returned revenue to support the program would be tripled. We would start with 20 authorized doctors’ statewide and look to expand fairly quickly to any medical professional authorized to practice in Michigan by May 1st.

The law was well written by some very intelligent lawyers and with added assistance from technology professionals, the program will be in compliance with the law.

Ms. Wiley: Thank you Mr. Clement for coming to the hearing.


Rep. Cushingberry is still taking questions via this blog from the public and encourages you to contact him with more suggestions to improve the program. Your comments will be compiled and reviewed by the committee for action. Your input is highly regarded by his staff and we encourage you to contact YOUR personal State legislator for your address.


Contact Information:
State Rep. George Cushingberry Jr.
S0687 House Office Building

Mailing Address
P.O. Box 30014
Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Phone: (517) 373-2276
Fax: (517) 373-7186
Toll-Free (888) 347-8008

Email: gcushingberry@house.mi.gov

Rep. Cushingberry will be taking comments regading the status of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Program 3/18/2010

Press Release from the Friends of Cushingberry.
March 17, 2010


Representative Cushingberry will be taking comments and suggestions to improve the Michigan Medical Marijuana Program at a hearing of the Appropriations: Investigations, Intergovernmental Affairs and Oversight Committee on March 18th at 10AM in room 352, House Appropriations on the 3rd floor of the Capitol Building.

(Click Here for Committee Page Dates and Times)

Written comment is preferred and, if you would like to submit your concerns please contact Rep. Cushingberry and your own State Representative at www.michigan.gov

If you would like to leave a comment on this page, please do so as the information will be compiled and noted for the record. The long time delay in processing applications is un-acceptable and will be improved for the good of the people. The chairman will want to know the status of the 15 member board that is responsible for reviewing additional medical conditions. Who are the members and, when is the first meeting date are questions that will be answered and addressed by MDCH/MMP represenatives.

Driving Directions to State Capitol in Lansing MI

Rep. Cushingberry sponsors legislation allowing reduced time credits for good behavior and, segregating young offenders in Corrections Dept.

Press Release From
The Friends of State Rep. George Cushingberry Jr.

Date: Wednesday, 2/24/2010
Time: 10:30AM
Location: 521 House Office Building, Lansing, MI 48933
Event: Judiciary Committee Meeting
Clerk Phone Number 517-373-7256



House Bills 4497, 4498, and 4499
Credit for good behavior time and segregating youthful offenders at the Department of Corrections.


Representative Cushingberry has sponsored 3 house bills designed to reduce the $2 billion dollar a year Department of Corrections budget by removing non violent offenders out of the system who show remorse, forgiveness, and a willingness to change their destructive ways. It will also remove and segregate youthful offenders into separate facilities, removing them from the general adult population. In order to accomplish this Mr. Cushingberry is asking the Department of Corrections to produce the following information in a summary report for the time period from 2000-2009.

1. The total number and percentage of offenders that never return to the system after serving their sentence. This number will be subdivided into the categories of age in 10 year increments, race, and sex.
a. A prisoner who completes their time on parole
b. A prisoner who completes their time who is not offered parole.
2. The number and percentage of all offenders in the system that are under mental health treatment. This information will be sub divided by the following categories:
a. Offender status (incarcerated, parole, etc)
b. Age grouped in 10 year increments, race, sex,
c. By type of medicine
3. For steps #1 and #2 summary information shall be grouped by year.

HB 4497 will remove young offenders from the general population of adult prisoners who will totally abuse the youthful offenders. On a case by case basis each prisoner is reviewed for possible sentence reduction based on monitored behaviors and remorse for their crime (HB4498). If they violate this then they will be quickly returned to the system with increased penalties. (HB 4499)

For too long the Department of Corrections and law enforcement personnel have been used as surrogate employees for mental health treatment. The jails have been used to house some these people who are truly in need of help. The local police and fire resources are used to pick up these people and clog the judicial system. To correct these imbalance resources can be shifted from corrections to mental health treatment facilities in a joint partnership agreement.

We want to identify and separate an individual between being a criminal or, a person in need of continued mental health treatment.

These bills are all “tied together” meaning that they all dependent upon each other to be approved to become law.

A brief summary of each bill is listed below. A full text reading can be viewed by clicking on the bill number:

HB4497 Establishes a youth correctional facility which shall house only prisoners committed to the jurisdiction of the department who are 19 years of age or less.

HB4498 A record of all major misconduct charges for which a prisoner has been found guilty shall be maintained and given to the parole board as part of the parole eligibility report. This record will allow parole board members apply time reduction for good behavior and redemption while in the Corrections System.

HB4499 If a person has been convicted of any combination of 3 or more felonies or attempts to commit felonies, whether the convictions occurred in this state or would have been for felonies or attempts to commit felonies in this state if obtained in this state, and that person commits a subsequent felony within this state, the person shall be punished upon conviction of the subsequent felony and sentencing under section 13 of this chapter

Our friend George is inviting all interested citizens and organizations to appear in person, send an e-mail, or call your State Representative(click here to find your state rep) to show support for these bills. When sending an e-mail please place the house bill number(s) in the subject. (Ex. Subject: HB 44XX Support/Oppose)

Oral and written testimony will be heard and documented for the record. If you cannot attend in person, please include your name, organization, and other contact information in your correspondence.


State Rep. George Cushingberry Jr.
S0687 House Office Building

Mailing Address
P.O. Box 30014
Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Phone: (517) 373-2276
Fax: (517) 373-7186
Toll-Free (888) 347-8008
Email: gcushingberry@house.mi.gov

Honoring Past and Present Jazz Legends at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge. Tuesday Feb. 16th, 2010 - Detroit MI

By The Friends of George Cushingberry Jr.
Tuesday February 16th, 2010


Baker’s Keyboard Lounge is a jazz club in the City of Detroit with a very large part in the rise and development of many music and entertainment professionals. While the front line and big name acts did well, another group of musicians that played in the background and, to others who grew up in the City, this club served as a place to perfect their skills for the big stage. Big name acts like Sonny Sitt, Les McCann, Kenny Burrell, Earl Klugh, John Coltrane and others frequently played at the club.

Comedian Redd Foxx and others frequently did shows there and walked across the street to the Kroger’s supermarket (which is now a US Post Office) to get something to cook. The “trickle down effect” was in the form of the sons, daughters and friends of this industry who did well. Guitarists such as Edward “T-Money” Green, Randy Jacobs, Saxaphonist Kerry Campbell and others continue to play their instruments with the professionalism of the artistry of the forefathers and foremothers that we all grew up around and went to high school with. A complete roster of the legendary artists who performed at Baker’s Keyboard can be viewed by clicking here.

Some of us youth who grew up in the neighborhood could only look at the marquee and imagine who was playing in there at the time. We were too young to go inside and only relied on play by play descriptions of the action from some of our older brothers and sisters.

While the neighborhood has changed around it, the club remains a mainstay in the community and to honor one of the most successful businesses in Detroit, our friend George will be hosting a Black History event on Tuesday February 16, 2010 @ 6PM at the club. This event will honor the origins of Detroit’s indigenous music and will honor Jazz supporters and musicians. We will start with honoring the ones who have transitioned on like Teddy Harris and the legendary public radio broadcaster Ed Love, all the way to US. Rep John Conyers who is an accomplished musician and big jazz supporter.


We will honor the current owner John Colbert with a special award for being faithful to the City and the neighborhood. Marcus Belgrave Professor of Music at Oberlin College will be another honoree along with legendary Saxophonist James Carter and Dwight Adams.





The featured artists for the evening will be Marian Hayden along with Rodney Whitaker Professor and Chair of Michigan State University Jazz Department.

Gaymond Ensley will kick off the evening starting at 6pm with students from the following educational intuitions, Wayne State University, Marygrove College, and Detroit Cass Technical High School.

Minimum donation requested-$20, Sponsors-$40, Gold Sponsor-$400, Platinum-$4000.

Proceeds will go to the Northwest Detroit Leadership Fund to support scholarships for school expenses.

For More Information contact:

Griffin Rivers (517)974 1863
Sabrina Lewis (517)230-9101
Roscoe Thomas (313)273-3522

(Driving Directions to Bakers via Google Maps 20510 Livernois 48221)

Sponsored by Our Man In Lansing
Co-Sponsors: Mi Hospital Association, NW Detroit Leadership, Michigan NORML

Take Action Now! - Stop Senators Kuipers and Cropsey from gutting the Michigan Medical Marijuana Law for personal gain.

We at The Friends of Cushingberry would like you to contact your State of Michigan Senator regarding amending Senate Bills 616, 617, 618 to allow for dispensaries, removing marijuana as a condition for employment and, rescheduling Marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug.



The hearing will be held on Tuesday January 19th in Lansing Michigan at 1:00pm Farnum Building, 125 W. Allegan Street, Lansing, MI 48933.

These three bills written in their current form will gut the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act to benefit a few who want to privatize the Marijuana industry for their own personal gain at the expense of the people’s vote. Given the number of speakers that are scheduled to appear in person, written comments in electronic form are your best method of communication. Please place an address on your letter or e-mail to let the Senator know that you are a registered voter in their district. Commentary on these bills will be accepted after the January 19th, 2010 date.

If these bills were to become law without these changes, it would mandate that you would only go to State of Michigan growing operations to purchase your medicine. There would only be 10 of them in the State and owned by interests that are friendly to Senator Wayne Kuipers and a few select pharmaceutical companies in Michigan. The State police and Department of Community Health would have total control over all aspects of the program and given the 90 day backlog in applications, this would double the waiting time for your card. We would quickly return to overloading the judicial system with Marijuana related cases. Their actions will increase the un-controlled $2 billion dollar budget in the Department of Corrections instead of appropriating a $500,000 investment in Information Technology and employees at the Department of Community Health Medical Marijuana Program to process cards much faster.

Michigan State Senators Wayne Kuipers (R-Holland) and State Senator Alan Cropsey (R-DeWitt) have no respect for the voters of the State of Michigan who approved Medical Marijuana by %63 percent of the vote and have actively worked to undermine the law for their own personal gain. Their actions must not succeed and they need to be reprimanded by the voters who hired them. Their actions along with the actions taken by City and Township leaders in Saginaw to “zone out” residents by enacting un-enforceable local zoning laws is a deliberate slap in the face to the voters of the State of Michigan for the selfish beliefs of a few individuals.

If you need to find out who your State Senator is please visit their website at www.senate.michigan.gov and use the link to find your Senator by voting street address. Your silence is not golden at this time so please email and call your State Senator to let them hear from you on this matter.