[420 Girl]

State Sen. Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland, says medical-marijuana users should be required to obtain doctors' prescriptions, with drug dispensed by pharmacists.

He and state Sen. Gerald Van Woerkom, R-Norton Shores, introduced the legislation today.

But a critic said the proposal is doomed, in part, because doctors can only recommend a patient use the drug, not prescribe it, and it subverts the will of voters who last fall overwhelmingly approved use of medical marijuana with fewer restrictions.

Kuipers, who opposed legalization of medical marijuana, said the legislation would "protect the public and ensure the drug is not abused."

Among its provisions:

• Treat medical marijuana as any other Schedule II narcotic by restricting a user's ability to obtain the drug.

• Require a doctor's prescription, with the drug sold only through a pharmacist.

• Create sentencing guidelines for violators to serve up to two years in prison.

• License 10 growers statewide to provide medical marijuana to pharmacists.

"This legislation is not meant to condone medical marijuana or undermine the will of the public that overwhelmingly voted to allow marijuana usage for medical purposes," Kuipers said.

But Greg Francisco, executive director of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, said it does just that. He said the proposal would gut the medical-marijuana law, which allows patients, with a doctor's recommendation, to obtain or grow certain amounts of marijuana.

"That is the fatal flaw: doctors, by federal law, cannot prescribe marijuana," Francisco said. "No doctor can prescribe it."

He said many pharmacists want to dispense the drug because it competes with other drugs they sell.

He said that significant changes in the law would require three-quarter majority votes in both state chambers.

The bill has been sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee for consideration, Kuipers said.

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