Pubdate: Sun, 28 Aug 2011
Source: Livingston County Daily Press & Argus (MI)
Copyright: 2011 Livingston Daily Press & Argus
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/Kk1qVKJf
Website: http://www.livingstondaily.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4265
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

TIME TO FIX MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

Not everyone was happy when Michigan voters overwhelmingly said that 
marijuana should be available for those who find it helpful in 
dealing with pain and other debilitating symptoms arising from 
various medical conditions.

They should be happy now.

Thanks to a vague law, a listless Legislature, aggressive police work 
and a crushing appellate court ruling, it's just about impossible for 
a person to legally obtain the marijuana that 63 percent of the state 
- -- and Livingston County -- voters said should be available to them.

In other words, if grandma's cancer-related nausea is alleviated by a 
small dose of marijuana, she better know how to grow it herself. And 
she better have a grandchild who can connect her with the local pot pusher.

The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, approved in a statewide 
referendum in 2008, has some wording problems. That's one reason why 
this newspaper did not endorse it. But, vague wording 
notwithstanding, the public clearly supported the intent.

That didn't sit well with some politicians, including Bill Schuette 
who two years later became attorney general, thanks to a Republican landslide.

It also hasn't set well with police and prosecutors. To be fair, they 
were in a bind. The possession, manufacture and sale of marijuana is 
still illegal. Without clear guidelines, they needed to enforce the 
law as they understand it. Some, however, seem to take this 
responsibility quite eagerly.

For instance, the Michigan Court of Appeals court ruled last week 
that no one -- caregivers or so-called dispensaries -- could legally 
sell marijuana to legitimate, card-holding medical marijuana users. A 
day later, two Ann Arbor medical marijuana clinics were raided by 
mask-wearing police officers who took some employees away in 
handcuffs. Police officials told AnnArbor.com that the raids were 
unrelated to the court ruling, but also declined to provide any 
details or specifics about what crime may have been committed.

Sound familiar? That's what happened south of Fowlerville this year 
when a similar LAWNET squad, some wearing masks, raided a dispensary 
that was openly providing marijuana to medical marijuana 
card-holders. It took months for court and police officials to reveal 
the justification for that raid.

Attorney General Schuette didn't try to restrain his glee. Shortly 
after last week's ruling, he essentially informed law enforcement 
officials that it was open season on medical marijuana clinics.

In a prepared statement, he called the ruling "a huge victory for 
public safety and Michigan communities struggling with an invasion of 
pot shops near their schools, homes and churches."

In an earlier guest column for this newspaper, Schuette described the 
horror created by the act. It seems that somewhere in the state, the 
holder of a medical marijuana card may have been stopped while 
driving under the influence of pot.

That just shows how hyped up this campaign has become. One place the 
act is specific is that it is illegal to drive under the influence of 
marijuana, medical card notwithstanding. Someone who violates the law 
should be arrested, just like the thousands caught driving while 
drunk. That is done all the time without shutting down all bars, 
liquor stores and distributors of alcohol.

Schuette says the law was intended to help "the seriously ill." But 
that didn't stop police and prosecutors from successfully seeking 
felony charges against a Genoa Township man, a registered card-holder 
with rheumatoid arthritis, who was growing marijuana along with his 
wife, another card-holder who has breast cancer. Their crime? They 
didn't have a cover on the otherwise enclosed area where they grew 
the legally allowed amount of marijuana. Such is the "invasion" 
facing Livingston County.

The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act makes it legal for a person to use 
marijuana for medical purposes, but it pretty much provides no legal 
way for a person to obtain that marijuana. That's even more true now 
that the appeals court has spoken. The situation begs for the 
Legislature to take action.

But Lansing has barely lifted a finger, despite continued evidence 
that people want this solved in a way that will provide for the safe, 
effective distribution of marijuana for legitimate medical purposes.

Legislators have had time to cut funding to public schools, hack away 
at public employee benefits, raise taxes on retirees and cut benefits 
to children in poverty.

But grandma and her glaucoma? She's on her own.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom