MARIJUANA JOURNAL

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

In Michigan, jobs are vanishing, while the projected state budget has a
deficit close to $1.6 billion. Adding to the hardships by those who have
their lost jobs, cars and houses, citizens are paying an additional $1.7
billion in taxes courtesy of 2007 increases. The reiteration of these
facts is not sour grapes, but significant reasons to open a dialogue about
the direction of the state's new medical marijuana industry.

The state's nascent medical marijuana program is imperfect, but it is a
beginning for people whose illness is mitigated by using cannabis. Perhaps
the biggest flaw in the law is the complete lack of a guaranteed supply of
medical marijuana. The law has left it up to patients to purchase or grow
their own. Estimates of qualified patients awaiting official state
application forms are near 500, with hundreds having sought a physician's
written recommendation. At this rate, conservative estimates indicate
there could be well over 5,000 official medical marijuana patients here by
year's end. Five-year estimates show upward of 50,000 patients.

By developing a plan to allow medical marijuana dispensaries, Michigan
would prove to the rest of the country that it has leadership that
understands the depth of the economic crisis and has the wisdom to take
bold steps to put us on the road to recovery. The fact that medical
marijuana is a viable defense in court means a future reduction in
marijuana-related arrests, bookings, prosecutions, and so on, saving the
state millions annually.

Tax-paying caregivers and dispensary owners would generate tax revenue to
help trim the $1.7 billion budget gap. California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano,
D-San Francisco, has introduced legislation to legalize and tax marijuana
in California, a state with a $42 billion deficit. This measure calls for
an excise tax of $1 per half-gram joint of marijuana and would raise about
$1 billion per year.

Michigan would be wise to carefully study the merits of drafting similar
legislation to address the absence of a steady supply of medical marijuana
to the tens of thousands of patients that will soon be registered to use
it. Lawmakers could prove their willingness to lead by positioning
Michigan as the first state in the Midwest to embrace medical marijuana by
providing a mechanism for the adequate availability and distribution.
Lawmakers could fulfill their responsibility to the over 3 million people
who voted for this law.

Many people have a low opinion of California's medical marijuana system,
but if our leaders led, and developed a system that would address the
concerns that make California unattractive, every Michigan citizen would
benefit. Not only could legislators reverse the economic hemorrhaging by
embracing medical marijuana, they may even be able to attract tax-paying
people and jobs from neighboring states who need to use medical marijuana.
Which direction do you think we should take from here?