Pubdate: Tue, 12 Feb 2013
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Copyright: 2013 Denisa A. Pollicella
Contact:  http://www.detroitnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/126
Author: Denisa A. Pollicella

LANSING MUST FIX MEDICAL POT LAW

On Feb. 8, the Michigan Supreme Court issued its opinion in People v.
McQueen, commonly otherwise known as the "Compassionate Apothecary" or
"CA" case. The CA was a medical marijuana dispensary in Mt. Pleasant
that was cited as a public nuisance because it facilitated the
transfer of medical marijuana to patients.

The Michigan Court of Appeals found that while the registered
caregiver-patient transfer of marijuana for medical purposes was a
protected act under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act of 2008,
compensated transfers of marijuana from patients to other patients, or
from caregivers to patients who were not registered to them through
the state registry program, were not protected acts. The CA appealed
to the Michigan Supreme Court, which granted leave on the question of
whether patient-to-patient sales are permitted under the MMMA.

The court held that not only are patient-to-patient sales not
permitted under the act, but neither are uncompensated transfers
between patients. The court specifically held that while registered
qualifying patients who receive marijuana for their own use are
granted Section 4 immunity, no person who transfers marijuana to a
registered patient, other than that patient's own registered
caregiver, is entitled to Section 4 immunity, regardless of whether
the transfer was compensated.

In what can only be described as a death blow to the medical marijuana
community, the court has not only prevented dispensaries and nonprofit
organizations alike from assisting the roughly two-thirds of
registered, qualifying patients in Michigan that do not have
caregivers, but it appears to have banned any patient from even
sharing his medication with another patient.

The holding that patient-to-patient sales are banned was not
unexpected. Nobody familiar with the case or the law was expecting the
Michigan Supreme Court to find dispensaries where none exist.

However, the court's refusal to protect patients from sharing medical
marijuana with other patients is an unexpectedly aggressive attack.
Its practical implications will be widespread and devastating.

Without the ability to consistently access safe, lab-tested, medical
marijuana, Michigan's patients who have been granted the right to use
marijuana for medical purposes will no longer be able to find it. It
will be difficult for many seriously ill, elderly and infirm patients
to find a reliable caregiver.

It is now again up to the people of Michigan to call their
representatives and demand action. If we, as a state, are going to
allow the medical use of marijuana, we have a responsibility to make
the access to that medicine safe, protected and regulated.

Denisa A. Pollicella , managing partner, Cannabis Attorneys of
Mid-Michigan 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D