Pubdate: Sat, 11 Sep 2010
Source: Daily Tribune, The (Royal Oak, MI)
Copyright: 2010 The Daily Tribune
Contact:  http://www.dailytribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1579
Author: Catherine Kavanaugh, Daily Tribune Staff Writer
Cited: Commissioner Semchena http://mapinc.org/url/ksalRaoG
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Royal+Oak
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?275 (Cannabis - Michigan)

CALL RISES TO FIX MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

Royal Oak official pushes for grassroots campaign to add provisions 
for growing and sales to statute

Municipalities need to pressure Lansing to remedy the state law that 
legalizes medical marijuana use but doesn't establish manufacturing 
and distribution rules, according to one Royal Oak official.

On Monday, City Commissioner Chuck Semchena will urge his colleagues 
to begin a grassroots campaign to push state lawmakers to amend the 
Medical Marihuana Act with provisions that regulate where the plants 
are grown and how the end products are dispensed to patients.

"There are no fewer than six bills languishing in committee that 
could make the manufacturing and distribution of medical marijuana 
similar to other prescription drugs," Semchena said. "I want to 
kick-start the effort to address this."

The bills pending in Lansing would require the state health 
department to license growing facilities, allow only 10 facilities to 
be licensed per year, limit dispensing to licensed pharmacists, 
prohibit convicted felons from being caregivers, and ban medical 
marijuana clubs or bars.

In the meantime, Royal Oak is facing the expiration of its ban on 
medical marijuana facilities on Oct. 20; legal action from a building 
owner denied an exemption to the moratorium for a growing operation 
that could save the warehouse from foreclosure; and a Sept. 20 public 
hearing for another exemption request by operators of a proposed 
downtown dispensary.

Also, last week the Downtown Development Authority unanimously 
recommended Royal Oak ban medical marijuana facilities by passing a 
local ordinance prohibiting all land uses illegal under federal law. 
Although 14 states legalized medical marijuana use for qualified 
patients, growing, selling and possessing marijuana still violates federal law.

At least 11 Michigan municipalities have bans -- Macomb Township 
could be next -- and at least 23 have moratorium that are expiring. 
Several have or plan to allow growers and distributors in restricted zones.

Macomb Township officials recently directed their attorneys to 
research and draft ordinances that would govern the distribution of 
the drugs without violating the state law that permits its use.

"The law leaves a lot of gray area," said Michael Koehs, Macomb Township clerk.

Koehs said local officials simply need direction on many aspects of 
how and where marijuana should be provided for medical purposes.

"Can somebody open a store in a strip mall ... and grow it and sell 
it?" Koehs said. "We don't think they can."

Mark Grabow, Macomb Township supervisor, agreed with the clerk.

"If this is truly coming down the pike ... we want to get this into 
the correct zone," he said.

Koehs predicted the questions ultimately will have to be resolved by judges.

"It's going to end up in the courts for years," he said. "I really 
believe that."

Last week outside the Oakland County Circuit Court, medical marijuana 
patients and advocates protested the arrest of nearly 20 people 
including drug raids at a Ferndale dispensary called Clinical Relief 
and a Waterford compassion club called Everbody's Cafe.

Ferndale has a 90-day moratorium that expires this week and city 
officials there voted to allow medical marijuana businesses in 
certain industrial and office zones. Clinical Relief opened in June 
before the moratorium.

Undercover officers with the Oakland County Sheriff's Narcotics 
Enforcement Team said they bought medical marijuana without a 
state-issued card certifying they are patients and witnessed 
hand-to-hand drug deals in the parking lot of Ferndale's only 
dispensary. Arrests were made for the illegal growing and selling marijuana.

Oakland County's elected officials have said ambiguities in the state 
law about caregivers, who can grow up to 12 plants each for five 
patients, need to be clarified. Following the raids, Sheriff Michael 
Bouchard said he thinks voters passed the law in 2008 to help people 
suffering from diseases like cancer and multiple sclerosis.

"This has gone far (away) from that," Bouchard at a press conference 
last month, pointing to patients who received medical marijuana cards 
for things such as stomachaches and shoulder pain.

The sheriff said others are using the law to give illegal operations 
an air of legality. During the raids, undercover investigators seized 
guns and found an alligator protecting the product at one location.

"It will get nothing but worse," Bouchard has said. "There will be 
more problems unless the Legislature does its job."

Semchena, a former county drug prosecutor, agrees.

"I don't see any way the current law protects our community from 
violence and crime while allowing distribution to patients who truly 
need the medicine," Semchena said. "I'm convinced that without 
changes in Lansing we're headed toward disaster because every city 
has reduced resources."

Sunday is the last day of work for two Royal Oak firefighters and 
nine police officers pink-slipped earlier this year because of budget 
cuts. The city commissioner said he doesn't want financially strapped 
Michigan cities to see increased police problems.

Semchena points to The White Paper on Marijuana Dispensaries written 
by California police chiefs. The paper says the dispensaries attract 
a criminal element and scare away patrons of neighboring businesses.

"My constituents are saying they voted for medical marijuana because 
they thought doctors would prescribe it and pharmacists would 
distribute it," Semchena said. "The law is very deceptive. It merely 
provides legal defenses for activities similar to the traditional 
illegal manufacturing and distribution of narcotics. The state needs 
to structure a better way to serve patients without hurting communities." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake