CLEAR THE HAZE

State Gaming Control Board Provides a Good Model for Creating
Regulations on Medical Marijuana

For some weeks, law enforcement officials, political leaders and even
a judge of the state Court of Appeals have been calling on state
lawmakers to clarify Michigan's medical marijuana law. Oakland
Sheriff Michael Bouchard, one of those seeking clarification, has
suggested a good model for medical marijuana law reform - the
Michigan Gaming Control Board.

The medical marijuana issue has been in the headlines because of
recent raids by law enforcement officials on so-called medical
marijuana "dispensaries" in Ferndale and Waterford Township.

Ruling in a separate case involving different defendants, Judge Peter
O'Connell last month issued a detailed ruling noting that the medical
marijuana law, which became a state statute via an initiative
petition, was "inartfully drafted," confusing and contained passages
that conflicted with other portions of state law.

Bouchard, a Republican, fellow Republican County Executive Brooks
Patterson and Oakland Prosecuting Attorney Jessica Cooper, a
Democrat, have mounted a bipartisan campaign to get the law clarified.

As O'Connell pointed out in his ruling, the law does not grant people
a right to use marijuana - it merely prohibits people from being
prosecuted for violating the law if they can show they have received
a certification from a physician saying that marijuana has a
palliative effect on the symptoms of their disease. They may receive
marijuana from a "caregiver" who is not allowed to provide the
substance for more than five people.

According to Cooper, there is no provision in the law for
dispensaries and O'Connell pointed out in his ruling that there is no
economic justification for a dispensary given the five-patient rule.

O'Connell also noted that the medical marijuana law allows a doctor
to write a "certification" for medical marijuana use for a patient
with whom he or she has a "bona-fide physician-patient relationship"
and if the doctor has completed a "full assessment" of a patient's
medical history. But, the judge continues, the law establishes no
criteria to judge whether such a relationship exists.

Nor does the current law, Cooper and Bouchard note, specify how
caregivers are to obtain the marijuana that they then provide their patients.

All of these problems recommend the creation, as Bouchard suggests,
of a process similar to the Gaming Control Board.

Bouchard, as a state legislator, had a large hand in setting up the
gaming board. Legalized casino gambling, like medical marijuana, was
authorized by the initiative process.

State lawmakers then designated some of their colleagues to study the
issue, look at the best practices of other states with a history of
legalized casino gambling and come up with a regulatory regime to
handle it in Michigan that could be enacted into law.

The same should be done with medical marijuana. More than a dozen
other states allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Their
regulations should be studied and a framework of rules established
that fills in the gaps left by the initiated law.

As Bouchard observed, state lawmakers had to obtain votes from
three-fourths of their colleagues, since the medical pot law is the
result of the initiative process. But they realized that effective,
reliable regulations were needed for gaming establishments.

The same situation applies with regard to medical marijuana use.
Judge O'Connell said he wanted to "cut through the haze" surrounding
this legislation. The Legislature should do so as well.