M.Live reports…
Police protected lobbyist Stephen Linder as he left the Capitol building in Lansing Tuesday.
A digital billboard outside parodied the longtime Republican lobbyist as the character Dr. Evil from the “Austin Powers” movies with a message to “vote no on Linder’s monopoly bills.”
Linder, director of the Michigan Cannabis Manufacturers Association (MCMA), a trade organization comprised of some of Michigan’s largest players in the marijuana industry, is the face of a movement underway to regulate and limit grow allowances for medical marijuana caregivers.
It’s a move supporters frame as one to ensure market fairness and that patients receive product tested and tracked the same as marijuana sold in stores. Opponents claim it’s a misguided effort by “big marijuana” corporations to monopolize the market that will ultimately harm patients relying on caregivers for medicine.
The debate is usually framed in one of two ways: capitalistic greed v. altruistic compassion, or sensible regulation v. anarchy.
Linder and the MCMA are attempting to sway politicians to revise the 2008 voter-passed medical marijuana law that created caregivers, who are allowed to grow up to 12 plants each for themselves, if they are a registered medical marijuana patient, and five other registered patients, for a total possible allotment of 72 plants.
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