Pubdate: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 Source: Oakland Press, The (MI) Copyright: 2015 The Oakland Press Contact: http://www.theoaklandpress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2114 Author: Charles Crumm MEDICAL POT SITS AT SUPREME COURT Number of Patients, Caregivers Continues to Fall Defense attorneys said the reality is that clarifying the law has been left to the courts with many defendants on hold for several years. Many have been busted for opening dispensaries that prosecutors and law enforcement said aren't allowed under the law. The number of caregivers and patients continues to drop as Michigan's highest court weighs in on long-pending criminal cases involving the state's medical marijuana program approved by voters in 2008. The number of medical marijuana patients statewide fell by 18.55 percent in 2014, from 118,368 to 96,408. More inside: A closer look at the Michigan Medical Marihuana Program. The number of medical marijuana caregivers, limited by law to five patients, fell 15 percent from 27,046 to 22,966 compared to the year before. Local and appeals court decisions that have mostly gone against medical marijuana patients and caregivers have had the effect of reducing their numbers, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said. "It has dropped because of the specificity in the appeals court cases," Bouchard said. "Before that, Michigan had more medical marijuana cardholders than the country of Canada." But some of those court rulings have been appealed. There are three long-pending cases now before the Michigan Supreme Court. Though originating in Oakland County, the three cases have the potential to affect Michigan's medical marijuana law statewide by clarifying portions of the law that provide for defense and immunity for qualifying patients and caregivers. Clarification of the 2008 voter-approved law has been an ongoing process, said Bouchard, whose office has been active in medical marijuana enforcement. "I'm always appreciative of some of the medical marijuana cases going to the courts," Bouchard said. "The ballot initiative was fraught with ambiguity. Each time, it has clarified the rules for law enforcement and medical marijuana users." Key court decisions have ruled that retail dispensaries aren't allowed under the law. Nor are patient-to-patient medical marijuana sales. A rocky history The voter-approved ballot proposal in 2008 allowing medical marijuana was off to a rocky road from the start. Despite voter support in Michigan and other states for some legalization, marijuana remains a federally classified Schedule 1 drug illegal in all states. Critics have called the Michigan law vague, and the adoption of rules for the medical marijuana program was left to state lawmakers. Defense attorneys said the reality is that clarifying the law has been left to the courts with many defendants on hold for several years. Many have been busted for opening dispensaries that prosecutors and law enforcement said aren't allowed under the law. The Michigan Legislature has also made some tweaks to the law. However, voters in many communities have reaffirmed the 2008 ballot proposal with local (and largely symbolic) ballot questions of their own to decriminalize marijuana use and possession. But other communities around the state have enacted moratoriums on medical marijuana businesses pending clarification of the state's medical marijuana law. In Oakland County, a handful of communities voted last year to decriminalize marijuana possession or use to some degree: Pleasant Ridge, Berkley, Huntington Woods, Oak Park and Hazel Park. The number of patients in this area dropped 13 percent in 2014 and the number of caregivers dropped 10 percent. In Macomb County, the number of patients fell by 4.4 percent and the number of caregivers by 5 percent. Washtenaw County, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti have ordinances that license and regulate medical marijuana, but the number of patients fell by 20.63percent and the number of caregivers by 19 percent. In Wayne County, the number of patients fell 13.48 percent and the number of caregivers by 12.43 percent Upstate, in Isabella County, Mt. Pleasant passed a decriminalization proposal in November. However, neighboring Clare and Harrison in neighboring Clare County voted down similar proposals. The number of patients in Isabella County fell 27.9 percent, and the number of caregivers by 24.36 percent. Immunity or not One section of Michigan's law has provisions for immunity and another section provides for a legal defense if conditions of the medical marijuana program are met. But defense attorneys said the court decisions locally and in the appeals court have unfairly made any kind of legal defense of Michigan's medical marijuana law impossible. Specifically, the Michigan Supreme Court is looking at three Oakland County cases, and the immunity and defense-from-prosecution provisions of the state medical marijuana law: Richard Lee Hartwick, arrested and charged in 2012 with manufacture and delivery of marijuana, claimed possession of a medical marijuana registry card entitled him to immunity under Michigan's law. But the circuit court rejected that argument and its decision was upheld by the appeals court. Also charged with manufacture and delivery of marijuana in 2012, Robert E. Tuttle's claims that possession of a medical marijuana registration card also provided immunity from prosecution and defense under Michigan law were rejected by both the circuit and appeals courts. Cynthia Ann Mazur and her husband were arrested and charged with growing marijuana in 2012 in Holly. Her husband pleaded guilty but Mazur's attorneys said she's entitled to immunity under Michigan's medical marijuana law because her spouse was a qualified patient and caregiver, even though marijuana-related activities weren't in full compliance with the law. David Rudoi, a Royal Oak defense attorney in several medical marijuana cases, predicted the Supreme Court will reverse the appeals court rulings in those cases, opening up avenues of defense for others facing similar charges. Rudoi represented Mazur Thursday, Jan. 15, when the Supreme Court heard oral arguments and accepted briefs in the three cases. "They're going to reverse the court of appeals in all three cases" Rudoi said. That's my belief. Definitely the first two." Reversal of lower courts by the Supreme Court will give people charged with violating marijuana law in other pending cases a chance at a legal defense, Rudoi said. "It's going to affect all them and it's going to be good for all of us," he said. "There's going to be a defense where you can actually win." When the Supreme Court may rule is a matter of speculation, however. "It'll be a couple months, at least," Rudoi said. "I think they're going to really take their time and write out a lengthy opinion." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom