Callton Lights Up Regulated Medical Marijuana Dispensary Bill

[jamieuke]

Callton Lights Up Regulated Medical Marijuana Dispensary Bill

 

 

A House workgroup committed to exploring ways to improve the state's medical marijuana law hasn't completed work on the biggest outstanding issue -- Dispensaries.

 

Rep. Mike CALLTON (R-Nashville) took care of that problem today.

 

The shops that allowed those with medical marijuana cards to legal purchase weed were shut down by the courts, but Callton wants to bring them back but under stricter regulations. Those who don't comply could be hit with hefty fines.

 

Callton said he did not vote for the medical marijuana ballot proposal in 2008 because he thought the language would create problems.

 

"It turned out worse than I thought it would be," he said. "I don't think voters envisioned doctors coming in from out of state, getting a hotel room and giving out 100 prescriptions in a day, or Internet doctors where there is not a bona fide doctor patient relationship. I don't think they envisioned people using the law to cover what I would consider illicit drug behavior."

 

He said some of the dispensaries he has visited seem like a front for illegal drug transactions, while others have been a model for how he thinks dispensaries should be run.

 

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled last year that if someone qualifies for a medical marijuana card, they can grow the substance for their own use but can't pay for the legal grass at a "pot shop" or anywhere else (See "COA: You Can Smoke But You Can't Sell," 4/24/11).

 

Callton said dispensaries were not provided for in the original medical marijuana law, but he would like to see them set up as places where people who need marijuana can go and feel safe obtaining it.

 

He told the story of a 75-year-old woman with tremors who uses medical marijuana to help her sleep at night.

 

"If it helps a 75-year-old woman sleep it is a wonderful thing," Callton said.

 

He said he wants that woman to feel just as comfortable going into a dispensary as she would feel going into a pharmacy.

 

Local control is another important issue addressed in the bill, he said. Communities should be able to decide what is best for their area, he said, noting differences between what kind of dispensary might fit in somewhere like Ann Arbor as opposed to somewhere in his district.

 

Another concern his bill aims to address is what happens with the excess marijuana patients grow on their own.

 

In his conversations with patients, they seem to just be burning it for now, he said.

 

"That's not what I wanted to hear," Callton said.

 

His bill would have dispensaries buy overages of medical marijuana that patients grow. The bill would also call for the testing of marijuana to see whether it has any mold or small bugs like aphids.

 

When it comes to regulating who could work at a dispensary, Callton said his bill aims to prevent people with drug felonies from working or operating a dispensary.

[quietone]

Duplicate topic.