medical Denver — Colorado’s new medical marijuana law hasn’t even gone into effect, and police, attorneys and lawmakers have identified dozens of problems that could hamper regulation and enforcement.

There are questions about zoning laws. Authorities say it’s hard to investigate compliance. Correct dosages are unknown. It’s difficult to locate potentially dangerous growing operations. And the lack of a federal medical marijuana law raises serious questions for banks.

“We are probably going to have to do some tweaking, but we haven’t seen the regulations that state agencies will put on the books,” said Rep. Tom Massey, a Republican from Poncha Springs who sponsored the measure.

Massey said local communities were given authority to make their own rules regulating dispensaries, but some issues are off-limits, including regulation of caregivers.

Massey said one big issue is finding a way to prevent organized crime from moving in and taking over.

“We’ve heard issues of Russian mafia, the Mexican mafia. We want to make sure this business stays clean and heavily regulated,” Massey said.

Massey said there are no established dosages and it may take years to come up with medical standards. He said patients are allowed to possess two ounces of the drug, but nothing prevents repeat purchases.

Continue Reading >>

The following information has been taken directly from the MI-DCH posting on its website. This is the process for renewing your current Michigan medical Marihuana card.

The renewal application form will be mailed to the registered qualifying patient’s mailing address on file with our office. The form will be mailed approximately 60 days prior to the patient’s registry ID card expiration.
Pursuant to the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act and General Rules, all renewal applications will be approved or denied within 15 days of receipt. If approved, your new registry ID card will expire one year from this approval date.
If you do not submit a renewal application prior to the expiration of your current registry ID card, your card will be NULL and VOID as of the expiration date. After the expiration date, you can no longer submit a renewal application. You can, however, submit a new application.
The following must be submitted with each renewal application:

• RENEWAL Application Form for Registry Identification Card.
• New Physician Certification (required).
• New Caregiver Attestation and copy of caregiver’s current photo ID.
• Required if patient is designating a new caregiver or continuing with their current caregiver.
• Copy of patient’s current photo ID.
• $100.00 application fee or $25.00 application fee if patient submits the appropriate supporting documents.

For patients receiving Social Security Benefits, only these documents will be accepted to determine eligibility for the reduced fee:

• Copy of patient’s Social Security Disability Award Letter.
• Copy of letter from Social Security Administration stating patient is currently receiving disability benefits.
• Document must include the patient’s name and verification of disability.
• Copy of “Notice of Fully Favorable Decision” from the Social Security Administration.
• Document must include the patient’s name and include the last page that verifies the decision of disability.
• Copy of patient’s Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Award Letter.
• Copy of letter from Social Security Administration stating patient is currently receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits.

No other documents from Social Security will be acceptable.
For patients receiving Medicaid Benefits, only these documents will be accepted to determine eligibility for the reduced fee:
Verification that you are currently eligible and receiving FULL Medicaid (not Medicare) benefits.
Copy of MI Health Card or other current Medicaid health plan card.
THE FOLLOWING CANNOT BE USED TO QUALIFY FOR THE REDUCED REGISTRATION FEE:

• Medicare card.
• Bank statements.
• Social Security IRS Form 1099.
• Social Security Yearly Benefits Statement.
• Veteran’s disability.
• Enrollment in the Medicaid Adult Benefit Waiver (ABW) program.
• Participation in the Medicaid spendown program.
• Receipt of social security retirement benefits.

NOTE: If you do not submit acceptable documentation with your renewal application, your application will be denied. You will be able to reapply for the registration by submitting acceptable supporting documents or submit the full $100.00 application fee.

LINK TO .PDF FILE

By Catherine Kavanaugh, Daily Tribune Staff Writer

The ACLU says a Royal Oak man’s pot was illegally confiscated.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan is urging the Royal Oak Police Department not to seize medical marijuana from registered patients.

In a letter sent Teusday to the police chief and city attorney, the ACLU said the city isn’t abiding by the law passed by 60 percent of Michigan voters in 2008.

The ACLU is asking Royal Oak officials to return medical marijuana that it says was illegally confiscated from Christopher Frizzo, 46, during a traffic stop last month or to compensate him for the loss.

Dan Korobkin, ACLU of Michigan staff attorney, said Royal Oak’s police actions reflect a misunderstanding of this new law.

“The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act is clear: if you are a registered medical marijuana patient and you have less than 2.5 ounces of marijuana, it doesn’t matter where you got it from — it can’t be taken from you and you can’t be arrested,” Korobkin said.

Royal Oak City Attorney David Gillam said he received the letter in an e-mail Tuesday morning.

“I did receive the letter and I will review it with the chief of police,” Gillam said.

On Jan. 11, Frizzo, a Royal Oak resident and registered medical marijuana patient who has multiple sclerosis, was stopped by police for an improper lane change on Woodward Avenue. Frizzo admitted to the officer that he was carrying a small amount of marijuana and showed him his registration card. The officer then confiscated the medical marijuana because Frizzo’s supplier is not officially registered as his caregiver.

Following this incident, Police Chief Christopher Jahnke told the Daily Tribune the officer was obligated to confiscate the marijuana. The chief said the 7 grams of marijuana Frizzo

possessed wasn’t for medical use in the eyes of the law.

“He told us he got it from someone other than a caregiver,” Jahnke told the Daily Tribune. “His marijuana — not his medical marijuana — was taken because he got it illegally.”

In its three-page letter dated Feb. 16, the ACLU said the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act prohibits such police action.

Citing the act, the letter says: “Any marihuana … that is possessed, owned, or used in connection with the medical use of marihuana, as allowed under this act, or acts incidental to such use, shall not be seized or forfeited.”

The letter is signed by Korobkin and Michael J. Steinberg, ACLU of Michigan legal director.

The ACLU lawyers said the state act marks a change in Michigan drug law and requires local officials to make adjustments to their law enforcement practices.

“Law enforcement officials must follow the law as it is written, not as they may wish it to be,” Korobkin said.

The ACLU wants Royal Oak to train officers and provide assurance medical marijuana won’t be seized again during traffic stops.

“Innocent registered patients who are complying with the law shouldn’t be subject to arrest or having their medical marijuana confiscated,” Korobkin said.

The ACLU also is asking city officials to return the medical marijuana to Frizzo or compensate him for it. Korobkin didn’t know the value of the 7 grams.

Earlier this month, Frizzo said he wanted to talk to the ACLU because he wondered if Royal Oak police broke the law in seizing his medical marijuana.

“The police have to enforce laws, but I was protected by a law to possess that marijuana,” Frizzo said. “We need to resolve this issue or a lot of patients will suffer. If I have to go somewhere, I can transport it. If I accomplish anything, I want to put aside fears that people will be stopped and their medical marijuana will be taken.”

Original Article - http://www.dailytribune.com/articles/2010/02/17/news/srv0000007626247.txt

Contact Catherine Kavanaugh at cathy.kavanaugh@dailytribune.com or (586) 783-0216. ]]> http://ottawacc.org/2010/02/23/aclu-to-city-return-medical-marijuana/feed/ http://ottawacc.org/2010/02/15/medical-marijuana-clinic-opens-in-kalamazoo/ http://ottawacc.org/2010/02/15/medical-marijuana-clinic-opens-in-kalamazoo/#comments Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:09:34 +0000 admin http://ottawacc.org/?p=533

KALAMAZOO, Mich  — The first full-time medical marijuana clinic in southwest Michigan is open today in Kalamazoo.

Michigan Holistic Health is run by Dr. David Crocker, 44, will open at 500 W. Crosstown Parkway. It will be open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

How the examination works: You will bring your paper work from your current doctor or fax it over and make an appointment. Then you will have an exam and it will be determined by your conditions if you qualify for medical marijuana. You will pay $200 for the exam but only if you actually qualify.

People who come to the clinic will be asked to fill out a medical-history questionnaire just like your regular doctor, provide any medical records, and receive an exam.

Michigan’s medical-marijuana law was passed by voters in November 2008 and went into effect in December 2008 though the first qualifying cards were not distributed until April 2009. The MIDCH is the main regulatory office in Michigan for the Medical marijuana program. They take in the applications, make sure they are accurate, and submit the cards. The law allows registered patients to grow up to 12 plants and possess up to 2.5 ounces or have a registered caregiver grow them for the patient in an enclosed and locked facility.

There are a few medical marijuana clinics in Jackson, Farmington Hills and Southfield and some offer traveling clinic services like the THCF that visits other cities on a schedule.

It’s not unheard of for a voter-ordered change in state law to require additional work by the Legislature. Constitutional amendments and initiatives do leave strings dangling, details missed.

But the move afoot at the Capitol now to tinker with the state’s new medical marijuana regime has a different feel to it. This seems more the stuff of derailing the voters’ intent, rather than executing it.

Among the changes proposed in the Republican-led Senate: Barring registered private citizens from growing marijuana and installing a system of state dispensaries instead.

Backers of the idea cite confusion and the need for closer oversight of how much marijuana is grown. Such concerns are a tad disingenuous in light of the Legislature’s record on medical marijuana.

First, the Legislature never seriously dealt with the issue on its own. It could have tackled all these problems via its own legal acumen; it did not.

Then, when supporters collected the signatures to place the issue before the voters in 2008, legislators had six weeks to act on the topic to bypass a statewide vote.

The legislators, again, sat on their hands. The voters didn’t.

Nearly two-thirds of those voting approved the ballot measure, which, in part, would explicitly “permit registered individuals to grow limited amounts of marijuana for qualifying patients in an enclosed, locked facility.”

That’s not legal mumbo jumbo. The voters knew what was asked of them and they gave a clear answer.

It’s too bad that some lawmakers don’t like the answer the voters provided. But that is not grounds for them to use their state offices to try to short-circuit all this.

And it’s not like lawmakers don’t have other pressing duties at hand.

After all, this is the same Legislature that cannot handle its prime responsibility – passing a balanced budget on time; the same Legislature that can’t impose punishment on itself for its failures; the same Legislature that can’t find a way to immediately reduce lawmakers’ generous, taxpayer-supported lifestyle.

Last Friday, Gov. Jennifer Granholm unveiled a broad array of changes to state government at a Rotary Club luncheon in Lansing. An eyewitness says the audience’s loudest applause was reserved for Granholm’s call for docking lawmakers’ pay for each day they are late in delivering a balanced state budget.

The voters have spoken. The question is, do lawmakers really care what they said?

Source: Lansing State Journal (MI)
Published: February 2, 2010
Copyright: 2010 Lansing State Journal
Website: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/
Link: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20100202/OPINION01/2020304/1086/OPINION01

Cities are taking vastly different approaches to regulating how medical pot is dispensed — from bans in Livonia to months-long moratoriums on marijuana businesses in Grand Rapids and Saginaw, to an environment of open mindedness in Hazel Park, where city leaders see pot dispensaries as a potential revenue source.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan says it is keeping an eye on the dizzying array of laws popping up across the state as local leaders from big cities to rural enclaves try to interpret Michigan’s Medical Marijuana Act, which passed in 2008 by 63 percent and establishes the right of certified patients and caregivers to possess pot. Patients can legally use it.

One caveat all pot peddlers should know: The act does not address dispensaries — places where marijuana can be obtained by certified patients or their caregivers — leaving them vulnerable to interpretation by municipalities.

“A ban is the de-facto law regardless of what a city would pass. There is no protection for dispensaries,” said Brandy Zink, executive director of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association.

In October, President Barack Obama instructed the Justice Department to cease raids on medical dispensaries in 13 states where medical marijuana laws have been passed. Still, many Michigan communities have enacted restrictions on growers or those with hopes of starting a business in the emerging field.

From Bans To ‘Pot Zones’

In Livonia, the City Council amended an ordinance to say any business in violation of local, state or federal law is prohibited. The words “medical marijuana” are absent from the ordinance, yet Livonia Police Chief Bob Stevenson said from conversations he’s had with federal drug officials, dispensing marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

Stevenson said the new ordinance, passed in July, prohibits marijuana dispensaries from obtaining a license to operate in the Wayne County suburb.

“We don’t want to be in the position of sanctioning something that is in violation of federal law,” Stevenson said. “These dispensaries are a business — a million-dollars business … because it’s such a valuable crop. It’s worth a lot.”

Royal Oak, a progressive Oakland county suburb, was on the verge on creating a “pot zone” along Woodward Avenue where growers could open shop. But after the police chief got wind of Livonia’s ordinance, the city is considering following Livonia’s lead and banning dispensaries.

Michael Steinberg of the ACLU said his office stands ready to challenge any ordinance that conflicts with state law. Steinberg reviewed the Livonia ordinance and said it does not ban dispensaries, according to his interpretation.

“The state has occupied the field in regulating medical marijuana, and these municipalities simply can’t regulate it,” Steinberg said. “We have patients and caregivers who are following the law. And it’s the city and municipalities who are flouting it.”

Hazel Park, a blue-collar inner-ring suburb of Oakland County, is one community considering a different approach for medical marijuana as a business.

City Manager Ed Klobucher said the city has been approached by several groups who are interested in creating a business enterprise for medical marijuana in the city.

Proposal To Be Considered

Talks have just begun, and the City Council is expected to soon consider a business proposal for a medical marijuana facility that incorporates a clinic, school and marijuana pickup site where patients can smoke it in the industrial business district.

Medical marijuana cannot be sold to patients under the law, but caregivers who provide the plant in medicinal form are allowed to be compensated for their services.

City Councilman Andy LeCureaux said he has shown a few large-scale industrial buildings to business groups interested in setting up shop in the city.

“We have some industrial sites which would be ideal for a secure grow facility. The people who have approached us have business degrees. They all want it to be above-board legal with community support,” he said.

LeCureaux said Hazel Park needs to amend its zoning laws to make a medical marijuana facility an allowable use outright or make it allowable with a variance.

“For our community I’m looking at this for economic development and stabilizing home values. Some patients, if they see a community which is friendly toward that plight, they may want to relocate to that community,” said LeCureaux, who knows two people who have moved from Ohio to his city in hopes it will become marijuana friendly.

In Grand Rapids, city leaders have enacted a six-month moratorium on medical marijuana distribution until the city’s planning commission can come up with rules for it.

City Planning Director Suzanne Schulz, who has proposed allowing dispensation only from medical facilities and homes, and banning stand-alone dispensaries, said the focus is on controlling the number of dispensaries so they don’t proliferate as they did in Los Angeles.

In January, Los Angeles will consider an ordinance to reduce the number of dispensaries — estimated at 1,000 — and push them out of neighborhoods and into industrial areas.

“The challenge for me was balancing the police position with state law and the concerns of neighborhoods and zoning law decisions. The concern from the planning commission is we don’t want neighborhoods to turn into distributions centers,” Schulz said.

Schulz said Grand Rapids wants to create an ordinance that can be adopted by surrounding communities.

“For local communities, there is not an option of not doing anything. You need to pass a moratorium or come up with some language that discusses these dispensaries,” she said. “You have to provide some protection to the community. If you have nothing on the books, they will say there is no rule for it.”

Note: Some communities devise tough rules as state law leaves gray area on distribution.

Source: Detroit News (MI)
Author: Jennifer Chambers, The Detroit News
Published: January 2, 2010
Copyright: 2010 The Detroit News
Contact: letters@detnews.com
Website: http://www.detnews.com/

With the recent passage of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act by voter initiative, cultivating marijuana is now legal in Michigan, under certain limited circumstances.2 Patients may cultivate up to 12 plants inside “a locked, enclosed facility,” or they may appoint a primary caregiver to grow the plants on their behalf. A caregiver may cultivate medical marijuana for a maximum of five patients, allowing for plots of as many as 60 plants, 72 if the caregiver is a patient himself. A single medical marijuana plant can easily produce upwards of $1,000 worth of herbal medicine.

Primary caregivers cultivating medical marijuana may provide their crop without fear of arrest only to patients to whom they are connected through the state’s Medical Marijuana Registry. On the other hand, there are steep penalties for diversion to the illicit market. There is also an as- yet untested provision in the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act that allows growers providing medical marijuana to unregistered patients to mount a medical necessity defense.

Caregivers may not sell their crop to their patients for a profit. The law does, however, allow caregivers to be “compensated for costs,” which can include both tangible costs such as fertilizer, seed or equipment and intangibles like time, expertise and opportunity costs.

As with any new law, there has been a learning curve as local units of government have tackled the issue of marijuana cultivation. Engaging in a legal agricultural enterprise, medical marijuana cultivators are considered farmers and their plots are regarded farms. As such they are protected by the Michigan Right to Farm Act of 1981 (MI-RTFA)3. Local units of government may not zone out medical marijuana farms or impose conditions of operation more stringent than state regulations. Still, several cities around Michigan have attempted to ban marijuana cultivation entirely and are now facing costly litigation based in part on violations of the MI-RTFA.

Medical marijuana represents a potentially lucrative new crop for Michigan farmers. But it doesn’t have to end there. Hemp, the non-psychoactive cousin of marijuana, is also in high demand as a fiber crop. Millions of dollars of hemp fiber is used in Michigan industry every year. Unfortunately, none of that hemp is grown in Michigan, depriving our struggling economy of much-needed dollars, dollars that instead flow to Ontario just a few score miles away. Changes in state and federal law are desperately needed to clear the way for Michigan farmers to begin growing this valuable crop.

The cannabis plant has been cultivated as long as mankind has engaged in agriculture - it was among the very first domesticated plants. Cannabis was a valuable crop on Michigan farms during our early years and again during World War II. It is only for the last 60 years that cannabis has been conspicuously absent from Michigan fields. After decades of iron-bound prohibition on cultivating this valuable crop, the pendulum has begun to swing back the other way. Marijuana is a crop, the places where it is grown are farms and those who grow it are anxious to take their rightful place as proud members of Michigan’s agricultural community.
Signed
Rev. Steve Thompson, Executive Director MI-NORML, Benzonia
Greg Francisco, M.A., President MI Med MJ Association, Paw Paw
Everett Swift, Executive Director MI-Hemp, Hillman,
Jerry Glasscock, Executive Director UP-NORML, Gilligan.
Cited sources:
1) Marijuana Production in the United States (2006), Jon Gettman, PhD., The Bulletin of Cannabis Reform, Dec 2006, http://www.drugscience.org/Archive/bcr2/MJCropReport_2006.pdf
2) Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, Initiated Law #1 of 2008.
3) Michigan Right to Farm Act, Act 93 of 1981

State Senate Bill 618, introduced by Sen. Wayne Kuipers of Holland, to tighten regulations for the production and distribution of medical marijuana makes my head spin very high. This bill ascends into the clouds.

It would require, among other things, that doctors write prescriptions for medical marijuana and that the pharmacies dispense it. In fact, both of these proposals are ruled out by federal regulations on marijuana, which classifies it as a Schedule 1 drug that doctors may not prescribe and prohibits anyone from distributing it.

The Michigan Medical Marijuana Act of 2008 (MMMA) is written precisely in such a way to avoid coming into conflict with federal laws.

Back in May 2009, when Mr. Kuipers first introduced this bill he stated, “Most people who vote for the medical marijuana law would support these common sense changes.” Really? Every single person I know in the medical marijuana community strongly oppose these changes because they undermine the essence of the ballot initiative passed by a majority of voters in every country in the state, including Ottawa County.

Senate Bill 618 would essentially destroy the MMMA of 2008. The state office responsible for administering the MMMA, the Department of Community Health, for a variety of reasons, has also come out against the bill. Mr. Kuipers has previously stated that his legislation is not meant to condone medical marijuana or undermine the will of the public that overwhelmingly voted to allow usage for medical purposes. Actually, 63 percent of state voters, by passing the ballot initiative, already voted to condone its use, so what he’s talking about makes no sense to me.

It’s true that the production of medical cannabis by state-registered home growers creates the possibility for abusing the law. One realistic solution to this is for the federal government to change its regulations allowing for the production of medical marijuana by a highly regulated industry. But until that happens, the current system or something like it remains the only option.

From what I hear, this flawed bill has very little chance of being passed, thank goodness. This makes me wonder, however, why in the world Senator Kuipers would introduce such a flawed bill, and spend precious time on it, not to mention spending taxpayers money to run state government and pay his salary.

I am now trying to figure out how to bring my high head down to earth, where this bill has taken it. Maybe somebody ought to introduce a bill making it illegal for Mr. Kuipers to needlessly take voters into the stratosphere. I wonder what motives he has for doing so.

Kurt Kalas is a resident of Holland.

Source: Holland Sentinel (MI)
Author: Kurt Kalas
Published: January 25, 2010
Copyright: 2010 The Holland Sentinel
Website: http://www.hollandsentinel.com
Link: http://tiny.cc/2Qccq

As you no doubt are aware, 63% of Michigan voters — and at least 50% of voters in every Michigan county — approved the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (MMMA) in 2008. That kind of resounding support should send a clear message to politicians in Lansing that the people of Michigan support compassionate care for those suffering from debilitating illnesses. We need to make sure Lansing got the message.

A package of bills have been introduced by Sen. Wayne Kuipers (R-30), Sen. Gerald Van Woerkom, (R-34), and Sen. Roger Kahn (R-32) that could render the MMMA ineffective. The bills are scheduled for a hearing this Tuesday, January 19, at 1:00 p.m. before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Sen. Kuipers chairs.

[For members in Senate districts 30, 33, 1, 7, 36, 23, and 8: Your senator is a member of the Judiciary Committee. Please click here (https://ssl.capwiz.com/mpp/issues/alert/?alertid=14552191 ) to contact him or her and ask them to oppose this legislation.]

If you live in the Lansing area, or are able to attend this hearing, please join fellow supporters of medical marijuana by showing up to express your support for the MMMA. Remember that committee hearings are formal proceedings, so please dress and conduct yourself accordingly.

What: Senate Judiciary Committee meeting to consider Senate bills 616-18.
When: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 1:00 p.m.
Where: Room 210, Farnum Building, 125 W. Allegan Street, Lansing, MI 48933

So how does this legislation unravel the MMMA? At first glance, the idea seems innocent. The proposals, Senate Bills 616-18, would reclassify medical marijuana (not marijuana generally) as a “Schedule II” substance in Michigan and change the distribution system to
require it to be dispensed through pharmacies. The problem is that under federal law doctors cannot prescribe and pharmacists cannot dispense marijuana. However, doctors do have a First Amendment right to recommend marijuana, which is how the MMMA works. If this bill passes, no doctor or pharmacist would risk losing their license — or worse, going to prison — by violating federal law. In other words, passage of this bill would mean patients would be denied the medicine their doctor has recommended. As if that weren’t enough, the bills would prohibit home cultivation, preventing patients and their caregivers from growing their own medicine.

Don’t let your vote be ignored. You passed this law just a little over a year ago, and we now need to defend it. Make your voice heard by showing your support for the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act you helped pass. And don’t forget to forward this on to a friend!

Thank you,

Dan Riffle
Legislative Analyst
Marijuana Policy Project