Applicants Eager to Begin Getting Relief From Pain, Ailments

Renee Wolfe, surrounded by supporters, slowly rolled her wheelchair to the registration table at the state Department of Community Health in Lansing.

Applause broke out as she became the first of 45 Michigan residents to submit an application during a mass registration effort organized Monday morning by the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association.

"We made it," said Wolfe, who said she suffers shooting pain throughout her body due to multiple sclerosis. "I am so overjoyed (at the turnout). I knew that I wasn't the only one that I was helping."

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GRAND HAVEN -- As a disabled U.S. Army veteran, Dan Higgins suffers severe nausea from pain medication for his damaged back.

The only thing that helps, he said, is marijuana.

On Monday, the state Department of Community Health begins accepting applications from those with doctors' permission to use marijuana.

For Higgins, 34, of Grand Haven, the law is based on compassion. "It's to give people their medication. ... I just can't keep the food down."

But, he said, there's this, too: "This is marijuana. It's not cocaine. It's not heroin."

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Michigan residents can now begin applying for identification cards that give them the right to use marijuana as medicine through the Michigan Medicinal Marihuana Program.

Those wishing to seek the treatment must mail an official recommendation from a doctor to the Michigan Department of Community Health, complete an application form and submit a $100 application fee.

Applications should be mailed to Michigan Department of Community Health, Medical Marihuana Registry P.O. Box 30083 Lansing, Mich. 48909.

The state agency is expecting an influx of applications and has only 15-days to turn accepted applications into identification cards.

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Applications for Medical Marijuana Under Review

The Michigan Department of Community Health begins reviewing applications today for Medical Marijuana Registry ID cards.

The day means different things to different people.

Melissa Ewalt, 35, of Port Huron likes the option that's now available to her.

Ewalt has multiple sclerosis, one of the diseases that can be treated with marijuana under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act passed in December 2008.

She said she primarily would use marijuana before bed to help sleep, while taking minimal prescription drugs during the day so she could stay alert and interact with her 6-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter.

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KALAMAZOO -- In his quest to quell chronic back pain, 19-year-old Jon Dunbar has been prescribed several opiate narcotics during the past two years.

Vicodin, he said, wasn't strong enough. Morphine and fentanyl had too many negative side effects and all of the drugs, including the Percocet he takes now, are highly addictive.

With all that in mind, Dunbar, a Gobles native whose back pain is caused by a spinal injury and neuropathy, plans to submit his application next week to have his name placed on Michigan's Medical Marijuana Registry. The registry is part of the state's medical marijuana law that was passed by voters in November and takes effect today.

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High noon on the first Saturday in April means only one thing: Hash Bash.

A smoky haze filled Monroe Street Saturday, as a mixture of old-time activists, University students, adult spectators and marijuana enthusiasts came together to support recreational marijuana use, oppose United States drug laws and enjoy an afternoon in the sun.

And this year, the mood was a little more celebratory than usual.

In its 37th year, Hash Bash had a significant reform to commemorate: the legalization of medical marijuana in the state of Michigan.

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Some aspects of the 38th annual Ann Arbor Hash Bash were the same old, same old.

The event started with about 200 passionate people protesting marijuana laws at the Federal Building. The crowd then carried signs and marched to the University of Michigan Diag, where an estimated 1,500 people braced the wind to listen to speeches. Then they moved on to a street party with information booths and music.

But this year, supporters of the fight to end the drug war and legalize pot had a reason to celebrate.

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FLINT, Michigan -- On one side of the table sat four people who use marijuana for medical purposes.

On the other side was Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton, who until Dec. 4 would have considered their behavior illegal.

Their meeting was friendly, respectful, at times jovial. But they also cut to the chase. "You don't consider our clubs some kind of criminal enterprise do you?" asked Brad Forrester, of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association.

"I am a man of the law and I will follow the law," Leyton said, noting his personal opinions weren't relevant.

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State guidelines permit residents with debilitating medical conditions to use marijuana for pain but fail to offer a legal means to acquire the drug. Obviously, that's a huge challenge for people looking for a lawful way to ease their suffering. Gov. Jennifer Granholm and lawmakers need to fix this glaring problem. Michigan voters overwhelmingly supported the medical marijuana proposal last November when it garnered 63 percent of the vote.

State health officials recently finalized the guidelines. The medical marijuana law allows people with cancer, HIV, AIDS, glaucoma and other qualifying diseases to use marijuana to relieve their symptoms, if a doctor recommends it. Qualifying patients can apply for a permit allowing them to legally possess 2.5 ounces of marijuana or grow 12 marijuana plants in a locked, enclosed area, or designate a caregiver to do so for them. The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH), which set the guidelines, is responsible for reviewing and approving medical marijuana permits. The picture ID cards will cost $100 annually.

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BAY CITY -- A pungent and tangy odor fills the family room as Thomas L. Higgins and his wife, Janet, casually puff on a hand-rolled joint, medicating themselves with marijuana buds harvested just down the hall.

In their son's former bedroom, where it's brighter and noticeably warmer than the rest of the house, white plastic covers the walls and ceiling while 23 marijuana plants, from seedlings to maturing females, grow beneath a cluster of 12 fluorescent, energy-saving light bulbs.

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GRAND HAVEN -- As a disabled U.S. Army veteran, Dan Higgins suffers severe nausea from pain medication for his damaged back.

The only thing that helps, he said, is marijuana.

Today he plans to be in Lansing as Michigan's medical-marijuana law, approved by voters in November, takes effect. On Monday, the state Department of Community Health begins accepting applications from those with doctors' permission to use marijuana.

For Higgins, 34, of Grand Haven, the law is based on compassion. "It's to give people their medication. ... I just can't keep the food down."

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GRAND RAPIDS -- Grand Valley State University student Derek Copp was discharged from Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital and has returned home with his parents to continue recovering from being shot by police during a recent drug raid.

The 20-year-old's second stint in the hospital lasted three days as doctors reinserted a chest tube to drain accumulating fluid and clotted blood in Copp's right lung.

A bullet, fired by an officer who has yet to be identified, entered his chest, fractured two rib and pierced his lung and liver on March 11. Copp has yet to be charged after police found a small amount of marijuana in his apartment, according to his attorney.

The film student returned to classes last Thursday until persistent breathing troubles sidetracked that plan one day later.

Attorney Fred Dilley, who represents the family, said no decision has been made on when Copp will return to campus.

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GRAND RAPIDS -- State police investigators have completed their inquiry into the March 11 shooting of Grand Valley State University student Derek Copp, and sent the results to the Kalamazoo County prosecutor.

Lt. Curt Schram, who oversaw the probe following Copp being shot by an officer with a regional drug team, said Jeffrey Fink will review the case and decide whether charges are appropriate against the Ottawa County sheriff's deputy.

The deputy is a 12-year veteran and police have declined to identify him. He remains on administrative leave.

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State to Soon Outline a Program Explaining Patients' Rights

Madison Heights --Bob Redden says he thought he was doing the right thing when he went to a medical clinic in Southfield to get paperwork to qualify for medical marijuana.

Redden, 59, said he suffers from bone disease and two deteriorating hips, and was told medical marijuana would ease his pain. But on Monday, when Madison Heights police smashed open the front door of his house with a battering ram and seized 21 marijuana plants from a back room, Redden wondered what he had done wrong.

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Those attending the 38th annual Ann Arbor Hash Bash Saturday will likely be in a celebratory mood, organizers say, because the event lands on the day Michigan's medical marijuana law goes into effect.

"The Hash Bash started as a smoke-in, and really is a smoke-in," said Adam Brook of Detroit, who will serve as emcee for the 19th time. "However, speakers take on current political question of the day. This year, it's medical marijuana."

The law was passed by voters with 63 percent of the vote last November, and Michigan Department of Community Health offices will be open to accept applications of Monday.

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Madison Heights police seized 21 marijuana plants Monday night that the homeowner said he believed were legal under the state's medical marijuana law.

But at this point, police can't say whether the plants were legal or if the man was over the limit.

"We don't know what the rules are," Madison Heights Police Chief Kevin Sagan said. "This is a new situation for all of us."

Answers could come by the end of this week from the Michigan Department of Community Health, which has been hammering out rules for the medical marijuana law since it went into effect Dec. 4. The department is required by the state to launch a medical marijuana program by Saturday.

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Medical Pot Law a Headache for Patients and Government

Steven Karapandza has tried two dozen drugs to treat headaches. After trying marijuana, the 27-year-old Sterling Heights computer worker sensed some relief, and with the passage of the state's medical marijuana law, decided to become a legal medicinal user.

"It's got good palliative benefits," he said. "I could care less if pot's ever legalized recreationally."

Now, he's nervous after Madison Heights police raided the home of a medical marijuana user who kept an address book that included other users. The Michigan Department of Community Health is to begin a program Saturday to issue identification cards for those who have a doctor's note recommending the drug.

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Perhaps it's fitting that a 37-year celebration advocating marijuana reform will usher in a new era of medicinal marijuana use in Michigan.

This Saturday, the 37th annual Hash Bash will take place at the University of Michigan - simultaneously marking the first day medicinal use of marijuana in Michigan becomes legitimate after 62.6 percent of citizens voted 'yes' on Proposal 1 in November.

"I think people are coming to realize that everything in life has risks and benefits and this black-and-white way of thinking about marijuana has gone out the window," said Greg Francisco, executive director of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association.

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Up to 50,000 May Qualify for Legal Smoking

Lynn Allen is busy squirreling away marijuana seeds - at $5 a shot - as he prepares to take advantage of a new state law that will allow seriously or terminally ill patients to legally smoke pot to ease their pain and suffering.

The 52-year-old married father of two from Williamston is confined to a wheelchair and unable to work because of a lack of stamina. He is one of an estimated 50,000 Michigan residents who may qualify for medical marijuana use once the state begins accepting applications on Saturday.

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Helping Patients Get Approved May Be Lucrative

Southfield -- A new medical clinic here specializes in helping patients qualify with the state to treat their health problems with medical marijuana.

The nonprofit The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation opened the clinic, its first in Michigan, in December. That's the same month a voter-approved law went into effect legalizing medical marijuana to ease the pain of certain illnesses specified by the state, such as cancer, glaucoma, Alzheimer's disease and HIV/AIDS.

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