MORE GUIDANCE NEEDED ON MEDICAL POT LAW

Both Oakland Sheriff Michael Bouchard and a board member for the
Michigan Medical Marijuana Association are asking state lawmakers for
a clarification of state marijuana law. Confusion among users and
differing approaches by cities and law enforcers indicate the need
for clarity in the law.

The issue came to the fore in recent days with a raid by the Oakland
Sheriff's Department on marijuana dispensaries in Waterford Township
and Ferndale. Sheriff's investigators say store owners were selling
marijuana to people without proper medical authorization and serving
as sites for people to sell marijuana to each other. The officers
also made raids on individual homes.

One district judge made refraining from marijuana use, even for
medical use, a condition of granting bail to defendants in the raids.

People operating the stores or dispensaries deny the charges and say
they sold only to people who had state authorized cards exempting
them from state laws restricting the use of marijuana.

In 2008 voters approved an initiative that allows patients to use
marijuana for relief of "debilitating medical conditions" if they
have a prescription from a doctor and a card identifying them issued
by the state Department of Community Health. Each patient could have
one "caregiver," or marijuana supplier, who is allowed to have no
more than five patients.

The law does not discuss the issue of dispensaries or set up rules on
how they should operate.

Michael Komorn, an attorney and board member of the Michigan Medical
Marijuana Association, decried the raids, which he said were carried
out in a paramilitary manner, were unnecessarily harsh and treated
patients suffering from medical conditions badly.

Komorn said medical marijuana users are "looking for guidance" and
want to talk to authorities to determine how they can legally use the
substance. Bouchard said the Legislature needs to flesh out the
initiative and create a licensing system for dispensaries. Some
operations have gone "far afield" from the intent of the 2008
initiative, he said.

Komorn noted that amending the medical marijuana law could be
difficult, since, as an initiated act, it would take a vote of
three-fourths of the members of the Legislature to amend it.

Perhaps for this reason, a number of bills that would create
licensing requirements and dispensaries have been stalled in Lansing.

Still, both Bouchard and Komorn are right. Both users and law
enforcement officials need more guidance on how the state's medical
marijuana law should be applied.

The medical marijuana shouldn't be allowed to be used as a ruse for
general marijuana use, nor should people who are trying to
conscientiously follow the law and use it as a medical treatment be
subjected to undue harassment.

The regulations should be made clearer and easier to apply in an
even-handed manner. The voters, in adopting the initiative, have made
their wishes clear. Lawmakers should find a way to make the initiative work.