Editorial: Justices Bring Clarity To Medical Pot Law

[legacy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120603/OPINION01/206030310/Editorial-Justices-bring-clarity-medical-pot-law?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p

 

 

Unanimous state Supreme Court ruling sets forth standards of protection for marijuana users

• 6 Comments
  

 

 

 

 

The justices of the Michigan Supreme Court, unanimously, have done the state and medical marijuana users a service by clarifying when and how patients can assert their medical needs as a legal defense. The justices followed the wishes of the drafters and voters who supported the use of medical marijuana in a statewide vote in 2008. Now it's up to state lawmakers to complete the job of creating a fair regulatory structure for medical marijuana use.

The justices' ruling is also helpful because it includes a digest of the ruling at the end of the opinion which summarizes their holdings. That should help end confusion and needless prosecutions and court and law enforcement expenses both for possible marijuana defendants and law enforcement officials. The justices, in an opinion written by Mary Beth Kelly, were also clear that marijuana production and use without a genuine medical need remains a crime under Michigan law.

Now that the Supreme Court has set forth the standards for asserting a medical marijuana use defense, state senators should pass a package of bills adopted by the state House that tightens rules for obtaining a medical marijuana card. The legislation requires that patients wishing to obtain a marijuana use card would have to undergo an in-person examination by a physician who would be required to review their medical history. The cards would have to have a photo ID, but they would be good for two years rather than one, as is the case under the current law.

The personal examination requirement would also end the possibility of mail-order marijuana use cards issued by out-of-state physicians.

The proposed statutory reform does not deal with the issue of pot dispensaries, which were springing up around the state before they were discouraged by police raids. We have suggested some alternatives. One would be the creation of a system of licensed commercial marijuana producers, as is done in Canada. The producers could be subject to quality and safety regulations, as are producers of other medicines. They could also be subjected to fees to cover the government's monitoring expenses.

Another alternative would be to create a regulatory system similar to the state gaming commission, which could institute its own regulatory scheme for dispensaries or marijuana producers.

The point of such regulations would not be to choke off the supply of medical marijuana to legitimate users, but to make sure it is free from harmful admixtures and is effective in relieving pain.

The Supreme Court ruling is a fine start on refining Michigan's medical marijuana law.

 

 

From The Detroit News:

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120603/OPINION01/206030310#ixzz1wlug9xbt

[Croppled1]

The discrimination just keeps fueling ways people try to convince others of the need for their corrpupt ways to create profit layers surrounding medical cannabis that patients do not want nor can afford . There was none of this back in in the late 30's in Michigan when cannabis was last manafactured and dispensed in pharmacies which Federal Law prohibits now . If people just focused on protecting patients involved in all aspects of medical need in every instance and developing a supported legal mechanism for their needs within the State that didn't increase expenses for them we would move forward in the baby steps required for Federal Law to catch up eventually .

 

I know what I voted for in 2008 . To give patients a chance to use cannabis innexpensively as medicine though their are no guarantees . It is time medical patients were off limits to the out of control substance abuse and criminal justice system . Isn't that what this law was really about ? Not the butting heads over for profit schemes of entities on both sides of prohibition within State borders .

Edited June 3, 2012 by Croppled1

[cristinew]

Justices Bring Clarity To Medical Pot Law

 

 

send that to the senate and house