Flint mayoral candidate: Medical marijuana can bring green jobs

Ronald Higgerson is running as a write-in candidate in the Aug. 4 Flint mayoral race

Flint’s leading mayoral candidates, Dayne Walling and Brenda Clack, faced off in a televised debate Tuesday night, but missing from the discussion was a plan by write-in candidate Ronald Higgerson to advance Flint’s struggling economy by developing industries related to medical marijuana.

Last November, voters in the state overwhelmingly passed the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act which allows people to possess and grow marijuana if it is prescribed to them by a doctor. The law also allows patients to designate another person to grow the drug for them.

Around 2,000 people in Michigan have registered with the state as medical marijuana users.

Michigan, the 13th state to legalize medical use of marijuana, is in the early stages of organizing its program. But in California, where certified medical marijuana patients can now buy their medicine at stores or even have it delivered, medical marijuana has spurred the development of profitable businesses.

Higgerson, a 46-year-old former truck driver and uninsured Flint resident who uses marijuana to control pain from a back injury, said in an interview that he believes medical marijuana can address some of the immediate needs of people in Flint and also provide opportunities to create green jobs.

Higgerson would like to make some of the city’s many abandoned houses available to the state-licensed caregivers who grow for medical users.

“Instead of people growing in the house, I could give them a building, and security,” he said.

The Michigan Medical Marijuana Act only allows a caregiver to provide marijuana to five patients, and does not allow caregivers to sell marijuana. But patients are permitted to reimburse caregivers for their time and expenses.

This arrangement lets patients have safe access to affordable medicine and also supports a very small scale agricultural business.

In addition to helping people get affordable medicine and developing urban agriculture, supporting legal medical marijuana grow operations could reduce black market drug dealing and save on law enforcement costs, Higgerson said.

Higgerson said that as mayor he’d encourage local colleges to offer courses to support urban agriculture and medical marijuana cultivation. He’d also direct the city’s economic development office to look for grants to bring medical marijuana research to Flint.

California medical marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee said he thinks Higgerson’s plan sounds good.

Lee is the founder of Oaksterdam University which teaches people how to grow and distribute medical marijuana. He also owns several medical marijuana-related businesses clustered into a few block area in the city of Oakland near San Francisco.

While medical marijuana industry may seem far fetched to some in Michigan, it is an important part of the California economy, Lee said.

“We currently employee 40 people,” he said of his business. “We pay over half million per year in payroll and income taxes, $300,000 in sales tax plus property taxes and permit fees.”

Lee said that Oaksterdam University has scheduled a Labor Day weekend seminar in Ann Arbor where participants will learn medical marijuana cultivation, politics and business development.