New Medical Cannabis Legislation In Mi?
Entry posted by Bob Heflin
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I'm not an attorney or a legislative genius but do we really need to re-invent the legislative wheel to protect patients in MI? Karen O'Keefe, the chief architect of the MMMAct, has defined the legislative evolution of Rhode Island, a medical cannabis 'precursor state' to MI with almost identical initial legislation.
Two years after their initial legislation, Rhode Island passed legislative amendments which:
1) offer protection for patient to patient transfers
2) allow patients and caregivers to possess 12 immature plants and 12 budding plants
3) allow a 'limited number' of state licensed and regulated 'storefront dispensaries'--take note Michiganders that dispensaries were illegal in Rhode Island until the additional legislative amendments were passed. Like Rhode Island, we are limited to the legislative protections which exists in the current MMMAct---until we make similar changes.
Since many of the recent raids in Southeast MI have been over issues which aren't any more legally protected in MI then they were in Rhode Island before passage of their legislative amendments, why not tweak the Rhode Island amendments to adapt them for use in MI since the initial legislation in both states is almost identical.
It would give the medical marijuana community in MI a simple set of legislative amendments which might help to ensure a safe supply of medicine for patients, expand limits and protections for patients/caregivers, create legal protections as well as rules and regulations for storefront dispensaries. Finally, new legislative amendments similar to legislation enacted in Rhode Island would eliminate the current situation of continuous raids and negative blowback created by those who exceed the limits of our current legislation.
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