Pubdate: Mon, 25 May 2009
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright: 2009 Detroit Free Press
Contact:  http://www.freep.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/125
Author: Megha Satyanarayana, Free Press Staff Writer
Referenced: Initiated Law 1 of 2008 http://micares.org/
Referenced: Michigan Medical Marihuana Program 
http://www.michigan.gov/mdch/0,1607,7-132-27417_51869---,00.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+Medical+Marijuana
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

MEDICAL POT USERS NEED MORE THAN DOCTOR'S NOTE

They Must Wait for State-Issued Cards

Almost 2,000 people have applied to use and grow medical marijuana in 
Michigan, and roughly half fall in a legal black hole where they have 
letters recommending its use but not the state-issued cards that make it legal.

Of the applications, about 700 have not yet been processed and 260 
have been rejected, according to the Michigan Department of Community 
Health. Some people who have cards now face legal questions because 
the state took months to launch its ID program after the law went into effect.

"There hasn't been quite the degree of confusion as in the Michigan 
program," Dan Bernath, a spokesman for the Washington-based Marijuana 
Policy Project, said about the other states the group has guided in 
starting medical marijuana programs.

Medical marijuana advocates maintain a doctor's letter is sufficient 
to prevent prosecution for small amounts of marijuana, but state 
health officials disagree.

"You needed to wait until the program was established," said James 
McCurtis, spokesman for the MDCH.

In the courts, the law is being tested by Bob Redden, 59, and Torey 
Clark, 47, of Madison Heights, who face a preliminary examination 
Wednesday on felony charges of manufacturing marijuana. Police took 
multiple plants during a late March raid on their home. While they 
both have cards now, the raid came before the state was issuing them. 
Their attorney is trying to get the charges thrown out because they 
had doctor's letters.

The defense could work, said David A. Moran, co-director of the 
Michigan Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan, but it's "an 
expensive, dangerous risk to take."

McCurtis said another gray area is the roughly 15 days between 
submitting an application and when the card is in hand. And while 
most of the denials thus far have been for improperly filled-out 
applications, they still represent one out of every six processed applications.

Stephanie Annis, 30, of New Hudson said many patients can't wait for 
the card. She wants one for appetite stimulation after multiple 
surgeries left the 5-foot-6 graduate student at 99 pounds and without 
much of her intestinal tract.

She's on disability, and since April has tried to gather required 
documents to qualify for a reduced fee of $25 for the card, rather 
than $100. The soonest she says she thinks she would get her card is 
late June."I would think the doctor would be the authority," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake