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Metro Times - Getting Carded- LARA Printer


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I would like to provide an update to Metro Times readers to follow up on your article “Getting carded: Fuming over how many months it takes for the state to issue medical marijuana cards,” which outlined the challenge the Michigan Medical Marijuana Program has faced in meeting demand.

 

It’s true we have difficulty issuing medical marijuana cards but we are making improvements by adding more staff, and securing additional space and equipment to better serve the needs of approved medical marijuana patients. By adding staff, we are now processing applications with two days of receipt, however as noted in your article, we are not able to get the cards in patients’ hands fast enough. We are continuing to make adjustments to keep up with demand and to better serve our customers.

 

Currently we have two printers printing 800 cards a day, which is not keeping up with demand so we’ve ordered new high speed equipment. Once the new printer arrives, we will be able to print 4,000 cards per day and should be able to be caught up with backlog in two to three weeks. We are also relocating staff to a bigger space to accommodate the paperwork and maintain confidentiality.

 

To address immediate needs, we have issued tamper-proof letters to 40,000 patients and 17,000 caregivers confirming the issuance and alerting law enforcement officials of the letter’s authenticity until a card arrives. According to state law, after the 20 days processing and printing time have elapsed, the application can then be considered valid registry identification but we understand that there are concerns that may arise with employers, law enforcement officials and others who may question the validity.

 

I apologize that the writer, and other customers, may find our voice mail box full on occasion but I assure you we are checking it multiple times a day. But since the issue of medical marijuana is a new frontier in many respects and many issues are unknown due to the limitations of the law, you have to understand we are getting thousands of calls a day on all things related to the issue of marijuana. Although our role according to state law is to register applicants, we continue to receive many calls from law enforcement, municipal officials, dispensaries, patients, educators, health professionals regarding a variety of legal issues outside the scope of our expertise and not provided for in statute. I promise we are doing the best we can in helping our customers with the resources we have to address a law that is vague at best. In an effort to keep our customers up-to-date on the issue of medical marijuana registration, we do update our website regularly at www.michigan.gov/mmp with the latest information, FAQs and data.

 

In closing, let me share some statistics which I think will help put in perspective in the uphill battle we have faced in meeting demand for the registry. When the law was passed, we were advised that the state could expect approximately 2,000 to 50,000 applicants. To date, we have received 222,413 applications and issued 131,483 patient registrations and there are no signs of applications slowing down as yet. Thankfully by adding the staff, and relocating to bigger offices and adding new equipment in the weeks ahead, we will be better able to reduce the wait time for medical marijuana cards.

 

Sincerely, Rae Ramsdell, Director

 

Bureau of Health Professions

 

Michigan Department of Licensing & Regulatory Affairs

 

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To address immediate needs, we have issued tamper-proof letters to 40,000 patients and 17,000 caregivers confirming the issuance and alerting law enforcement officials of the letter’s authenticity until a card arrives.

 

At least one grey area was cleared up here... if this letter is official.

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Here is what I don't get, 800 cards a day x 365 days a year = 292,000 cards per year. Even if they only run for half of the days, that should be enough to keep up with demand. How is a faster printer going to help when it obviously isn't the printer that is the bottleneck, but the data entry?

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I promise we are doing the best we can in helping our customers with the resources we have to address a law that is vague at best.

 

There is NOTHING vague about 20 days.

 

Get off your a$$ and do your job.

 

How about this for a new law: Any time the department fails to issue the ID card within 20 days the director goes to jail for thirty days.

Edited by peanutbutter
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better yet if they fail to have the card out withing 20 days (ill even give em a month) then the person whom applied get the card and a refund

 

These folks seem to think it's a mild inconvenience if we don't get our cards in time.

 

Sorry .. you screw up the cards and we go to jail. We have our property stolen. Even our children taken from us.

 

People are in jail AT THIS MOMENT because of the arrogant people running the printers.

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People that had property stolen by police because of Rae Ramsdell need their property returned.

 

People that are in jail because of Rae Ramsdell need to released NOW.

 

People that have had their children taken from then because of Rae Ramsdell need to have them returned NOW.

 

Persons unjustly attacked because of Rae Ramsdell need to have their legal fees returned to them.

 

Above all else .. fire that ******** .. today.

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We all know you are breaking the law by not issuing the cards on time.

 

This has caused innocent persons to go to jail.

 

Fire her.

 

Then every officer in Michigan .. every court officer .. stop arresting patients.

Stop being our enemy.

 

Persons refusing to do so should be subject to penalties.

 

Persons damaged by refusal to comply by the state should be made whole with triple damages paid to the victim or the survivors of the victims.

 

Failure to investigate such allegations needs to be a new crime.

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Rich Neil in Petosky is a victim of this process.

 

Failure to issue cards in a reasonable time, has Rich in jail at this moment.

 

Failure to issue cards in a reasonable time, has caused Riches sister to lose her children, and landed her in jail also.

 

Failure to issue cards in a reasonable time, has caused Riches wife to have her nose broken and then strip searched.

 

Failure to issue the cards in time and failure of local officials to respect the law.

 

Abuse of this nature continues to take place in isolated areas of Michigan.

 

Another form of abuse that takes place is when armed thugs burst into our homes and rob us.

 

They leave. We can't do anything about it. Because the armed thugs wore badges.

 

If we complain about it, we will have charges pressed against us.

 

Many times the armed thugs will return several times.

 

They take everything.

 

That was supposed to stop.

 

Failure to have cards issued on time contributes to the ability of this armed robbery to continue.

 

This problem is on going. It doesn't seem to be slowing down.

 

Who do we talk to about bad cops?

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Rich Neil in Petosky is a victim of this process.

 

Failure to issue cards in a reasonable time, has Rich in jail at this moment.

 

Failure to issue cards in a reasonable time, has caused Riches sister to lose her children, and landed her in jail also.

 

Failure to issue cards in a reasonable time, has caused Riches wife to have her nose broken and then strip searched.

 

Failure to issue the cards in time and failure of local officials to respect the law.

 

Abuse of this nature continues to take place in isolated areas of Michigan.

 

Another form of abuse that takes place is when armed thugs burst into our homes and rob us.

 

They leave. We can't do anything about it. Because the armed thugs wore badges.

 

If we complain about it, we will have charges pressed against us.

 

Many times the armed thugs will return several times.

 

They take everything.

 

That was supposed to stop.

 

Failure to have cards issued on time contributes to the ability of this armed robbery to continue.

 

This problem is on going. It doesn't seem to be slowing down.

 

Who do we talk to about bad cops?

This should be a letter to the legislators. Every Rep. should read this at the next hearing!

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Its truly an outrage that a former CEO of Gateway would allow for such poor customer service.

 

It is shameful that Governor Snyder allows staffers in his administration to perform so poorly in the relatively simple matter of obtaining a printer.

 

Is that why Gateway went out of business, because they struggled to get printers to the hapless customers who bought their computers?

 

Why Gateway Went Out of Business

 

WhyGatewayWentOutofBusiness.jpg

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