What are they smoking?

This blog originally published at: Michigan Lawyers Weekly. I did not write this, I only repost it.

What are they smoking?

That's what Detroit-based Cannabis Counsel lawyer Matthew Abel is
asking of the Michigan Senate Judiciary Committee, who is meeting next
week to discuss a package of bills which would amend the public health
code so that medical marijuana must be dispensed by pharmacists, and
to classify medical marijuana as a schedule 2 controlled substance.

"It seems that if the legislature ever passed these bills, they would
be in conflict with the medical marijuana statute," Abel said. "So
they'd need a 3/4 vote to supercede the law, and you know that they
can't even get 3/4 of the legislature to agree on lunch, let alone
this."

Southfield-based lawyer Michael Komorn, who also serves as the
treasurer for the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, said the
bills are similar to bills introduced last year; last year, the bills
which also would have allowed for 10 marijuana growing facilities to
be affiliated with a pharmacy, got no traction.

This year's incarnation of the bills would essentially make all
production of medical marijuana illegal, though use would still be
protected by law, Komorn said.

"It's like the stamp act, arcane and without any understanding of what
really is going on with patient needs," Komorn said. "Bottom line,
this is an attempt ot repeal the Michigan medical marijuana act."

It's impossible, Abel said, to require dispensing of medical marijuana
through pharmacies.

"They don't have a supply, and no way to get it. There's just no way
for them to do it," Abel said.

Still, he's resting easy with the idea that the bills are going
nowhere, and are really more about grandstanding for political
popularity than they are about the Michigan medical marijuana law.

The committee will take up the bills Jan. 19, 1 p.m., in room 210 in
the Farnum building in Lansing.