Pubdate: Sun, 11 Oct 2015
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright: 2015 Detroit Free Press
Contact: http://www.freep.com/article/99999999/opinion04/50926009
Website: http://www.freep.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/125

BATTLE IS ON FOR CONTROL OF MICHIGAN'S MARIJUANA MARKET

Nearly eight years after Michigan voters overwhelmingly concluded 
that marijuana should be available to patients whose doctors 
prescribe it, state lawmakers are finally addressing some of the most 
egregious defects in Michigan's Medical Marihuana Act.

A package of bills that won lopsided approval in the state House of 
Representatives last week would establish a rational (if 
unnecessarily complicated) regulatory scheme for licensing growers, 
processors, retailers and even those who transport marijuana from one 
facility to another. The House-approved plan also imposes a 3% tax on 
retailers' gross income and authorizes doctors to prescribe 
non-smokable forms of the drug that the Michigan Supreme Court says 
remain prohibited under the 2008 law.

But the new regulations, which are likely to come to a vote in the 
state Senate later this fall, are more than a belated fix for medical 
marijuana. They also reflects Lansing's grudging acknowledgment that 
Michigan will soon join the growing list of states whose voters have 
decriminalized the recreational use of marijuana, and must start 
preparing now to manage the profound disruptions legalized pot will 
create here.

East Lansing lawyer Jeff Hank, who leads one of two organizations 
spearheading initiatives to put the legalization question before 
Michigan voters in November 2016, says even conservative Republicans 
recognize that marijuana is on the threshold of becoming a legitimate 
and lucrative industry.

"Now it's just a matter of how, and who's going to control the 
process," Hank says.

What follows are answers to some of the most pressing questions 
confronting the state as it confronts legalization and referees the 
contest among those seeking a piece of Michigan's pot pie.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom