“Today is a celebration of the greatest plant known to me. I’m going to smoke one right now,” the comedian tells the crowd

Comedian Tommy Chong and Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero joined thousands of weed advocates at this year’s pro-marijuana rally at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on Saturday.

Chong, 76, famous as half of the duo “Cheech and Chong,” headlined the 44th annual event.

The comedian joked he’s been to hash bashes before, though he doesn’t remember them all.

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About 20 marijuana plants sit on a table Wednesday, April 1, 2015, at Puff-n-Stuff on Grand River Avenue in Lansing. The dispensory sells plants, harvested marijuana, edibles and other products.(Photo: Dave Wasinger/Lansing State Journal)Buy Photo

LANSING – Mayor Virg Bernero's planned speech Saturday at Hash Bash in Ann Arbor is expected to get plenty of attention, but it's unclear if words will lead to any action that makes Lansing's policy on the drug easier to understand and enforce.

The city already allows limited use of marijuana beyond medicinal purposes. Bernero is expected to help drive the effort for a possible 2016 ballot initiative that would make recreational use of the drug legal in Michigan.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - The fact that there's money to be made in the marijuana business is nothing new, but the idea that it can be made legally is a novel concept.

At an undisclosed location on the city's West Side, criminal attorney Matthew Herman is looking to cash in on the growing tolerance of marijuana, legally and socially. And he plans to do it without ever growing a plant.

Herman admits that calling it the "Fort Knox for pot" may be a little over the top, but it coveys the general idea.

Like any working mom, Denise Pollicella is busy.

The Howell-area attorney, a mother of two, balances her legal cases with other duties, such as taking her daughter to dance class.

Yet for the past several years, she’s also joined efforts to draft model legislation that would revise laws governing the growth, sale and distribution of medical marijuana in Michigan.

It’s legislation she believes is long overdue.

“Seven years ago, Michigan voters overwhelmingly approved the legalization of medical marijuana, and yet the Legislature hasn’t acted,” she said.

Marijuana use is legal in Michigan for patients with a doctor’s prescription and a state certified ID card. Patients can also designate a caregiver, who also must be certified by the state.

LANSING, MI -- Michigan marijuana advocates have confirmed plans to launch a petition drive later this year and hope to put a legalization proposal on the statewide ballot in 2016.

As MLive first reported last month, the Michigan Comprehensive Cannabis Law Reform Initiative Committee is one of two marijuana-related groups eyeing the 2016 ballot.

Board members officially announced the effort on Thursday, indicating that they want to strengthen the state's medical marijuana program, create a regulated system for taxable sales to adults over 21 and facilitate industrial hemp farming.

Committee Chair Jeffrey Hank, a Lansing attorney, said the group is fine-tuning draft language before submitting petitions to the Board of State Canvassers for review.

LANSING, MI -- Landlords would be granted clear authority to ban medical marijuana use on their property under legislation approved Tuesday by the Michigan Senate.

The legislation, approved in a 34-3 vote and now headed to the House for further consideration, requires a three-quarters majority support in each chamber because it would amend Michigan's voter-approved medical marijuana law.

Sponsoring Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, said the bill would simply codify a 2011 opinion from Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, who determined that apartment owners can prohibit the smoking or growing of marijuana without violating the medical law.

(WLNS) – Lawmakers are still considering measures to define the future of medical marijuana in Michigan.

Legislation discussed in the senate Wednesday aims to eliminate some of the legal gray areas, but critics say lawmakers are focusing on the wrong issues.

Medical marijuana in the state of Michigan has a complicated track record. It was approved for medical use by voters in 2008, but dispensaries became illegal under a 2013 Supreme Court case.

Yet we still see them in Michigan cities.

“How the process works is law enforcement will take a report, they provide that report to the prosecutor’s office, and the prosecutor’s going to decide whether they’ll authorize charges,” said Matt Newburg, criminal defense attorney.