Dear Subscriber, From the mailbag: Why do you put those pot stories on Page 1 all the time? - Peter, Ann Arbor, MI This one doesn’t take much subjective reasoning or long-winded explanation: Marijuana – legal for recreational retail sales in Michigan as of last Sunday – is one of the biggest stories of our time. Since voters in Michigan overwhelming approved a ballot measure in November 2018 to allow the recreational use of marijuana, there has been a swell of questions about how it would work, when it would go into effect, and what it meant for the medical marijuana industry that already was established in our state. Not to mention that marijuana is an illegal substance under federal law, and that more than 600 local communities in Michigan already have moved to ban retail marijuana operations. In short, this is a huge turning point in Michigan. There are a lot of unknowns, there is a demand for answers, and there also is breaking news – and that’s where MLive journalists excel. We committed to this topic months before the ballot initiative, sending a reporter and photographer to Oregon for a series of stories in September 2018 that explained how legal, recreational marijuana was working in that state. We found that it’s a complex, difficult business model, and the jury is still out on societal effects. “We realized it was much larger than a legislative issue,” said Shannon Murphy, who oversees MLive’s Public Interest reporting team. “It would impact the entire state in some way – the business community; law enforcement; tax revenue; culture. And you could sense a turning tide as more and more people supported legalization.” We started a marijuana reporting beat. Granted, not a traditional journalistic role – but these are changing times across America. We don’t pick what’s important, we just cover it when it’s clear that something is. The person on the pot beat for us is Gus Burns, a no-nonsense reporter who has covered crime, courts and breaking news for us in Saginaw, Detroit and Ann Arbor. He’s seen a lot over the years, but this is something totally new – for citizens, and for him. “It's way broader than most beats,” he said. “While it centers on a single plant, you're really covering social issues, farming (with hemp), business, public health, government, politics and law enforcement, all in one.” Pot is polarizing, Burns realizes. And that’s why he said he takes great care in understanding and explaining the many facets of legalized pot. “If someone kills someone, most readers perceive that similarly. If you talk about someone growing pot in their basement, one person might believe it's a totally healthy activity while another thinks it's a step toward the downfall of civilization.” It’s mildly amusing to me that everything around the marijuana topic remains hazy. But we take seriously our role in clearing that fog of misperception and confusion. “People want to know how it will impact them,” said Murphy. “Can they get fired from their jobs if they use it? How much can they have? How will law enforcement police high drivers?” And though people are still lining up to buy in Ann Arbor, the first city to offer retail sales, Burns notes that many customers were reluctant to talk on the record. “The fact that police were raiding dispensaries, homes and putting people in jail or prison less than 10 years ago for involvement with marijuana seems to have had some lingering effects,” he noted. Marijuana, and lingering effects – that’s not an editorial judgment, just a call to action for our reporting team. |
| Sincerely, John Hiner Vice President of Content for MLive Media Group Share your thoughts with him at editor@mlive.com |
| | |