A cannabis congregation.

A parish of pot supporters.

Marijuana missionaries.

Approximately 50 people gathered Sunday in south Lansing for the debut of a new church: The First Cannabis Church of Logic and Reason.

The gathering was a kick-off for what organizer Jeremy Hall hopes will become monthly meetings celebrating cannabis' spiritual properties.

He chooses the word spirituality intentionally. The church has no specific ideology, no texts or prophets to speak of.

"The biggest question I get is, 'How can this be a church if we don't subscribe to a religious theology?'" he told attendees.

"Well, the reality is it sounded better than a cannabis cult."

Those sitting in the worship room laughed.

A group seeking to legalize marijuana in Michigan submitted an “insufficient” number of valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot after collecting outside of a traditional 180-day window, state elections officials said Tuesday.

In a staff report, the Bureau of Elections recommended the Board of State Canvassers reject the MI Legalize petition at its Thursday meeting.

The activist-led group last week submitted an estimated 354,000 signatures, more than the 252,523 required to make the ballot, but the bureau said only 146,413 were collected within 180 days of the filing. State law, updated Tuesday to tighten that window, had treated older signatures as “stale and void.”

Last week, state legislators put Illinois on track to become the 21st state to decriminalize cannabis.

If Governor Bruce Rauner signs the bill – and he’s said he likely will – residents would no longer face up to 6 months in jail and a fine up to $1,500 or getting caught with between 2.5-10 grams of marijuana.

Instead, They’ll be ticketed between $100-$200 per offense.

But other Americans aren’t so lucky. Some states impose hefty fines for small amounts of cannabis – even for personal use. Here are the 5 harshest state lawscurrently on the books for simple cannabis possession (based on data from NORML.)

Marijuana legalization has been growing like a weed for the past two decades, but 2016 could prove to be its most monumental year yet. Although marijuana has gained 24 state approvals for medicinal use, and four states have legalized its recreational use, we could see up to 12 separate approvals for the currently illicit drug in November.

This expansion is especially important because current President Barack Obama has suggested that the best way to get the attention of Congress is to continue legalizing the drug at the state level. Doing so would eventually force lawmakers to reconsider the federal government's current Schedule 1 stance on the drug.

LANSING, Mich. —

A group trying to legalize marijuana in Michigan says it has submitted about 354,000 valid signatures to the state just before the deadline.

Whether the state considers that many signatures submitted Wednesday as valid remains unclear: A bill presented to Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday would stop such groups from counting signatures older than 180 days.

Current law allows them to count older signatures toward the roughly 253,000 they need to put the measure before voters. However, neither Snyder's office nor the Secretary of State's office would say whether the bill before Snyder would apply to the marijuana advocacy group.

Detroit's crackdown on marijuana storefront shops could lead to about 150 fewer shops than existed in the city at the height of the industry, Mayor Mike Duggan said.

Teams of city inspectors and police officers have begun visiting stores to enforce Detroit's new medical marijuana ordinances, which took effect March 1.

"There is room in this town for probably 50 or 60 medical marijuana dispensaries spaced legitimately, and they have to be in industrial or high commercial areas," Duggan said in an interview. "They can't be in residential areas."

Medical marijuana dispensaries in Michigan have operated in a grey area for quite some time now. Michigan’s medical marijuana law does not specify whether dispensaries are allowable or not. Michigan caregivers are allowed to help out other patients, which is usually the provision that dispensaries operate on. Michigan dispensaries have been under attack due to the lack of statewide regulations. The Michigan Appeals Court ruled against medical marijuana dispensaries recently, dealing a blow to the growing dispensary population in Michigan. Per Marijuana Business Daily:

“Gardening is one of the single biggest acts of protest for consumerism.” – Dragonfly Earth Medicine

As the marijuana movement gains momentum nationwide, more stories in the media are drawing attention to the fact that our precious greens are in reality, not so green.

Dragonfly Earth Medicine (DEM) is here to set the standard for sustainability with their Pure Certification, and the standard is being set sky-high.

A new chart from the Marijuana Business Daily show that America's four states with legal, recreational marijuana markets are going to have some company this fall - especially if the poll numbers in three key states hold up.

In July of 2014, the St. Clair County Drug Task Force (DTF) raided the home and business of Annette and Dale Shattuck, a couple who owned a medical marijuana dispensary in Kimball, Michigan.

The Shattucks were at their dispensary, DNA Wellness Center, when DTF agents arrested them, the Washington Post reported. Meanwhile, their four young children were playing at home under the supervision of their grandmother.