MARIJUANA JOURNAL

Marijuana Journal is a weekly column tracking the implementation of
the state medical marijuana law. Francisco is the executive director
of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association. This column also
appears online every Monday.

The publication of the revised rules for the state medical marijuana
program has been pushed back to Feb. 6. Signals coming from state
Department of Community Health indicate that the most objectionable
proposed rules contained in the first draft, released at a public
meeting on Jan. 5, will be gone. And they should since the first draft
violated both the letter and the spirit of the proposal the voters
approved in November. We're optimistic the revised rules will comply
with the law.

Regardless of how long it takes the state to solidify the rules, one
date is set in stone - April 4. The Department of Community Health
must begin accepting applications for registration cards on that date
and issue cards by April 20 - the law passed in November set this
date. Until then, there continues to be confusion about whether
medical marijuana patients and caregivers are protected right now.

They are.

When the law was enacted Dec. 4, a few doctors began writing
recommendations immediately. Until registration cards are issued in
April, a valid doctor's recommendation is not a substitute for a
registry card - it is the registry card. This is stipulated in the
law. Patients with valid recommendations are protected today. There is
no requirement to wait until April.

Almost daily I hear anecdotal reports of police-patient encounters.
Most officers are accepting of doctor recommendations when patients
present them and are not seizing medicine or citing patients. This is
very encouraging. Patients are enjoying their liberty and respecting
the limits. This is how it's supposed to work and for the most part it
is.

But there have been a few blemishes. A Genesee County prosecutor is
threatening to violate a probationer who is a cancer patient using
medical marijuana to treat the nausea associated with chemotherapy -
as if any county can afford to take on the health care cost of jailing
cancer patients. And a compassion club in Berrien County was recently
the target of a stakeout; random patients were allegedly stopped
coming and going and pressured to submit to searches of their
vehicles. Is this what the voters passed? A sheriff's department
staking out a patient support group?

To learn more about your rights and responsibilities under the
Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, visit our Web site,
www.MichiganMedicalMarijuana.org