FIND THE RIGHT PRESCRIPTION FOR LEGAL ACCESS TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Michigan voters overwhelmingly approved a medical marijuana ballot
initiative last year. A majority of voters in every county supported
the issue, which garnered 63 percent of the ballots cast. The clear
intent was to allow people with certain medical conditions to obtain
marijuana to relieve suffering. What the law didn't provide, however,
was a legal means for approved users to acquire the drug.

Legislation recently introduced in the state Senate takes aim at that
glaring hole in the law. It proposes a distribution system for
medical marijuana that includes state-licensed growers and
prescriptions filled by pharmacists.

Whether it's a good plan is certainly debatable, but at least it's a
starting point for discussion. If marijuana is going to be used for
medical purposes in Michigan -- as voters wished -- approved users
shouldn't have to break the law to obtain it, as is currently the
case. State lawmakers and health officials should be diligently
trying to create a system under which residents approved to use the
drug can get it legally.

Despite passage last November of the medical marijuana initiative,
which allows approved patients to possess and grow the drug, it
remains illegal in Michigan to buy marijuana or the seeds to grow it.
That means residents approved to use medical marijuana, or their
caretakers, will have to break the law at some point to acquire it.

The state's medical marijuana law allows people with cancer, HIV,
AIDS, glaucoma and other qualifying diseases to use marijuana to
relieve their symptoms, if a doctor recommends it. Qualifying
patients can apply for a permit allowing them to legally possess 2.5
ounces of marijuana or grow 12 marijuana plants in a locked, enclosed
area, or designate a caregiver to do so for them.

The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) reviews medical
marijuana applications and issues picture ID cards to approved users.
The MDCH has received more than 2,100 applications since April, and
has issued ID cards to more than 1,100 patients and 400 caregivers,
who can provide marijuana to up to five patients.

Sens. Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland, and Gerald Van Woerkom, R-Norton
Shores, have proposed legislation that calls for medical marijuana to
be treated the same as other schedule 2 narcotics used for medical
purposes. Drugs such as morphine, steroids, Valium and others are
illegal without a doctor's prescription and their production and use
are regulated by the government. The senators are proposing something
similar for medical marijuana in Michigan.

Instead of allowing approved users to grow their own supply, the
legislation would license up to 10 marijuana growing facilities
statewide. Pharmacists would be required to purchase medical
marijuana from those facilities and require a doctor's prescription
to distribute it to patients. That could be a stumbling block.
Marijuana has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration. Doctors, by federal law, can't prescribe marijuana
for a patient, only recommend it.

Although buying, possessing, growing and selling marijuana is a
federal crime, the Obama administration has said federal officials
will back off prosecuting medical marijuana users in states where
voters have approved the drug for medical purposes. That perhaps
opens the door to some incarnation of the distribution system
proposed by Mr. Kuipers and Mr. Van Woerkom.