Recreational marijuana use may be on the way to Saginaw

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SAGINAW — Marijuana supporters say they are collecting signatures for a vote in 12 Michigan cities including Saginaw, Lapeer and Mount Pleasant. In Saginaw, people say they are ready to put pen to paper. But law enforcement officials say there’s still a lot of gray area.

“If other cities in Michigan got it, shoot, we can get it here,” said Saginaw resident Jay Wren.

Wren says Saginaw is ready to join the ranks of other Michigan cities like Detroit and Grand Rapids that have already decriminalized marijuana.

“If they legalize it here and people see, money will start flowing into here,” said Wren.

Marijuana supporters from the Safer Michigan Coalition say they are collecting signatures, in order to allow voters to decide on marijuana decriminalization in Saginaw.

“It’s possible it’s better than other drugs I would rather see people smoking weed,” said Saginaw resident Travis Smith.

Decriminalization would adults 21 and older to legally possess an ounce of marijuana; however, Saginaw law enforcement says it would be treated as any other controlled substance.

“So they are taking a legal substance just like alcohol but they are taking it and then operating machinery or vehicles and they are not supposed to,” said Saginaw County Sheriff William Federspiel.

Sheriff Federerspiel says his department would need to look into measuring how high someone is behind the wheel, before pot is decriminalized in Saginaw.

“You could seriously injure or kill someone,” said Federspiel.

Collecting petition signatures will take time, but people in Saginaw say the support is there.

“It’s the truth they should legalize it. It will be better for the economy,” said Wren.

If the decriminalization is put onto Saginaw’s ballot. It would need a majority vote to pass.

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Recreational marijuana use may be on the way to Saginaw