LAWMAKERS' CALLS TO CLARIFY MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW MAY GO UNHEEDED IN
LAME-DUCK SESSION

In Michigan's ongoing medical marijuana debate, many people in law
enforcement -- who complain the act doesn't provide them with
specifics -- say Lansing legislators should provide badly needed
clarifications.

A survey of Oakland County legislators shows they agree, but they
don't have an immediate plan of action.

Michigan voters approved medical marijuana by 63 percent in November 2008.

State Rep. Chuck Moss, R-Birmingham, noted voters said medical
marijuana will be legal "but beyond that, they didn't say a whole lot."

Moss said that while it's legal to have medical marijuana, there is
"no framework for doing it."

"It's like saying everyone can drive a car, but for example, do I
need headlights?"

Moss said if marijuana is a medicine, it has to be regulated.

"You should know who you are buying it from," he said. "Is the dosage
right, is the quality right? You can't say, 'Here is aspirin I made
in my basement.' What is the protection for the patient?"

Moss said the state is going to have to look at existing medical
marijuana laws.

"It doesn't look like California has done a good job," he said.

Moss wasn't sure when the 2011 Legislature might take up any changes
to the law.

"I don't know who will be in charge," he said. "We should do something."

Both supporters of medical marijuana and law enforcement have lobbied
legislators, Moss said.

"Law enforcement has said, 'You put us in an impossible situation,'"
Moss said. He looked ahead to next year.

"We're going to have a lot to do in the next session -- with a new
governor. We'll be thinking about the tax code, regulations and red
tape, the size and cost of government. Medical marijuana? Maybe that, too."

On the question of medical marijuana regulations, state Rep. Vicki
Barnett, D-Farmington Hills, said, "Something needs to happen.

"The act was very broad. It was overwhelmingly supported. There is a
lack of implementation laws causing conflict between state and
federal (enforcement). Local officials have talked (to legislators)
and asked what are their obligations, what are they allowed and
prevented from doing? It's very vague."

Barnett said officials in units of government "don't know what they
are required to do and a lot have put in moratoriums. There is a need
to clarify the implementation of the act.

"I doubt it will happen this year, but I hope it will happen soon.
It's not good to keep people in limbo."

State Sen. Gilda Jacobs, D-Huntington Woods, said of the law,
"Clearly the enforcement part of this was not addressed well in what passed."

On Aug. 25, 16 Oakland County people were arrested in drug raids by a
narcotics enforcement team. The arrested people said they were
following the letter of the law. Law enforcement officials said there
were complaints about the dispensaries, and that people were selling
marijuana to customers who were not patients.

Jacobs was aware of the raid and said, "I don't think the raids were
necessary to make the point the law should be changed."

She said she believes the ballot proposal was "sold to the public
that if someone suffering from a disease could get pain relief, this
would be a humane way under a doctor's supervision to alleviate pain
and suffering," she said. "Voters felt some emotional connection."

She believes there is confusion about medical marijuana.

"This law is unclear and I believe the Legislature should take a look
at it," she said. "But I doubt very much it will be taken up in the
lame-duck session."

State Rep. Ellen Cogen Lipton, D-Huntington Woods, said she has
received complaints about medical marijuana from city officials in
her district.

"The law needs to be reviewed and the ambiguities addressed," she
said. "That would happen the first part of next session (in 2011)."

State Rep. Marty Knollenberg, R-Troy, called the medical marijuana
law a "poorly crafted initiative" with "too many loopholes."

Knollenberg is sponsoring a bill that says any caregiver who has been
convicted of a felony could not be a caregiver.

He called what is happening in Michigan now a "Wild West situation
with so many trying to get into the business."

Knollenberg calls for a study group with all parties involved to
clarify the law.

"After that, you'll see medical marijuana be dispensed in some way,"
he said, noting that voters said they wanted this to be an
alternative method of pain relief.

"We just need to tighten up the regulations," he said.

Knollenberg doesn't believe any change will occur this year.
"Proponents of medical marijuana should be open to that," he said.

"At the end of the day, they're going to have something. The more
they scream, though, they may end up with nothing at all."