Pubdate: Sun, 14 Apr 2013
Source: Oakland Press, The (MI)
Copyright: 2013 The Oakland Press
Contact:  http://www.theoaklandpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2114
Page: G2

MEDICAL MARIJUANA CHANGES REFLECT ORIGINAL LAW'S INTENT

We're reasonably sure that many Michigan residents who voted to 
legalize medical marijuana in 2008 hoped it was the start of a rapid 
path toward legalizing its use for all.

And indeed, the way the law was implemented, in what was included and 
left out in the rules that followed, pointed in that direction.

We thought the language approved by voters was reasonably 
restrictive. It established a relationship between caregivers and 
those who needed marijuana for relief of pain or other symptoms for 
which the active ingredients were shown to alleviate. There were 
limitations on possession and use. A doctor's input was required.

The implementation got out of hand. Caregivers became dispensaries, 
as in other states, and then became tantamount to stores.

More than four years after voters approved the basic law, legislators 
have finally put some changes in place which more closely match the 
voter approved language.

Doctors must perform personal evaluations of patients who come to 
them requesting marijuana for medical purposes. As they should with 
any drug, the doctors must follow up with their patients to determine 
if the substance is helping. That replaces the spirit of a wink and a 
nod that has led to a good deal of prescription drug abuse.

Caregivers, those permitted to raise a limited number of plants for a 
limited number of patients, will face felony charges if they sell to 
someone who doesn't have a state-issued permit to use marijuana.

A somewhat controversial provision prohibits a person who committed a 
felony in the previous 10 years or who committed an assault from 
becoming a caregiver. One critic says there's no indication that a 
prior felony would affect a person's ability to be a responsible caregiver.

Those who believe marijuana should be entirely legalized will be 
unhappy at this seeming setback.

We acknowledge that legalizing the substance may a reasonable 
response to the inability of our federal, state and local governments 
to control it, and a way of deflating the criminal enterprise that 
has imprisoned far too many people.

But we believe in a rule of law, and that laws on the books should be 
obeyed and enforced, laws approved by voters as much as any others.
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