Talking about marijuana at a family restaurant

This April 20 is a good time to consider just how much perceptions of cannabis have changed in the last 50 years. At no time since they started polling the people about the subject have views been so favorable about marijuana. According to NORML, eight out of 10 Americans support legal medical marijuana. Recent nationwide polls show 53 percent of Americans in favor of general legalization. Even here in Michigan, 50 percent of voters favor recreational legalization with possession by those 21 and older and legal sales in stores. Clearly, it's not just the Birkenstock and hacky-sack set that has given yesteryear's Reefer Madness hysteria the old heave-ho.

And is there better evidence than one of Michigan's best-known marijuana policy programs being podcast live from a family bar and grill? That's what's happening this Thursday, at O'Mara's Family restaurant, with the live podcast of Planet Green Trees.

For almost five years and 200-plus episodes, the weekly Planet Green Trees podcast has drawn an interested audience of listeners online. For this special evening, in front of an atypically typical audience, instead of delving into the intricacies of law and policy, as the show usually does, attendees can expect more of a “Medical Marijuana 101” format, hosted by Michael Komorn, a leading medical marijuana attorney in Southfield and the president of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, Jamie Lowell, blogger and co-founder of Ypsilanti’s 3rd Coast Compassion Center, and Rick Thompson, head blogger at the Compassion Chronicles. 

The event starts at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 23, at 2555 12 Mile Rd., Berkley; 248-399-6750; omaras.net; free admission.

Can’t make it? Listen to the podcast at blogtalkradio.com/planetgreentrees.