Michigan Government Steals Discounts From The Disabled

[The Compassion Chronicles]

The agency responsible for administering Michigan’s medical marijuana program silently changes the program to the disadvantage of the sick and injured- again!

 

 

 

LANSING- In an unannounced policy change, the Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Department has made it more difficult for the disabled to enroll in the state Medical Marihuana Program (MMP) by removing a discounted registration rate that had existed for five years.

 

The change was not announced via press release or through letters sent to discount recipients. Patients and caregivers reported seeing a new chart on LARA’s website to operators of certification centers and other related businesses. The chart is called “Supporting documentation for reduced fee eligibility” and indicates that it was revised on 6/2013. Disability is now listed as ‘not eligible’ for a discounted rate; the registration fee is normally $100 and the discounted rate is $25.

 

“It seems really unfair to do that without a public hearing,” said Matthew Abel, an attorney with the firm of Cannabis Counsel and the current Executive Director of Michigan NORML.

 

This is the second time LARA has changed longstanding policy under new head Steve Arwood, appointed by Governor Snyder earlier this year. Soon after his appointment Arwood bounced MMP head Celeste Clarkston and disbanded the New Conditions Panel of mostly physicians that endorsed adding Parkinson’s Disease and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to the list of conditions qualifying a person to receive a recommendation to use medicinal marijuana. He then discarded their recommendations and has announced he will compose his own advisory board of physicians.

 

The panel was assembled with much fanfare in 2012, after a four year delay, had met several times and proposed to consider two new conditions to the list, asthma and autism. Clarkston reported in media during 2012 about the careful and precise composition of the Panel during its formation; Arwood’s reason for dismissing the Panel is that the membership was not appropriate. Also gone is longtime member of the MMP staff Rae Ramsdell, leaving the MMP leaderless and being steered by Arwood.

 

Get the rest of the story here-

 

 

http://www.thecompassionchronicles.com/2013/06/12/lara-steals-discounts-from-the-disabled/