Thor Benson / Cannabis News Box Contributor

It’s looking like Michigan is ready to legalize social use cannabis, as a proposal to do so currently has the support of over 57 percent of its residents. The election is near, and it appears opposition groups are trying anything they can to stop this proposal from passing.

One group, called Healthy and Productive Michigan, is currently trying to stoke fear in residents by claiming potency of cannabis edibles won’t be regulated if the proposal passes. That is false.

“Prop. 1 requires the state’s governing body (Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, a.k.a. The department) to establish potency limits on cannabis-infused products,” Rick Thompson, board member of NORML’s Michigan branch and publisher of the Michigan Cannabis Industries Report, told Cannabis News Box. “The claims being made about cannabis candies and such are absolutely false.”

Thompson said campaigns that are this far behind in the polls tend to spread misinformation, and that’s what’s happening here. He said Healthy and Productive Michigan has not been able to affect poll numbers very much since it began campaigning.

“There has been no appreciable shift in the polls based on their efforts, and the undecided voters are less than 5% in most polls,” Thompson said. “This is Michigan’s third time trying to legalize cannabis for adult use, and the citizenry has had ten years of a successful medical marijuana program. The myths are dispelled. There really are very few people who can have their position swayed on this issue any more.”

Thompson described a “wave of hysteria” that groups like this have started, and he said much of what they’ve been saying echoes the decades-long War on Drugs and myths that have been created since states started to legalize. He cited workers being high on the job, traffic safety concerns and adolescents using cannabis as myths that have been spread.

“Prop. 1 is not anticipated to encourage waves and droves of new cannabis consumers, it will primarily serve to bring existing cannabis transactions out of the black market and into a regulated and safe environment,” Thompson said. “Prop. 1 will not change the character of our cities or corrupt our youth because cannabis has already shaped our character and our community.”

Thompson said groups like this are being funded by the notorious nationwide anti-legalization group Project SAM, which has opposed legalization efforts in many states. It looks like those efforts aren’t showing much success. Perhaps it’s too late for groups like this to stop the momentum legalization advocates have created.