Pubdate: Tue, 4 Mar 2008
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright: 2008 Detroit Free Press
Contact:  http://www.freep.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/125
Author: Dawson Bell, Free Press Staff Writer
Cited: The Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care 
http://stoparrestingpatients.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+Coalition+for+Compassionate+Care
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

MEDICAL POT PROPOSAL ON ITS WAY TO MICHIGAN'S BALLOT

Michiganders with chronic or debilitating diseases would be able to 
possess and use marijuana legally under a proposal on its way to 
state voters in November.

A state elections panel Monday certified petitions with 377,975 
signatures backing the plan, well more than the 304,000 minimum 
needed to put the initiative before voters if the Legislature fails 
to act on it within the next 40 days.

Spokespeople for House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, and 
Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, said Monday 
afternoon that legislative action is unlikely.

"We will be letting the voters decide this one," said Greg Bird, an 
aide to Dillon and House Democrats.

Dianne Byrum, a former lawmaker and spokeswoman for the Michigan 
Coalition for Compassionate Care, the group that circulated the 
petitions, said she has no expectation the Legislature will take up 
the medical marijuana issue.

The initiative would amend Michigan law to allow seriously ill 
patients to obtain a doctor's authorization to cultivate up to 12 
marijuana plants and possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana.

Lynn Allen, a 51-year-old Williamston resident who contracted HIV and 
hepatitis C from contaminated blood when he was being treated for 
hemophilia, said he would like to have the option of using marijuana 
as an alternative to the prescription drugs he takes, among them OxyContin.

"I think marijuana would help with the pain," said Allen, who has 
arthritis and frequently uses a wheelchair. "Right now, I'm forced to 
take an opiate. Marijuana is a much more benign kind of drug."

The movement to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes 
has spread widely in the last decade. A dozen states permit it under 
some circumstances.

The practice has been most controversial in California, where voters 
authorized the sale of small amounts of marijuana at licensed co-ops. 
Those operations have been targeted by U.S. law enforcement agencies 
under federal law. Byrum said the proposed Michigan statute is silent 
on the question of where the marijuana would come from, and does not 
authorize sales.

"We're just trying to protect the patient from prosecution," she said.

The Michigan Coalition is backed by the national organization 
Marijuana Policy Project. It provided nearly all of the $1.1 million 
used to organize the campaign and collect petition signatures. Byrum 
said she expects the fall campaign to rely more heavily on Michigan 
resources, but no budget has been set.

Traditionally, opposition to medical marijuana has come from law 
enforcement, especially national drug enforcement agencies. So far, 
no organized opposition to the Michigan campaign for medical 
marijuana has surfaced. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake