Michigan Officials Weigh-In On Other States' Push To Have Marijuana Reclassified

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UPDATED at 1:51 p.m., Jan. 16.

 

BAY CITY — As Michigan’s legal system begins to deal with fallout from the state’s medical marijuana law, a few other states think they have an answer to clearing up confusion surrounding the drug and its use.

 

Washington, Rhode Island, Vermont and Colorado are petitioning the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug, rather than the more restricted Schedule I drug it is currently considered.

 

The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 divides drugs into five classifications, or schedules. Marijuana is grouped with drugs such as heroin and ecstasy.

 

“Schedule I is for substances that have no medicinal value that are harmful,” said Barbara Carreno, a DEA spokeswoman in Washington, D.C. “Schedules II through V are for substances that have medicinal usage and their level of harm varies. The higher the number, the less harm.”

 

Schedule II drugs include cocaine, oxycodone, opium, methadone and ritalin.

 

State Rep. Charles M. Brunner, D-Bay City, said the push to have marijuana reclassified may have merit.

 

“If it’s something that would help to clarify and to facilitate the voters’ intention, which was to help folks who have chronic illness, it’s certainly something we need to take a look at and possibly do,” Brunner said. “Most people thought it would be something you could go to the drug store and purchase. By changing (the schedule), it could allow that happen.

 

“Part of the problem now is it’s in legal limbo as far as what to do with the federal legislation and state of Michigan legislation,” Brunner said.

 

Rescheduling a substance is not solely up to the DEA, but is a collaborative affair with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Food & Drug Administration, Carreno said.

 

“They do the actual scientific studies, then come back to us with a recommendation,” she said. “In the case of marijuana, until the FDA designates it as a medicine, it can’t be moved out of Schedule I.

 

“Marijuana, especially smoked marijuana, is designated as a substance that has no medicinal value.”

 

Reclassifying marijuana would be step in the right direction, according to Wes Crumby, who grows medical marijuana in northern Bay County.

 

“Reclassification, other than legalization itself, would be the answer,” Crumby said. “The fact marijuana is a Schedule I drug is crazy.”

 

Currently, one Schedule III substance is Marinol, a synthetic form of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana that can be made into an oral medication. Marinol was reclassified from Schedule II to III in 1999.

 

A January DEA document titled “The DEA Position on Marijuana,” states they “support ongoing research into potential medicinal uses of marijuana’s active ingredients,” though they maintain smoked marijuana is not a safe form of medicine.

 

“The proposition that smoked marijuana is ‘medicine’ is, in sum, false–trickery used by those promoting wholesale legalization,” the document states.

 

Michigan is one of 16 states allowing use of marijuana for medical purposes. Under federal law, though, no use of marijuana is legal, and state law simultaneously says sales of medical marijuana is prohibited, but compensation from patient to grower is acceptable.

 

The seemingly contradictory laws leave Michigan law enforcement agencies in a quandary.

 

“They have to set some very clear definitions,” said Bay County Sheriff John E. Miller. “It’s a very vague law. It doesn’t help anybody the way it’s written.”

 

Still, Miller doesn’t think reclassification of marijuana is the solution.

 

View full sizeLathan Gourmas | The Bay City TimesBay County Sheriff John E. Miller

 

“The big problem is some of these people who are selling are supposed to be selling to a certain group of people. They’re selling to anybody who walks in the door. If somebody complies with the laws as they’re written ... I don’t have a problem with it,” he said.

 

Crumby would like to see Michigan join in the effort to have marijuana reclassified, but he’s not optimistic, largely due to what he perceives as the anti-marijuana stance of state Attorney General Bill Schuette, who has joined in legal action to shut down marijuana dispensaries.

 

Despite the DEA being unable to reschedule substances on its own, Carreno said states appealing to them is still worthwhile.

 

“We’re a starting point,” she said. “What the governors are saying is, ‘We think the science has evolved and we’re asking you to look at it again.’ If the FDA were to decided tomorrow that smoked marijuana is a medicine, they would work with us to determine what schedule to put it in.”

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2012/01/michigan_lawmakers_weigh-in_on.html