[420 Girl]

Both Oakland Sheriff Michael Bouchard and a board member for the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association are asking state lawmakers for a clarification of state marijuana law. Confusion among users and differing approaches by cities and law enforcers indicate the need for clarity in the law.

The issue came to the fore in recent days with a raid by the Oakland Sheriff's Department on marijuana dispensaries in Waterford Township and Ferndale. Sheriff's investigators say store owners were selling marijuana to people without proper medical authorization and serving as sites for people to sell marijuana to each other. The officers also made raids on individual homes.

One district judge made refraining from marijuana use, even for medical use, a condition of granting bail to defendants in the raids.

People operating the stores or dispensaries deny the charges and say they sold only to people who had state authorized cards exempting them from state laws restricting the use of marijuana.

In 2008 voters approved an initiative that allows patients to use marijuana for relief of "debilitating medical conditions" if they have a prescription from a doctor and a card identifying them issued by the state Department of Community Health. Each patient could have one "caregiver," or marijuana supplier, who is allowed to have no more than five patients.

The law does not discuss the issue of dispensaries or set up rules on how they should operate.

Michael Komorn, an attorney and board member of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, decried the raids, which he said were carried out in a paramilitary manner, were unnecessarily harsh and treated patients suffering from medical conditions badly.

Komorn said medical marijuana users are "looking for guidance" and want to talk to authorities to determine how they can legally use the substance. Bouchard said the Legislature needs to flesh out the initiative and create a licensing system for dispensaries. Some operations have gone "far afield" from the intent of the 2008 initiative, he said.

Komorn noted that amending the medical marijuana law could be difficult, since, as an initiated act, it would take a vote of three-fourths of the members of the Legislature to amend it.

Perhaps for this reason, a number of bills that would create licensing requirements and dispensaries have been stalled in Lansing.

Still, both Bouchard and Komorn are right. Both users and law enforcement officials need more guidance on how the state's medical marijuana law should be applied.

The medical marijuana shouldn't be allowed to be used as a ruse for general marijuana use, nor should people who are trying to conscientiously follow the law and use it as a medical treatment be subjected to undue harassment.

The regulations should be made clearer and easier to apply in an even-handed manner. The voters, in adopting the initiative, have made their wishes clear. Lawmakers should find a way to make the initiative work.



NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source:The Detroit News | detnews.com | Monday, September 6, 2010 | News, sports, features, blogs, photos and forums from Detroit and Michigan
Contact: Contact The Detroit News | detnews.com | The Detroit News
Copyright: 2010 The Detroit News
Website: Editorial: More guidance needed on medical pot law | detnews.com | The Detroit News


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