Pubdate: Mon, 20 Jan 2014
Source: Daily Tribune, The (Royal Oak, MI)
Copyright: 2014 The Daily Tribune
Contact:  http://www.dailytribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1579
Author: Charles Crumm
Cited: 
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/lara/BHCS_MMMP_MCL_333.26426i12345_Report_FINAL_12-4-13_441658_7.pdf
Cited: 
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/lara/BHCS_MMMP_PA_59_2013_Report_Sections_7261_and_2_2013_Report_FINAL_12-26-13_443192_7.pdf

MICHIGAN MEDICAL MARIJUANA PARTICIPATION DROPPED IN 2013

There were fewer medical marijuana patients in Michigan in 2013, but
the number of medical marijuana providers dropped by nearly half as
new laws regulating the growing industry took effect, and court
rulings and prosecutions affected medical marijuana outlets.

The number of registered patients fell to 118,368 in fiscal 2013 from
124,131 the year before, or slightly less than 5 percent. However, the
number of licensed caregivers fell to 27,046 from 50,188.

Even so, the state took in nearly $1 million more in licensing fees,
raking in $10.89 million in 2013 compared to $9.9 million in 2012,
according to two annual reports required by the Michigan Legislature.
However, the cost of the program rose from $3.6 million in 2012 to $4
million in 2013.

Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe says it's likely the court
decisions have had the most impact on medical marijuana numbers, along
with changes in state law.

"I think the all the court decisions that have come out have had a
huge effect on that," says McCabe. "The courts clarified a lot of
that. I'm not an expert on this but I would attribute a lot of it to
all the court rulings on dispensaries and who can be a caregiver and
who can't be a caregiver.

"It's much more restrictive as to who can be a caregiver and who can't
be," he said. "They've more strictly defined what is allowable and
what isn't allowable."

McCabe rejects the implication that law enforcement has aggressively
enforced medical marijuana laws.

"I wouldn't say aggressive," he said. "I would say law enforcement and
prosecutors were following the law. Some chose to lay back and wait
for the courts. What occurred in Oakland County, the courts have
proven we were correct in our interpretation of the law all along."

Voters approved a ballot question in 2008, with 63 percent in favor of
allowing medical marijuana. Users pay a $100 fee to register. Approved
caregivers are allowed up to five patients and to have 2.5 ounces of
usable marijuana per patient, and 12 plants per patient.

But how the program works has largely been left to the legislature and
court rulings to iron out.

New laws and a key Michigan Supreme Court ruling took effect in
2013.

The state's high court ruling in February found that retail sale of
medical marijuana is legal but that the state's medical marijuana law
doesn't provide for dispensaries, dealing a blow to storefront
operations that were popping up around the state.

Changes in state law that took effect in 2013 include:

- - Requiring that transported medical marijuana be inaccessible to the
driver.

- - Making doctors perform a "complete assessment" (in-person
evaluation) of a patient before authorizing a recommendation for
medical marijuana.

- - Changing the renewal period from every year to every two years.
Proof of residency is now required before one may obtain a
registration card.

Requiring that outdoor cannabis plants not be "visible to the unaided
eye from an adjacent property when viewed by an individual at ground
level or from a permanent structure" and be "grown within a stationary
structure that is enclosed on all sides, except the base, by
chain-link fencing, wooden slats, or a similar material that prevents
access by the general public and that is anchored, attached or affixed
to the ground, located on land that is owned, leased, or rented" by
the registered grower and restricted to that grower's access."

- - State-qualified caregivers must not have been convicted of any
felony within the last ten years, or any violent felony ever. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D