Call Goes Out To Fix Medical Marijuana Law

[+EdwardGlen]

Ya think!!!! We no longer spend any money in any city that refuses to recognize the state law and doesn't allow safe legal access to cannabis.

 

Very disappointed in Lansing is an understatement! The failure of our employees to protect us is epic! A more worthless group of lazy, crooked, bought off arse holes would be hard to find.

 

And each and everyone of our employees who wants to phock with us needs to be sent packing and never again be allowed to serve in any political office anywhere in Michigan.

 

Had to vent a little bit.

 

http://macombdaily.com/articles/2010/09/11/news/doc4c8c4008701fb685452999.txt

 

 

Municipalities need to pressure Lansing to remedy the state law that legalizes medical marijuana use but doesn’t establish manufacturing and distribution rules, according to one Royal Oak official.

 

On Monday, City Commissioner Chuck Semchena will urge his colleagues to begin a grass-roots campaign to push state lawmakers to amend the Medical Marihuana Act with provisions that regulate where the plants are grown and how the end products are dispensed to patients.

 

“There are no fewer than six bills languishing in committee that could make the manufacturing and distribution of medical marijuana similar to other prescription drugs,” Semchena said. “I want to kick-start the effort to address this.”

 

The bills pending in Lansing would require the state health department to license growing facilities, allow only 10 facilities to be licensed per year, limit dispensing to licensed pharmacists, prohibit convicted felons from being caregivers, and ban medical marijuana clubs or bars.

 

In the meantime, Royal Oak is facing the expiration of its ban on medical marijuana facilities on Oct. 20; legal action from a building owner denied an exemption to the moratorium for a growing operation that could save the warehouse from foreclosure; and a Sept. 20 public hearing for another exemption request by operators of a proposed downtown dispensary.

 

Also, last week the Downtown Development Authority unanimously recommended Royal Oak ban medical marijuana facilities by passing a local ordinance prohibiting all land uses illegal under federal law. Although 14 states legalized medical marijuana use for qualified patients, growing, selling and possessing marijuana still violates federal law.

 

At least 11 Michigan municipalities have bans — Macomb Township could be next — and at least 23 have moratoriums that are expiring. Several have or plan to allow growers and distributors in restricted zones.

 

Macomb Township officials recently directed their attorneys to research and draft ordinances that would govern the distribution of the drugs without violating the state law that permits its use.

 

“The law leaves a lot of gray area,” said Michael Koehs, Macomb Township clerk.

 

Koehs said local officials simply need direction on many aspects of how and where marijuana should be provided for medical purposes.

 

“Can somebody open a store in a strip mall … and grow it and sell it?” Koehs said. “We don’t think they can.”

 

Mark Grabow, Macomb Township supervisor, agreed with the clerk.

 

“If this is truly coming down the pike … we want to get this into the correct zone,” he said.

 

Koehs predicted the questions ultimately will have to be resolved by judges.

 

“It’s going to end up in the courts for years,” he said. “I really believe that.”

 

Last week outside the Oakland County Circuit Court, medical marijuana patients and advocates protested the arrest of nearly 20 people including drug raids at a Ferndale dispensary called Clinical Relief and a Waterford compassion club called Everbody’s Cafe.

 

Ferndale has a 90-day moratorium that expires this week and city officials there voted to allow medical marijuana businesses in certain industrial and office zones. Clinical Relief opened in June before the moratorium.

 

Undercover officers with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Narcotics Enforcement Team said they bought medical marijuana without a state-issued card certifying they are patients and witnessed hand-to-hand drug deals in the parking lot of Ferndale’s only dispensary. Arrests were made for the illegal growing and selling marijuana.

 

Oakland County’s elected officials have said ambiguities in the state law about caregivers, who can grow up to 12 plants each for five patients, need to be clarified. Following the raids, Sheriff Michael Bouchard said he thinks voters passed the law in 2008 to help people suffering from diseases like cancer and multiple sclerosis.

 

“This has gone far (away) from that,” Bouchard said at a news conference last month, pointing to patients who received medical marijuana cards for things such as stomachaches and shoulder pain.

 

The sheriff said others are using the law to give illegal operations an air of legality. During the raids, undercover investigators seized guns and found an alligator protecting the product at one location.

 

“It will get nothing but worse,” Bouchard has said. “There will be more problems unless the Legislature does its job.”

 

Semchena, a former county drug prosecutor, agrees.

 

“I don’t see any way the current law protects our community from violence and crime while allowing distribution to patients who truly need the medicine,” Semchena said. “I’m convinced that without changes in Lansing we’re headed toward disaster because every city has reduced resources.”

 

Today is the last day of work for two Royal Oak firefighters and nine police officers pink-slipped earlier this year because of budget cuts. The city commissioner said he doesn’t want financially strapped Michigan cities to see increased police problems.

 

Semchena points to The White Paper on Marijuana Dispensaries written by California police chiefs. The paper says the dispensaries attract a criminal element and scare away patrons of neighboring businesses.

 

“My constituents are saying they voted for medical marijuana because they thought doctors would prescribe it and pharmacists would distribute it,” Semchena said. “The law is very deceptive. It merely provides legal defenses for activities similar to the traditional illegal manufacturing and distribution of narcotics. The state needs to structure a better way to serve patients without hurting communities.”

[jsburn]

the only spec of truth i read in that single sided argument is that "it will get nothing but worse" ..... for bouchard

[Danielshemp]

Bouchard clearly suffers from cranial/rectal inversion syndrome. With a head his size he must be in a lot of pain. There is hope for him, chronic pain is a debilitating condition.

[backpain57]

"Very disappointed in Lansing is an understatement! The failure of our employees to protect us is epic! A more worthless group of lazy, crooked, bought off arse holes would be hard to find."

 

Very well said!

 

"The bills pending in Lansing would require the state health department to license growing facilities, allow only 10 facilities to be licensed per year, limit dispensing to licensed pharmacists, prohibit convicted felons from being caregivers, and ban medical marijuana clubs or bars."

 

Thats about the number of cards they send out now! How can anyone TRUST that they will ever license a growing facilitie? Or will we be waiting 4+ months for MEDS???

WAKE UP PEOPLE, LANSING WANTS TO STOP THIS LAW!!! They don't care the vote was over 60%!

 

The LAW is not the problem! The problem is the worthless group of lazy, crooked, bought off arse holes in power today.(LANSING, is the problem!)

[+Dizledot]

These simple minded jack asses have decided to follow the federal law. Its not just Oakland County, Wayne County is following right behind them. Local community leaders are approving the federal law with each request for a dispensary or warehouse for grow rooms. They are nailing us for the transportation as well as selling of MM.

 

When will it stop!

 

Dizz

[+420Atheist]

This is just the type of thing we need to make sure we are lobbying Lansing just as hard to stop any bills that put such big limits on our law.

[peanutbutter]

 

When will it stop!

 

Dizz

 

When the sheriff of Oakland county is arrested for his crimes.

[backpain57]

peanutbutter, I think you are on the right track, but I think you have been on the right track for a long time!

I am real sorry to here about your boy. I hope this all works for you & him. This is BS in the first place!

[David1946]

My biggest fear has already come to pass with the death of an innocent person seeking alternative relief from a medical condition.