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Officials Study Impact Of Court Ruling On Medical
Pubdate: Thu, 01 Sep 2011
Source: Tecumseh Herald (MI)
Copyright: 2011 Herald Publishing Company
Contact: http://www.tecumsehherald.com/node/13
Website: http://www.tecumsehherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5284
Author: Deb Wuethrich
OFFICIALS STUDY IMPACT OF COURT RULING ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES
A ruling by the Michigan Court of Appeals last Wednesday, Aug. 24,
that determined the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (MMMA) does not
permit patient-to-patient marijuana sales or facilitation or
distribution through dispensaries leaves local officials still
watching what happens next. The court declared dispensaries a public
nuisance.
In the State of Michigan v. McQueen, the Court said it was illegal for
operators of an Isabella County medical marijuana dispensary that
rented locker space to MMMP (Michigan Medical Marijuana Program)
- -registered caregivers and patients to store their excess marijuana,
with other registered patients given an opportunity to buy the stored
marijuana. Many, but not all, of the state's 400-500 dispensaries have
shut down in the wake of the ruling and Michigan Attorney General Bill
Schuette's statement that he would coach Michigan's 83 prosecutors on
how to use the ruling to shut down dispensaries.
In a statement, Schuette 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." He also said the Court
"echoed the concerns of law enforcement, clarifying that this law is
narrowly focused to help the seriously ill, not the creation of a
marijuana free-for-all."
Meanwhile, many local jurisdictions are still struggling with the law
and potential implications of the Michigan Court of Appeals ruling.
Lenawee County Prosecutor Jonathan Poer said that in order to
prosecute local dispensaries, a complaint would have to be filed,
detailing how they were violating the MMMA.
Law enforcement agencies are also struggling with separating those who
are following the MMMA as caregivers and patients and those who may be
skirting the parameters of the law and operating illegally.
"The ruling makes the whole thing even more confusing for us, to be
honest," said Tecumseh City Manager Kevin Welch. Tecumseh City Council
just extended its moratorium on Aug. 1 to give the Tecumseh Planning
Commission more time to fashion an ordinance that was planned
regarding where dispensaries could operate in the city. "The question
as to whether we have the right to authorize somebody to do this is
really up in the air. We certainly don't question the rights of a
patient to use medical marijuana, but it's difficult for the city to
take any kind of action at this point while the issue is being
challenged."
Welch said the city attorney, Scott Baker, has been keeping city
officials apprised of the Appeals Court ruling and others being filed
across the state and is monitoring it very closely.
Tecumseh Building Services Director Brad Raymond has been working with
the Tecumseh Planning Commission for nearly two years to fashion an
ordinance.
"The court ruling changes the whole ordinance," said Raymond. "The
idea we were working on was that we would allow them in the industrial
district, but this kind of put the clamp on that because the ruling
says you can't have dispensaries or medical marijuana operations and
sell to patients for profit. All the work we put into our ordinance is
to no avail now."
Raymond said word has it that the matter may soon go before the
Michigan Supreme Court.
"That would be good, because we want a final ruling on it so it
becomes law. We weren't ever going to control a patient's right to
grow their own for their own purposes, we were just working to try to
regulate where a dispensary could operate, but the ruling shoots that
out of the water."
Raymond said the planning commission had a good ordinance lined up to
put into place.
"Now we're watching as the court cases go through the system," he
said. "There's very loose language in the law that made it very
difficult for the state health department and communities to deal with
this, so as rulings come out, it's going to make it a lot clearer for
us. We'll be discussing what came about with this at our next planning
commission meeting, and try to get an idea about our direction now."
Raisin Township Police Chief Scott Lambka said that the ruling pretty
much reaffirms the goal that Raisin Township was trying to accomplish
when it recently passed a police power Medical Marijuana Ordinance,
which includes in its findings of fact that: "Despite the specifics of
the MMMA and the activities legally allowed set forth therein,
marijuana is still a controlled substance under Michigan law and the
legalization of obtaining, possessing, cultivating/growing, use and
distribution in specific circumstances has a potential for abuse that
should be closely monitored and, to the extent permissible, regulated
by the local authorities."
The new ordinance was approached from a health, safety and welfare
perspective, with an intent that "nothing in this ordinance be
construed to allow persons to engage in conduct that endangers others
or causes a public nuisance; or to allow use, possession or control of
marijuana for non-medical purposes; or allow activity relating to
cultivation/growing, distribution or consumption of marijuana that is
otherwise illegal."
The ordinance acknowledges that medical marijuana can be possessed and
used in the township "only in accordance with the MMMA rules," but
that dispensaries are unlawful, including that it is "unlawful for any
primary caregiver to dispense medical marijuana or assist a qualifying
patient to use medical marijuana in or through any retail store,
storefront, office building, manufacturing building, processing
facility, cooperative growing facility, dispensary, or any type of
commercial or industrial building" located within the township.
"The court ruling just reaffirms the goal we were trying to accomplish
with our ordinance," said Lambka. "Unfortunately, the way the law is
written for medical marijuana, it leaves it up to us as municipalities
for us to try to close up on the law and what it's intending to do.
But what the ruling does is reaffirm what we set out to do and
actually gives our ordinance some teeth for prosecution."
Lambka acknowledged that under the MMMA, caregivers could operate in
the township and grow plants for up to five registered patients.
"Caregivers are still okay -- but not commercial dispensaries," he
said. The township is aware of caregivers operating within the Raisin
Township community, and Lambka confirmed that law enforcement is
closely monitoring the situation. The Raisin Township Planning
Commission is also working on a zoning ordinance to further strengthen
the law as officials work on the task of looking out for public health
and safety.
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