Is The Medical Marijuana Law Abused?

[+EdwardGlen]

Does Lansing have any idea how stupid they sound when speak about cannabis?! You would think politicians would have ever cold hard fact down pat about cannabis,.oh I forgot..politicians don't use or know what facts are.

 

We've been screaming at Lansing to help us tighten up the program and of course one poli in this story wants people to use pills instead of cannabis, we know where he gets his campaign money from.

 

http://www.nilesstar.com/2011/03/03/is-the-medical-marijuana-law-abused/

 

Since voters passed a law legalizing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes two years ago, a reported 90,000 residents have successfully received a state-issued medical marijuana card.

 

But it’s the suspicion of Berrien County Prosecutor Art Cotter that many of those carrying cards are doing for purposes that aren’t what those voters had in mind.

 

“I think it borders on fraud,” Cotter said. “The individuals who are getting them are not who the public intended, in opinion, to get them.”

 

Cotter isn’t alone. A review of Michigan’s Medical Marijuana Law is currently being done to determine whether or not tougher regulation needs to be administered to cardholders and caregivers, those who, under the provisions of the law, are allowed to grow marijuana for cardholders.

 

A number of state legislators are involved in that review, including Sens. John Proos and Tonya Schuitmaker.

 

“It’s an active group of state legislators,” Proos said.

 

The primary focus of that group, he added, is to determine in accordance to the law, “what is appropriate and what is not appropriate.”

 

Proos gives an example from the perspective of someone currently on parole. That parolee could very well — having been diagnosed with a medical condition in accordance with the law — be given a certificate signed by a doctor allowing him or her to apply for a medical marijuana card. That card being issued to him or her would allow the person to smoke the narcotic.

 

But failing a drug test would be a direct violation of the person’s parole, and Proos said that’s just one of many areas where the law isn’t very clear.

 

“We’re looking at the totality of the department’s implementation of this constitutional right,” Proos said, “to understand if further regulation is necessary to protect those who rightfully deserve the use of this prescription drug.”

 

The department the senator is referring to is the Michigan Department of Community Health.

 

The department’s handling of its role as being designated with “the administration and leadership” of the law, Cotter said, is another area of frustration.

 

“They could have provided a much greater leadership role,” he said.

 

Cotter, who is also chairman of the medical marijuana committee for the Michigan Prosecuting Attorneys Association, said the MDCH has been accepting applications for state-issued cards since April 2009. Though a photo is required with the application to be used as identification on the card, those cards are still being issued without those photos.

 

“They still haven’t figured out a way to put a photo on the card,” he said.

 

The applications sent to the MDCH are another source of gray areas.

 

According to the law a patient seeking a state-issued card must have a certificate signed by a medical doctor in order to apply.

 

Since the law has taken effect, there have been the developments of clinics throughout the state where doctors are certifying patients who may come to them if their own doctor does not approve of the drug as a treatment.

 

And state officials are concerned over reports of doctors setting up makeshift clinics in hotel rooms, signing off on certificates at just around $200 a pop.

 

This kind of certification, Cotter said, is not what’s intended by the law, as it’s questionable whether or not it constitutes a bona-fide doctor patient relationship.

 

“They’re seeing them for half an hour,” Cotter said. “That’s it. Maybe medical marijuana would help but maybe there would be some other medications or treatments that would be appropriate… That’s what’s happening, basically. They’ll go to these guys who will give written certificates, basically for anybody. To say that is a bona-fide doctor-patient relationship … I think is absurd. It’s not and that to me is one of the biggest issues the act needs to be fixed on.”

 

Read in the second part of this series in Friday’s Star about a local medical marijuana clinic.

[phaquetoo]

To all in the MMMA family , this clarifies the need to spread news of May 25 th to any and all who will listen . We all know what the state is attempting to do and this article will never share the inside news ! This is just the icing on the cake as many of us know . Its only going to get worse if we dont revolt ! These people have no heart and soul , they are the same ones who opressed others in the very begining right out of the sandbox and now they are in the house . It amazes me how many new patients/caregivers there are that are blind to this fact . So many newcomers believe this is awsome and its freedom . Yet they have no clue of the politics that are being employed against us all as a whole . The state truly believes we are all just a bunch of potheads using this an a escape goat ! Perhaps other treatments or prescriptions would be appropriate lmao . Its about time people have medical acess to Cannabis and I mean all . Simply put it should be a personal health choice not a Govt matter . No more medical prisoners in Mi , if they have there way ,we will all be medical prisoners . Now is the medical marijuana law being used/abused or is it the citizens being used by the state ? I think we all know the answer there .... Join us on May 25 , 2011 . We need to shake the house with sheer numbers in support !

 

 

IMO its L.E and Judges abusing the law!!!

[Guest 1TokeOverLine]

This is a double post.

 

http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/topic/29121-is-the-medical-marijuana-law-abused/page__pid__271580#entry271580

 

1T