Pubdate: Thu, 2 Dec 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: Bill Laitner, Free Press Staff Writer Referenced: http://www.aclumich.org/sites/default/files/Lottcomplaint.pdf Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+medical+marijuana Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Livonia Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Bloomfield+Hills Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Birmingham MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWSUIT COULD BRING CHANGES The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Livonia, Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills on behalf of a Birmingham couple who want to use medical marijuana at home, take it to a club in Bloomfield Hills and grow it in their Livonia warehouse. The case could broaden or curtail medical marijuana use in Michigan, lawyers on both sides of the issue said. "Each of these cities has an ordinance that effectively bans the use of medical marijuana," ACLU Director Kary Moss said. The lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court asks that the ordinances be declared "void and unenforceable." Officials of the three cities said their ordinances were aimed at drug dealers and others who would abuse the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, but they said it was unclear whether their local rules banned all use of the drug. "I guess I'd have to give it more thought," whether the local ordinance banned all use by medical-marijuana patients, Livonia City Attorney Don Knapp said. Birmingham City Commissioner George Dilgard said the April vote on the ordinance "didn't get into much depth whether a person could or could not use it at home." Birmingham resident Linda Lott, 61, said her 28 years of multiple sclerosis led to debilitating muscle spasms and bouts of intense pain until her neurologist told her that marijuana might help. "I just take one quick smoke of it" to get relief for as long as a day, said Lott, who sat in a wheelchair Wednesday at the ACLU offices in Detroit. Lott said Birmingham's ordinance made her afraid to leave her house. The ordinance, like those of Bloomfield Hills and Livonia, does not mention marijuana, simply saying that any activity that violates federal law is banned and punishable as a misdemeanor. But discussions by officials before votes on the ordinances showed they targeted medical marijuana. Lott said she has a state-approval card and her husband has a card to be a caregiver -- one who provides the drug. Robert Lott said he owned a 50,000-square-foot warehouse where he hoped to raise marijuana for their use; he uses it to treat his glaucoma. But he said he feared arrest in Livonia, his wife no longer took classes and socialized at their private club in Bloomfield Hills, and that a Birmingham assistant police chief told him not to carry marijuana in his car. State law allows an approved patient to carry up to 2.5 ounces of the drug and own as many as 12 plants. The lawsuit does not ask for any money. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake