Patients Can't Smoke In Parked Cars At Public Places, Court Rules

[t-pain]

http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2015/11/michigan_medical_marijuana_pat_1.html

 

Jonathan Oosting | joosting@mlive.com By Jonathan Oosting | joosting@mlive.com

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on November 25, 2015 at 11:41 AM, updated November 25, 2015 at 11:42 AM

 

LANSING, MI — Registered medical marijuana patients cannot smoke the drug in their own car while parked outside a private business that is open to the general public, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.

 

An appeals court panel, in a 2-1 decision, concluded that Michigan's voter-approved medical marijuana law does not provide protections for patients who use the drug under those circumstances.

 

The case involved Michigan resident , a registered medical marijuana patient who was charged after smoking in his car while parked in a lot outside the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant.

 

____'s attorney had argued he should be immune from prosecution because his car was not a place open to the public, an argument judges at the district and circuit court level agreed with.

 

But Court of Appeals judges Michael Kelly and Christopher Murray disagreed, concluding _______ was ultimately in a public place, which means immunity provisions in the medical marijuana law do not apply.

 

"The lot remains a public place and the fact that a person in a vehicle occupies a place that can be characterized as private in some limited sense does not alter the fact that the person is at the same time located in a public place," the judges wrote in the majority opinion.

 

"And, as with the bathroom stall, whether the members of the general public are able to see the person smoking medical marijuana does not alter the public character of the place."

 

COA Judge Douglas Shapiro disagreed with the majority in a published dissent. He noted that Michigan's medical marijuana law specifically prohibits smoking the drug on any form of public transportation, suggesting vehicles could be seen as private places in some circumstances.

 

"For this reason, I think the majority is too quick to ignore the common-sense privacy component of a personal vehicle," Shapiro wrote.

 

"The majority looks only at whether the vehicle itself is in a place defined as public. But the statutory language leaves open the possibility that in some circumstances a private vehicle can constitute a 'private place' even though it is located in an area to which the public has access."

 

The ruling is the latest in a list of narrow court interpretations of Michigan's 2008 medical marijuana law, which created a system of patients and caregivers who can grow a limited number of plants.

 

The Michigan Legislature is currently considering plans to create a more regulated medical marijuana system with licensed dispensaries, growers and other related businesses.

 

Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.4

[+Malamute]

Bend Over. Our Republican Judiciary  strikes again.

 

Majority Opinion: carlton20151124_C321630_44_321630.OPN.pdf

 

Partial Dissent: carltonP v Carlton - partial concurrence.pdf

 

Deals with "public place".

 

And more...

[t-pain]

coa doesnt understand private property at all.

[+Malamute]

MIRS Breaking News - COA: Smoking Medical Marijuana In Parked Car Not Safe From Police -- 9:51 a.m.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

A medical marijuana patient found smoking in his or her parked car in public is not shielded from criminal prosecution under the state's current law, the Court of Appeals ruled today. 

Robert CARLTON argued the state's Medical Marihuana Act (MMA) protected him from a misdemeanor pursued by the Isabella County prosecutor when police found him smoking in the Soaring Eagle Casino parking lot. 

But a split 2-1 Court of Appeals agreed with prosecutors that while Carlton's car was private, that private car was in a public place. The ruling signed by Appellate Judges Michael KELLY and Christopher MURRAY overturned a circuit court and district court ruling that had let Carlton off the hook. 

The Court also asked the District Court to reconsider its decision to deny the prosecutor a chance to tack on a second charge to Carlton - improperly transporting medical marijuana, since police found four bags of medical marijuana in a Styrofoam cooler on his passenger seat floorboard. 

In a dissenting opinion, Judge Doug SHAPIRO wrote he believes the question of whether a person's car is a public or private place should be left for a jury. 

He also questioned whether the prosecutor's decision to seek a second charge was intended to punish Carlton for fighting the original charge. If that was the case, Carlton's due process was violated. 

[Highlander]

Crappy ruling for sure. I'd like to know more about the incident since this happened on tribal property where the MMMA protections don't apply. Was he arrested by tribal police or the state cops? I'm wondering how he even got a chance to assert MMMA protections.

[t-pain]

oops, merged topics and it went the wrong way. oh well.

[+Malamute]

Suuuure,...you just wanted top billing.... ;-)

[t-pain]

i beat you by 3 minutes....

 

what do you think mal? will the supreme court rule that cars are private property? or that "in public" includes you and your car?

[+Malamute]

Cars are private property. 

 

 From there, who knows.

 

It seems if I just imagine the stupidest worst logic to rule on a case, I end up with Michigan Court decisions regularly.

[+Malamute]

i beat you by 3 minutes....

 

 

 

Yea yea,.. just because I was uploading the cases!

 

;-p

[GregS]

Coa jurisprudence is absurd. The Supreme Court has called them out repeatedly, and will again if this makes it that far.

[bobandtorey]

Casino’s parking   i have also seen cannabis at the VA in the parking lot it's not a good idea i remember Mr. Beck telling us we could use cannabis while setting in your car on Bell Island   

 

​i wouldn't do it 

[t-pain]

i mean, a casino parking lot is not "public". are kids even allowed in the casino?

[+Malamute]

There are dozens of definitions of "public place" in Michigan code.  They chose to choose the most retentive.

[Highlander]

What is absent from this opinion are some basic statutory interpretation requirements.  The MMMA specifically excludes use of MMJ in a public transportation vehicle but is silent on private vehicles.  This necessarily means that use of MMJ in a private vehicle is OK.  What exactly does this ruling accomplish, even for anti-MMJ folks?  If a patient is staying in a hotel and doesn't want to medicate in the room, maybe because it is a non-smoking room or maybe because he doesn't want to permeate the hotel with MMJ smoke smell, then medicating in his car in the parking lot is a good option. 

[Highlander]

There are dozens of definitions of "public place" in Michigan code.  They chose to choose the most retentive.

 

With the new transport law regarding the OKness of having plants in a vehicle with some restrictions, it seems  that this same idea would extend to a patient medicating in a car while not on a public road.  As long as the medicating patient doesn't have a non-patient in the car and as long as he's not on a public road, medicating in one's car should be OK.  Bleh.  I'm hating on the COA today.

[+Malamute]

To me, if you need a warrant or consent to search it, it is not public regardless of where it is.

[Highlander]

To me, if you need a warrant or consent to search it, it is not public regardless of where it is.

 

That's a very good, boiled-down analysis of the matter. 

 

I don't like comparing MMJ to alcohol, but I've never heard of anyone being arrested for taking a few swigs in a parking lot. 

 

When I got my first cert from THCF, I was advised I shouldn't medicate in a place where I wouldn't have sex.  It seemed reasonable at the time, but as I rethink it now, there is a big difference between having sex and medicating.  I don't want to show up in the parking lot at my kids' school and see a couple f'ing in their car.  But I'm OK with a guy sitting in his car and swallowing some pain pills or toking a joint before he goes into the building for a graduation ceremony. 

[medmanmike]

MIRS Breaking News - COA: Smoking Medical Marijuana In Parked Car Not Safe From Police -- 9:51 a.m.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

A medical marijuana patient found smoking in his or her parked car in public is not shielded from criminal prosecution under the state's current law, the Court of Appeals ruled today. 

Robert CARLTON argued the state's Medical Marihuana Act (MMA) protected him from a misdemeanor pursued by the Isabella County prosecutor when police found him smoking in the Soaring Eagle Casino parking lot. 

But a split 2-1 Court of Appeals agreed with prosecutors that while Carlton's car was private, that private car was in a public place. The ruling signed by Appellate Judges Michael KELLY and Christopher MURRAY overturned a circuit court and district court ruling that had let Carlton off the hook. 

The Court also asked the District Court to reconsider its decision to deny the prosecutor a chance to tack on a second charge to Carlton - improperly transporting medical marijuana, since police found four bags of medical marijuana in a Styrofoam cooler on his passenger seat floorboard. 

In a dissenting opinion, Judge Doug SHAPIRO wrote he believes the question of whether a person's car is a public or private place should be left for a jury. 

He also questioned whether the prosecutor's decision to seek a second charge was intended to punish Carlton for fighting the original charge. If that was the case, Carlton's due process was violated.

 

So, this would apply to an RV in a public campground?

[+Malamute]

read the opinions.  they chose not to rule on it.

[t-pain]

What is absent from this opinion are some basic statutory interpretation requirements.  The MMMA specifically excludes use of MMJ in a public transportation vehicle but is silent on private vehicles.  This necessarily means that use of MMJ in a private vehicle is OK.

imo "if it is silent, it means its OK" is adding surplusage to the act. which the msc has ruled against anyone doing.

[t-pain]

When I got my first cert from THCF, I was advised I shouldn't medicate in a place where I wouldn't have sex.  It seemed reasonable at the time, but as I rethink it now, there is a big difference between having sex and medicating.  I don't want to show up in the parking lot at my kids' school and see a couple f'ing in their car.  But I'm OK with a guy sitting in his car and swallowing some pain pills or toking a joint before he goes into the building for a graduation ceremony.

(2) Possess marihuana, or otherwise engage in the medical use of marihuana:

 

(A) in a school bus;

 

(B) on the grounds of any preschool or primary or secondary school; or

 

your analogy is bunk.

[t-pain]

they went back to 1935! just to say your front porch was a public place lol

 

that 1935 ruling is pretty messed up too.

defendant didnt get a jury trial. the court convicted him of indecent exposure by being naked on his porch.

 

but indecent exposure can happen anywhere, even in a private space, so relying on that ruling to define a public space, AFTER the coa said it would use the plain meaning of words, is mentally handicapped.

[bobandtorey]

 If a car was public then police would never need a search warrant ?

[t-pain]

coa is trying to say that "in plain sight" is part of " in a public place" aka SURPLUSAGE