MEDICAL MARIJUANA USERS, GENESEE COUNTY PROSECUTOR MEET TO DISCUSS ENFORCEMENT, GRAY AREAS OF NEW LAW

FLINT, Michigan -- On one side of the table sat four people who use
marijuana for medical purposes.

On the other side was Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton, who
until Dec. 4 would have considered their behavior illegal.

Their meeting was friendly, respectful, at times jovial. But they
also cut to the chase. "You don't consider our clubs some kind of
criminal enterprise do you?" asked Brad Forrester, of the Michigan
Medical Marijuana Association.

"I am a man of the law and I will follow the law," Leyton said,
noting his personal opinions weren't relevant.

Leyton met Friday with advocates of the newly passed medical
marijuana law to discuss an unfamiliar legal world -- where patients
of debilitating diseases can grow and use the long-illegal substance
as treatment.

By today (SAT), the state Department of Community Health was to allow
eligible patients a way to obtain state identification cards
identifying them and designated caregivers as being able to legally
possess, grow, acquire, transport and use marijuana as a treatment
for certain conditions.

But many gray areas remain largely unresolved and legally sticky.

Among the questions: If a patient gives a cannabis seed to another
patient, is that considered distribution of marijuana -- which is
still illegal. And if an officer takes away marijuana you legally
were allowed to have, how do you get it back?

"These are cutting-edge questions," Leyton said, noting he doesn't
have all the answers.

Leyton's biggest problem with the law is that it doesn't provide for
any distribution system, which "puts me in a difficult position, as
it does law enforcement."

"How anyone gets it in the first place is really a problem," he said.
"Federal law still makes all of this a crime."

Members of the group share diverse personal stories.

Tom Yeager, 23, of Mt. Morris Township, uses marijuana to treat
Crohn's Disease and helped start the Genesee County Compassion Club
to provide support for others.

Breast cancer survivor Barb Hoos, 56, of Burton lost the right to see
her granddaughter because she used marijuana to relieve the pain of
chemotherapy.

Flint's Charles Snyder III was sent to jail when he was caught using
marijuana for Nail-Patella syndrome, a rare genetic bone disorder
affecting the joints and connective tissue that causes chronic pain,
severe nausea and muscle spasms.

"It is a human right issue to alleviate pain," said Snyder.

It definitely wasn't the kind of conversation Leyton ever imagined
having in his conference room.

Words like brownies, tea, marijuana pills, and vaporization methods
were casually used.

"I'm sorry," Leyton said at one point, putting his hands up. "This is
all too new to me."

But Leyton and the law's advocates said the meeting was worthwhile.

Forrester said compassion clubs want to help people comfortably use
marijuana for medical purposes without shame or fear of getting in trouble.

"We are trying to fight a mindset that's been going on for years,"
Forrester said. "Many still look at marijuana like a four letter
word. We have to change minds."