MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW HAZY, OFFICIALS WARN

LANSING -- Voters made it clear that Michigan can allow marijuana to
relieve patients suffering from cancer, glaucoma and other
debilitating medical conditions.

Although the 63-37 percent ratio in favor of Proposal 1 makes the
will of the public decisive, uncertainty reigns among state law
enforcement agencies.

The proposal takes effect Dec. 4.

The Bureau of Health Professionals under the Department of Community
Health will have 120 days after that date to draft and finalize rules
for a medical marijuana program. The registry program will be
complete by April 4.

Terry Jungel, executive director at the Michigan Sheriffs'
Association, called the transition period between the effective date
of the proposal and established rules a "gray area."

"People exploit loopholes in every law, and they will in this one,"
Jungel said.

James Valentine, chief of police in Lowell, said the language of the
proposal leaves law enforcers with inadequate guidelines.

"I'm surprised this will take effect so soon without specific rules,"
he said. "How do we operate in between?"

Envision a late-night traffic stop, he said, where cannabis is found
and the driver claims that a terminally ill uncle, who is in extreme
pain, left it in the car.

"We don't want folks suddenly becoming criminals because they're in
possession of this and didn't realize they don't have the authority,"
Valentine said.

Valentine said he's instructing his department to continue handling
marijuana cases under current state controlled substance laws.

The key to clearing the haze of medical marijuana enforcement
confusion comes with a closer look at how the Proposal 1 initiative
will become law.

The law vests responsibility for implementation and administration
with Community Health. That requires the department to establish
rules and to create a medical marijuana registry system with
identification cards.

Details are not yet available, but James McCurtis, press information
officer for Community Health, said rules will cover application
processing fees, membership costs once a patient is registered and
criteria for acquiring membership to the program.

The department will draft clear guidelines for the program, he said,
so qualified patients receive identification cards and unqualified ones don't.

"Everything is still the same in the transition phase until April 4
because there's no program in force," McCurtis said. "Without an
established program, there's nothing people can do except wait if
they need marijuana for medical purposes."

Joining the program won't be instantaneous. After a patient or
caregiver applies, it will take 20 days until each application is
processed and approved, with an identification card issued as the last step.

Michigan joins a dozen other medical marijuana states and is the
first in the Midwest to adopt such legislation. Others include
California, Alaska, Maine, Nevada, Washington and Hawaii.

South Dakota is the only state where a medical marijuana ballot
initiative failed to get voter approval.

The Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project and the Michigan
Coalition for Compassionate Care campaigned for Proposal 1.

Uncertainty among law enforcement officers is understandable because
they must adapt to a new system, said Dan Bernath, assistant director
of communications at the Marijuana Policy Project.

"They are worrying about a problem that has never really occurred
anywhere and can be solved by using the same common sense they're
required to use every day to keep streets and communities safe," Bernath said.

Actual problems arising from the transition have been rare, he said.
"It has never been a problem in other states that have passed it by
ballot initiative and legislation. It's difficult to imagine where
the problem is."

While the new law allows registered patients and caregivers to
harvest and possess the drug, it doesn't specify other ways it can be
obtained. Under federal law, the purchase of marijuana seeds and
plants is illegal.

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) "targets criminals engaged in
cultivation and trafficking, not the sick and dying," the federal agency says.

California's law, similar to Michigan's, allows patients and their
caregivers to cultivate medicinal marijuana.

But state laws do not prevent the DEA from targeting patients
regardless of individual state law protections. Americans for Safe
Access, a national legal advocacy group that supports medical
marijuana therapy and research, estimates the federal agency raided
more than 50 medical marijuana dispensaries in California last year.

President-elect Barack Obama has promised to end federal raids on
medical marijuana patients and their caregivers in states with laws
similar to Michigan's.