Pubdate: Sun, 26 Sep 2010
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright: 2010 Detroit Free Press
Contact: http://www.freep.com/article/99999999/opinion04/50926009
Website: http://www.freep.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/125
Author: L.L. Brasier
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?275 (Cannabis - Michigan)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.)

HAZE CLOUDS STATE POLICY ON DISTRIBUTION OF MEDICAL POT

Unlike Michigan, Some States Have Allowed Clinics to Take Hold, Prosper

With nearly 28,000 Michigan residents now registered as patient 
users, the state is proving a hot spot in the national debate on 
medical marijuana use.

Battles are looming in courtrooms and soon, many experts say, in the 
Legislature. At issue: How to get marijuana -- which has proven 
medical benefits -- to the legitimate patients who need it?

Law enforcement contends some users and distributors are skirting the 
law by operating loosely run dispensaries and so-called compassion 
clubs, even though the law doesn't specifically allow such businesses.

Medical marijuana advocates counter that the law doesn't disallow the 
dispensaries, either, and that the shops in storefronts and 
restaurants provide a safe place for suffering patients to get needed medicine.

"Running a dispensary in Michigan, under current law, is very risky, 
and I would advise against it," said Keith Stroup, founder of the 
National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (NORML).

Thirteen other states and the District of Columbia also are grappling 
with how best to distribute the drug to those in need.

Where Medical Marijuana Flourishes

On any given day, between 700 and 800 people visit Harborside Health 
Center, a low, sleek building in Oakland, Calif., that is filled with 
natural light, vases of flowers and soft music.

They arrive -- some by bike or skateboard -- to purchase their 
medical marijuana, standing in line in front of eight glass display 
cases holding dozens of varieties of cannabis.

The patients, whose ailments range from insomnia and anxiety to 
cancer and HIV, have their choice of fresh green marijuana buds with 
names like Hindu Skunk and White Rhino, prewrapped marijuana 
cigarettes, live plants, edibles, tinctures and lotions. It is the 
largest medical marijuana dispensary in the nation, generating $20 
million in sales each year, and -- some say -- a model of how 
regulated medical marijuana can succeed.

"The message is you have to be as professional as the best retail 
stores, and you have to have a heart of gold," said the center's 
founder, Steven DeAngelo, a nationally known marijuana activist. 
Oakland officials are so pleased with the medical marijuana business 
in their community that the City Council voted 5-2 in July to 
authorize zoning to allow construction soon of four large indoor 
marijuana farms, each about the size of a football field.

Like California, Michigan and 12 other states plus the District of 
Columbia now have in place laws that allow physicians to prescribe 
marijuana to their patients. Another eight states have legislation pending.

Some states, including California and Maine, now mandate that the 
drug be dispensed only through nonprofit dispensaries licensed by 
state and local governments.

The communities that many law enforcement and advocates say appear to 
be managing medical marijuana distribution the best -- where there 
are few raids, arrests or court challenges -- are those that closely 
regulate the way marijuana is distributed.

Few appear to have it down as well as Oakland, Calif. Elsewhere, pot 
wars are breaking out mostly because communities can't decide how, 
when or where marijuana should be dispensed.

In Michigan, more than a dozen people face charges of drug possession 
and trafficking following August raids in Oakland County. Others 
raids have occurred in Lapeer County, and there have been scattered 
arrests throughout the state. The arrests and seizures have prompted 
protests at area courthouses and calls for clearer legislation.

Earlier this month, Michigan Appeals Judge Peter O'Connell, in a 
concurring opinion upholding a recent arrest, lamented the state law 
as "inartfully drafted," and confusing enough to put well-intentioned 
people at risk of prosecution.

"Pressure and confusion results from trying to operate under a system 
where no one has stepped forward and stated specifically what actions 
are legal and what actions are not," he wrote.

The Major Flaw

Both law enforcement and marijuana advocates say the major flaw in 
Michigan's 2008 law is a lack of direction on how, exactly, patients 
are supposed to get their marijuana. The law says patients with 
serious pain or illnesses like cancer or HIV may possess 2 1/2 ounces 
of marijuana or 12 plants. They may also contract with a licensed 
caregiver to provide the marijuana.

That's where the problems begin. The caregivers, who are sometimes 
patients themselves, are allowed to provide marijuana to up to five 
patients. Sometimes there are households with numerous patients and 
caregivers, so technically, that household is allowed dozens of 
plants. In effect, it becomes a large-scale marijuana business. That 
marijuana is sometimes sold in so-called compassion clubs and 
dispensaries, even though the law does not address dispensaries at all.

Keith Stroup, founder of the National Organization to Reform 
Marijuana Laws, (NORML) and perhaps the nation's best known marijuana 
advocate, said he fields calls weekly from people interested in 
getting into the marijuana business.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, who launched the August 
raids on suppliers in Waterford and Ferndale, witnessed the protests 
that followed.

"They should be protesting in Lansing, not here," he said.

Similar raids took place earlier this month in Nevada, which, like 
Michigan, has no provision in its law for dispensaries.

In Colorado -- one of the most liberal when it comes to medical 
marijuana -- the Denver City Council is looking for ways to rein in 
hundreds of unregulated dispensaries.

The dispensaries began springing up in 2009 -- the year U.S. Attorney 
General Eric Holder announced the federal government would not pursue 
prosecutions in medical marijuana cases.

Taking Charge

The success of Harborside in Oakland, Calif. -- and the three others 
licensed to operate in that Bay Area city -- appears to rest in 
stringent licensing by state and local government.

Until two years ago, Oakland -- like many communities in Michigan -- 
had no mechanisms in place to regulate dispensaries. There were 14 
operating there, some of them essentially like drug houses.

But California changed its law to require that dispensaries be 
nonprofit collectives. The City of Oakland went even further, 
requiring detailed floor plans, security systems and city-mandated 
audits. The city prohibited the dispensaries from locating near 
schools, recreation centers or drug treatment facilities.

As nonprofits, the dispensaries have to plow the money back into the 
community. Harborside supports local charities and offers free 
massage therapy, yoga, riku acupuncture, gardening classes and stress 
management. There have been no raids, arrests or court challenges. 
The center has 54,000 patients on its registry as a collective.

"We are truly a nonprofit, community service organization with 
demonstrable benefits to the community," said Harborside's DeAngelo. 
He added that Harborside contracts with a lab to test all the 
marijuana it handles to ensure purity.

Other states are monitoring the success. Maine recently passed a 
marijuana law, but has not yet licensed the six dispensaries it plans 
to allow. The first is expected to open in January.

Like the ones in Oakland, the Maine dispensaries will be strictly 
monitored nonprofit agencies.

The nonprofit New Maine Northeast Patients Group will oversee some of 
the dispensaries. Rebecca Dekeuster, the group's CEO, was lured to 
that job after managing a California dispensary.

Dekeuster has studied medical marijuana laws nationwide.

"We think that cities that regulated early and really tackled the 
issue head on had more success than cities that either ignored it, or 
thought it would work itself out," she said. "What we find is that 
when they are operated as nonprofit community organizations, they can 
be good neighbors."

What appears to be clear through all the smoky haze is that, despite 
a rocky start in places like Michigan, medical marijuana is not going away.

"It is a massive movement, and frankly, I don't think anyone doubts 
that we are winning it," said NORML's Stroup, a Washington, D.C., 
attorney who founded the organization in 1970. "I think our time has 
finally come. We've made more progress in the last five years than 
the last 30. I think it's because we've outlived our opponents."

Michigan Law Confusing

Michigan, though, will likely continue to be a hot spot -- at least 
until something is done about the current law. The state House voted 
Thursday to send to Gov. Jennifer Granholm a bill banning the sale of 
K2, a synthetic form of dried herbs that mimics the high from 
marijuana and is currently sold over the counter statewide, often 
packaged as incense or potpourri. If signed by the governor as 
expected, the measure would go into effect Friday.

Beyond that, however, there has been little movement so far in the 
Legislature toward reopening discussion about the state's medical 
marijuana law.

"We get calls every day from people who have been raided," said 
attorney Matthew Abel, whose Detroit law firm, Cannabis Counsel, 
specializes in pot cases.

"That's not going to change until somebody is willing to go to jail 
to fight it out." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake