HAZE CLOUDS STATE POLICY ON DISTRIBUTION OF MEDICAL POT

Unlike Michigan, Some States Have Allowed Clinics to Take Hold, Prosper

With nearly 28,000 Michigan residents now registered as patient
users, the state is proving a hot spot in the national debate on
medical marijuana use.

Battles are looming in courtrooms and soon, many experts say, in the
Legislature. At issue: How to get marijuana -- which has proven
medical benefits -- to the legitimate patients who need it?

Law enforcement contends some users and distributors are skirting the
law by operating loosely run dispensaries and so-called compassion
clubs, even though the law doesn't specifically allow such businesses.

Medical marijuana advocates counter that the law doesn't disallow the
dispensaries, either, and that the shops in storefronts and
restaurants provide a safe place for suffering patients to get needed medicine.

"Running a dispensary in Michigan, under current law, is very risky,
and I would advise against it," said Keith Stroup, founder of the
National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (NORML).

Thirteen other states and the District of Columbia also are grappling
with how best to distribute the drug to those in need.

Where Medical Marijuana Flourishes

On any given day, between 700 and 800 people visit Harborside Health
Center, a low, sleek building in Oakland, Calif., that is filled with
natural light, vases of flowers and soft music.

They arrive -- some by bike or skateboard -- to purchase their
medical marijuana, standing in line in front of eight glass display
cases holding dozens of varieties of cannabis.

The patients, whose ailments range from insomnia and anxiety to
cancer and HIV, have their choice of fresh green marijuana buds with
names like Hindu Skunk and White Rhino, prewrapped marijuana
cigarettes, live plants, edibles, tinctures and lotions. It is the
largest medical marijuana dispensary in the nation, generating $20
million in sales each year, and -- some say -- a model of how
regulated medical marijuana can succeed.

"The message is you have to be as professional as the best retail
stores, and you have to have a heart of gold," said the center's
founder, Steven DeAngelo, a nationally known marijuana activist.
Oakland officials are so pleased with the medical marijuana business
in their community that the City Council voted 5-2 in July to
authorize zoning to allow construction soon of four large indoor
marijuana farms, each about the size of a football field.

Like California, Michigan and 12 other states plus the District of
Columbia now have in place laws that allow physicians to prescribe
marijuana to their patients. Another eight states have legislation pending.

Some states, including California and Maine, now mandate that the
drug be dispensed only through nonprofit dispensaries licensed by
state and local governments.

The communities that many law enforcement and advocates say appear to
be managing medical marijuana distribution the best -- where there
are few raids, arrests or court challenges -- are those that closely
regulate the way marijuana is distributed.

Few appear to have it down as well as Oakland, Calif. Elsewhere, pot
wars are breaking out mostly because communities can't decide how,
when or where marijuana should be dispensed.

In Michigan, more than a dozen people face charges of drug possession
and trafficking following August raids in Oakland County. Others
raids have occurred in Lapeer County, and there have been scattered
arrests throughout the state. The arrests and seizures have prompted
protests at area courthouses and calls for clearer legislation.

Earlier this month, Michigan Appeals Judge Peter O'Connell, in a
concurring opinion upholding a recent arrest, lamented the state law
as "inartfully drafted," and confusing enough to put well-intentioned
people at risk of prosecution.

"Pressure and confusion results from trying to operate under a system
where no one has stepped forward and stated specifically what actions
are legal and what actions are not," he wrote.

The Major Flaw

Both law enforcement and marijuana advocates say the major flaw in
Michigan's 2008 law is a lack of direction on how, exactly, patients
are supposed to get their marijuana. The law says patients with
serious pain or illnesses like cancer or HIV may possess 2 1/2 ounces
of marijuana or 12 plants. They may also contract with a licensed
caregiver to provide the marijuana.

That's where the problems begin. The caregivers, who are sometimes
patients themselves, are allowed to provide marijuana to up to five
patients. Sometimes there are households with numerous patients and
caregivers, so technically, that household is allowed dozens of
plants. In effect, it becomes a large-scale marijuana business. That
marijuana is sometimes sold in so-called compassion clubs and
dispensaries, even though the law does not address dispensaries at all.

Keith Stroup, founder of the National Organization to Reform
Marijuana Laws, (NORML) and perhaps the nation's best known marijuana
advocate, said he fields calls weekly from people interested in
getting into the marijuana business.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, who launched the August
raids on suppliers in Waterford and Ferndale, witnessed the protests
that followed.

"They should be protesting in Lansing, not here," he said.

Similar raids took place earlier this month in Nevada, which, like
Michigan, has no provision in its law for dispensaries.

In Colorado -- one of the most liberal when it comes to medical
marijuana -- the Denver City Council is looking for ways to rein in
hundreds of unregulated dispensaries.

The dispensaries began springing up in 2009 -- the year U.S. Attorney
General Eric Holder announced the federal government would not pursue
prosecutions in medical marijuana cases.

Taking Charge

The success of Harborside in Oakland, Calif. -- and the three others
licensed to operate in that Bay Area city -- appears to rest in
stringent licensing by state and local government.

Until two years ago, Oakland -- like many communities in Michigan --
had no mechanisms in place to regulate dispensaries. There were 14
operating there, some of them essentially like drug houses.

But California changed its law to require that dispensaries be
nonprofit collectives. The City of Oakland went even further,
requiring detailed floor plans, security systems and city-mandated
audits. The city prohibited the dispensaries from locating near
schools, recreation centers or drug treatment facilities.

As nonprofits, the dispensaries have to plow the money back into the
community. Harborside supports local charities and offers free
massage therapy, yoga, riku acupuncture, gardening classes and stress
management. There have been no raids, arrests or court challenges.
The center has 54,000 patients on its registry as a collective.

"We are truly a nonprofit, community service organization with
demonstrable benefits to the community," said Harborside's DeAngelo.
He added that Harborside contracts with a lab to test all the
marijuana it handles to ensure purity.

Other states are monitoring the success. Maine recently passed a
marijuana law, but has not yet licensed the six dispensaries it plans
to allow. The first is expected to open in January.

Like the ones in Oakland, the Maine dispensaries will be strictly
monitored nonprofit agencies.

The nonprofit New Maine Northeast Patients Group will oversee some of
the dispensaries. Rebecca Dekeuster, the group's CEO, was lured to
that job after managing a California dispensary.

Dekeuster has studied medical marijuana laws nationwide.

"We think that cities that regulated early and really tackled the
issue head on had more success than cities that either ignored it, or
thought it would work itself out," she said. "What we find is that
when they are operated as nonprofit community organizations, they can
be good neighbors."

What appears to be clear through all the smoky haze is that, despite
a rocky start in places like Michigan, medical marijuana is not going away.

"It is a massive movement, and frankly, I don't think anyone doubts
that we are winning it," said NORML's Stroup, a Washington, D.C.,
attorney who founded the organization in 1970. "I think our time has
finally come. We've made more progress in the last five years than
the last 30. I think it's because we've outlived our opponents."

Michigan Law Confusing

Michigan, though, will likely continue to be a hot spot -- at least
until something is done about the current law. The state House voted
Thursday to send to Gov. Jennifer Granholm a bill banning the sale of
K2, a synthetic form of dried herbs that mimics the high from
marijuana and is currently sold over the counter statewide, often
packaged as incense or potpourri. If signed by the governor as
expected, the measure would go into effect Friday.

Beyond that, however, there has been little movement so far in the
Legislature toward reopening discussion about the state's medical
marijuana law.

"We get calls every day from people who have been raided," said
attorney Matthew Abel, whose Detroit law firm, Cannabis Counsel,
specializes in pot cases.

"That's not going to change until somebody is willing to go to jail
to fight it out."