Pubdate: Thu, 02 Aug 2012
Source: Livonia Observer (MI)
Copyright: 2012 Observer & Eccentric Newspapers
Contact: http://www.hometownlife.com/section/CUSTOMERSERVICE20
Website: http://www.hometownlife.com/section/NEWS10
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5277
Note: Specify Livonia Observer
Author: Ken Abramczyk

APPEALS COURT STRIKES DOWN MEDICAL MARIJUANA ORDINANCE

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that cities cannot 
enact ordinances that ban the use of medical marijuana.

Livonia was one of the first Michigan communities to pass an 
ordinance in December 2009 that prohibits uses for enterprises or 
purposes that are contrary to federal, state or local laws or 
ordinances, While medical marijuana was never mentioned by name, the 
city's ordinance referenced federal law, which would include the 
federal Controlled Substances Act, which bans the use of marijuana.

The appellate court ruled that local governments could not use the 
federal prohibition on marijuana to ban it and that the local 
ordinance does not pre-empt state law. Wyoming, Mich., resident John 
Ter Beek, a retired attorney and medical marijuana patient who 
suffers from diabetes and a neurological disorder that causes 
neuropathy and severe pain, filed suit against the city of Wyoming in 
2010. The American Civil Liberties Union joined the lawsuit.

"(The city of Wyoming's) ordinance is void and unenforceable to the 
extent that it purports to sanction the medical use of marijuana in 
conformity with the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act," the court's 
judges, Joel Hoekstra, Douglas Shapiro and William Whitbeck, wrote in 
the ruling.

Livonia City Attorney Don Knapp disagreed with the ruling and 
believed the federal law should pre-empt the state law. Knapp had not 
spoken to Mayor Jack Kirksey or the City Council yet on the ruling, 
but he hoped the city of Wyoming would appeal to the Michigan Supreme 
Court. He was uncertain whether that would happen.

"Based on this decision, we can't enforce this ordinance," Knapp 
said, but he quickly added that the Court of Appeals also ruled last 
year that businesses that facilitated patient-to-patient transfers of 
medical marijuana were found to be illegal.

"You will not see marijuana businesses cropping up because of the 
previous ruling," Knapp said.

The ACLU applauded the court's decision in favor of Ter Beek.

"In 2008, people across the state overwhelmingly voted to protect 
patients who use marijuana to treat their medical conditions from 
punishment and penalty," said Dan Korobkin, ACLU of Michigan staff 
attorney, in a prepared statement. "Today's decision by the Michigan 
Court of Appeals rejects the misguided efforts of a few local 
officials to undo the results of that historic election. Now that the 
law is clear, all cities should take notice and stop threatening to 
treat patients who have done nothing wrong like criminals."

Ter Beek said he tried narcotic-based drugs like Vicodin and 
OxyContin, but "nothing worked like medical marijuana."

"The fact is medical marijuana helps people; it's helped me," said Ter Beek.
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