[420 Girl]

A medical marijuana symposium at Wayne State University on Saturday aimed to get accurate information to doctors, lawyers and law enforcement about Michigan's medicinal marijuana law.

But the majority of the 227 people who showed up were patients or people looking to learn more about the law. That suited the WSU law students, students with the National Lawyers Guild and the Police Officers for Drug Law Reform, who staged the symposium, just fine.

"We want to get the best information we can to people," said Dan Solano, an organizer and former Detroit police officer who was repeatedly run over by a suspect in 1991 and left for dead.

Solano of Detroit underwent numerous surgeries and two years of rehabilitation. He was prescribed large doses of painkillers before opting for marijuana in the 1990s, even though it was illegal. He currently is licensed by the state to grow marijuana for two patients and use it himself.

His story is similar to other patients' at the symposium. They spoke of pain from disease, injuries or surgery. Keynote speaker Robert Sedler, a WSU law professor, and a host of others addressed the crowd.

University of Detroit-Mercy professor Mike Whitty attended the conference and said legalizing marijuana is more efficient than continuing to fight its use as a crime.

"Medicalize, don't criminalize," he said. "It is cheaper and smarter."

Melanie Brim, director of the Michigan Bureau of Health Professions, shared with attendees how the state regulates medicinal marijuana, which was legalized last November. The state started issuing registration cards in April.

Brim said there was much internal debate on how to handle the matter since her bureau is against smoking and illegal drugs.

"It is the law," she said of medicinal marijuana. "But it is a bit of an issue."

Physicians do not agree on the merits of medicinal marijuana, and some police agencies still will ticket or even arrest registered patients who possess marijuana, many attendees said.

But there was a sense of optimism among many participants that things will get better.

Tim Beck, a 57-year-old Detroiter, who is registered with the state as a patient who needs medical marijuana, showed off his registration card and waved a marijuana joint while showing how far things have come. Beck uses marijuana to deal with pain stemming from eye surgery, he said. A doctor had to sign off on the usage.

"I'm home free," he said after removing the joint from his wallet and waving it from side to side. "I never thought I would see the day I would be able to just wave this around."

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