MEDICAL MARIJUANA DEMAND BOOMING

Agency Can't Keep Pace With Permit Requests

A year into the state's medical marijuana law, health officials can't
keep up with the demand.

Because of a rising backlog of about 3,000 applications, those who
wish to use marijuana medically or grow it for others must wait three
months for registry cards, according to the Michigan Department of
Community Health.

"We're (now) getting a thousand applications a week," said James
McCurtis, department spokesman. "It's going to take some time to get
through all applications, even with new help."

As of April 16, the department said it had issued 13,239 permits for
use of marijuana and 5,460 permits for caregivers to grow it. The
program launched in April 2009.

But marijuana advocates say this delay has caused problems for many
applicants statewide whom police have arrested for possessing marijuana.

Substitute Registry

Under state law, the state health department is obligated to issue
registry cards on approved applications within 20 days. But a
provision allows the applicant to use a copy of the submitted
application to serve as valid registry identification after 20 days.

Greg Francisco, executive director of the Michigan Medical Marijuana
Association, said police are unjustly arresting applicants because
they won't accept the application copy as a legitimate substitute for
a registry card.

"It's been a major problem for a long time," Francisco said. "Police
are saying: 'We have no way of knowing if that person got a denial
letter,' and they'll go ahead and make an arrest and let the court
work it out."

Francisco said although a judge often will throw out the charges in
court, the arrest still can be a harrowing process.

"They still have the distress, the cost and being dragged through the
criminal justice system," he said. "These people are suffering actual harm."

McCurtis said the department is trying to address the backlog by
adding two temporary workers to assist the three full-time employees
who process applications. It expects to add three more temporary
workers later this year, he said.

Self-Funded Program

McCurtis acknowledged the department underestimated the demand for
the medical marijuana permit.

"It started out with a hundred or so applications. We had no idea of
how many applications we were going to get," McCurtis said. "We
didn't want to hire employees and have them sit around twiddling their thumbs."

McCurtis said the pace of application submissions picked up
significantly in November. The program, he said, is designed to be
self-funded by a $100 application fee.