MICHIGAN'S MARIJUANA LAW MAY NUDGE WISCONSIN

Residents' Vote Clears Illegal Drug for Medical Purposes

GREEN BAY -- People who support using marijuana for medical purposes
in Wisconsin hope a Michigan proposition could have a ripple effect
in the Badger state. Advertisement

On Election Day, a two-thirds majority in Michigan voted for the
proposition, which would allow people with serious or terminal
illnesses to use marijuana if certified by a doctor. The law allows
patients to possess 2.5 ounces of marijuana; they would receive a
state ID card.

The law only recognizes patients with identification cards or their
equivalent given out by states that also allow medical marijuana.

It's legal according to Michigan law, but federal law still prohibits
the drug, even for medicinal purposes. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that state laws allowing the use don't provide immunity
from federal prosecution.

"The federal government has been hostile to these laws," said Bruce
Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, a
Washington, D.C.-based group that lobbied for the Michigan law. "But
a quarter of the country now allows it."

Twelve states and Michigan allow severely ill patients to use
marijuana in their treatment.

Gary Storck, director of a nonprofit lobbying organization called
Madison NORML, said he thinks the Great Lakes states would take their
cue from Michigan.

Unlike Michigan, where citizens can place ballot referendums, a
Wisconsin law would have to go through the Legislature and receive
the governor's signature or be placed on a ballot for a referendum.

The Wisconsin Nurses Association and the Wisconsin Public Health
Association support the legalization of medical marijuana.