Pubdate: Fri, 01 Jun 2012
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright: 2012 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: Dawson Bell

MICHIGAN'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW SHIELDS PATIENTS FROM PROSECUTION, 
SUPREME COURT RULES

LANSING -- In what advocates for Michigan's medical marijuana law 
characterized as a clear-cut victory for patient rights, the state 
Supreme Court ruled Thursday the state's voter-approved statute 
protects patients from prosecution even if they have not sought a 
marijuana registry card.

In its first major ruling on the medical marijuana law, the unanimous 
court said the law expressed the voters' "intent to permit both 
registered and unregistered patients to assert medical reasons for 
using marijuana as a defense to any prosecution involving marijuana."

The ruling came in two cases out of Oakland and Shiawassee counties 
in which defendants arrested on marijuana charges argued they were 
immune from prosecution under the statute.

Karen O'Keefe, an attorney with the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana 
Policy Project, which sponsored the 2008 medical marijuana 
initiative, called the court's ruling "great."

"That's the way we wrote it," she said.

In the Oakland County case, the court said the law allows a person 
arrested on a marijuana-related offense to assert a medical marijuana 
defense as long the use of marijuana was recommended by a doctor 
after the law was enacted and before the arrest occurred. But for the 
defendant in that case, Alexander Kolanek, the court said he could 
not avail himself of the so-called affirmative defense because his 
doctor's recommendation came after his arrest.

The affirmative defense allows a person who has been certified to use 
medical marijuana to use that certification as a defense against prosecution.

In the Shiawassee case, the Supreme Court said defendant Larry King 
was entitled to an evidentiary hearing on the question of whether he 
met the requirements of a section of the law providing protection to 
unregistered patients.

King's attorney John Minock said the decision was a clear-cut victory 
for King and other medical marijuana patients, and a rebuke to overly 
zealous police and prosecutors who have attempted to enforce the 
marijuana law in the most restrictive way possible.

But Joy Yearout, spokeswoman for state Attorney General Bill 
Schuette, disagreed.

Thursday's ruling "does not legalize marijuana broadly," she said. 
Registered patients remain subject to limits on the amount of 
marijuana they can grow or possess. And all medical marijuana users 
are required to obtain a doctor's certification before using 
marijuana, she said.

But the ruling clearly upholds the rights of patients to possess and 
use marijuana, whether registered with the state Department of 
Community Health or not.

O'Keefe said state certification "still makes sense" for most 
patients because it allows medical marijuana users to avoid the 
stress and expense of arrest and prosecution. But the Supreme Court 
properly determined that the law provides "a safety net" for all 
legitimate patients, she said.

The case decided Thursday was one of several medical marijuana cases 
pending in Michigan's appellate courts. Still unresolved are the 
issues of dispensaries and whether patient-to-patient sales are 
permitted under the law.

Almost all dispensaries closed last year after Schuette issued an 
opinion that they were not permitted.

But Matthew Abel, a leading medical marijuana defense attorney, said 
that he believes Thursday's ruling will "disappoint a lot of 
prosecutors who want to shut it down altogether."

Abel said the Supreme Court has sent a clear signal that medical 
marijuana is legal in Michigan.
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