Pubdate: Sun, 31 Oct 2010
Source: Oakland Press, The (MI)
Copyright: 2010 The Oakland Press
Contact:  http://www.theoaklandpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2114
Author: Carol Hopkins

LAWMAKERS' CALLS TO CLARIFY MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW MAY GO UNHEEDED IN 
LAME-DUCK SESSION

In Michigan's ongoing medical marijuana debate, many people in law 
enforcement -- who complain the act doesn't provide them with 
specifics -- say Lansing legislators should provide badly needed 
clarifications.

A survey of Oakland County legislators shows they agree, but they 
don't have an immediate plan of action.

Michigan voters approved medical marijuana by 63 percent in November 2008.

State Rep. Chuck Moss, R-Birmingham, noted voters said medical 
marijuana will be legal "but beyond that, they didn't say a whole lot."

Moss said that while it's legal to have medical marijuana, there is 
"no framework for doing it."

"It's like saying everyone can drive a car, but for example, do I 
need headlights?"

Moss said if marijuana is a medicine, it has to be regulated.

"You should know who you are buying it from," he said. "Is the dosage 
right, is the quality right? You can't say, 'Here is aspirin I made 
in my basement.' What is the protection for the patient?"

Moss said the state is going to have to look at existing medical 
marijuana laws.

"It doesn't look like California has done a good job," he said.

Moss wasn't sure when the 2011 Legislature might take up any changes 
to the law.

"I don't know who will be in charge," he said. "We should do something."

Both supporters of medical marijuana and law enforcement have lobbied 
legislators, Moss said.

"Law enforcement has said, 'You put us in an impossible situation,'" 
Moss said. He looked ahead to next year.

"We're going to have a lot to do in the next session -- with a new 
governor. We'll be thinking about the tax code, regulations and red 
tape, the size and cost of government. Medical marijuana? Maybe that, too."

On the question of medical marijuana regulations, state Rep. Vicki 
Barnett, D-Farmington Hills, said, "Something needs to happen.

"The act was very broad. It was overwhelmingly supported. There is a 
lack of implementation laws causing conflict between state and 
federal (enforcement). Local officials have talked (to legislators) 
and asked what are their obligations, what are they allowed and 
prevented from doing? It's very vague."

Barnett said officials in units of government "don't know what they 
are required to do and a lot have put in moratoriums. There is a need 
to clarify the implementation of the act.

"I doubt it will happen this year, but I hope it will happen soon. 
It's not good to keep people in limbo."

State Sen. Gilda Jacobs, D-Huntington Woods, said of the law, 
"Clearly the enforcement part of this was not addressed well in what passed."

On Aug. 25, 16 Oakland County people were arrested in drug raids by a 
narcotics enforcement team. The arrested people said they were 
following the letter of the law. Law enforcement officials said there 
were complaints about the dispensaries, and that people were selling 
marijuana to customers who were not patients.

Jacobs was aware of the raid and said, "I don't think the raids were 
necessary to make the point the law should be changed."

She said she believes the ballot proposal was "sold to the public 
that if someone suffering from a disease could get pain relief, this 
would be a humane way under a doctor's supervision to alleviate pain 
and suffering," she said. "Voters felt some emotional connection."

She believes there is confusion about medical marijuana.

"This law is unclear and I believe the Legislature should take a look 
at it," she said. "But I doubt very much it will be taken up in the 
lame-duck session."

State Rep. Ellen Cogen Lipton, D-Huntington Woods, said she has 
received complaints about medical marijuana from city officials in 
her district.

"The law needs to be reviewed and the ambiguities addressed," she 
said. "That would happen the first part of next session (in 2011)."

State Rep. Marty Knollenberg, R-Troy, called the medical marijuana 
law a "poorly crafted initiative" with "too many loopholes."

Knollenberg is sponsoring a bill that says any caregiver who has been 
convicted of a felony could not be a caregiver.

He called what is happening in Michigan now a "Wild West situation 
with so many trying to get into the business."

Knollenberg calls for a study group with all parties involved to 
clarify the law.

"After that, you'll see medical marijuana be dispensed in some way," 
he said, noting that voters said they wanted this to be an 
alternative method of pain relief.

"We just need to tighten up the regulations," he said.

Knollenberg doesn't believe any change will occur this year. 
"Proponents of medical marijuana should be open to that," he said.

"At the end of the day, they're going to have something. The more 
they scream, though, they may end up with nothing at all."
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