POT CLARITY

ACLU Argument That Cities Can't Ban Medical Pot Is Correct; Lawmakers
Should Adopt Clear Regulations

When is smoking marijuana a crime, and when is it legitimate medical
therapy? That's the question few in Michigan can answer, and many
officials hope the clarity will come from an American Civil Liberties
Union lawsuit against three Metro Detroit cities that have ordinances
prohibiting the growth or use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
Rather than hope for that, lawmakers need to step in and amend the
state's 2-year-old medical marijuana law that other judges already
have labeled as deficient.

In its legal case against Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Livonia,
the ACLU has a point. Its lawsuit claims their ordinances violate the
rights of Linda Lott, 61, of Birmingham, who has had multiple
sclerosis for 28 years and uses marijuana to relieve back spasms
caused by the chronic ailment. Voters approved medical use of
marijuana for Michiganians like Lott by a 62-38 percent margin in 2008.

Unfortunately, the law is full of holes. An especially glaring
weakness is its silence regarding medical pot dispensaries or "clubs"
that now are cropping up across Michigan. Raids on dispensaries in
Ferndale, Waterford Township and Williamston have led to newspaper
headlines, prosecutions and appeals. As a result, law enforcement
officials, political leaders and even a judge of the state Court of
Appeals have been pressing lawmakers to clarify the law.

Appellate Judge Peter O'Connell, in a separate case, issued a
detailed ruling noting that the medical marijuana law, which got on
the 2008 ballot as the result of initiative petitions, was
"inartfully drafted," is confusing and contains passages that
conflict with other portions of state law.

O'Connell said the law doesn't grant people a right to use marijuana,
but protects them from prosecution if they can show they have a
physician's certification that the substance 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. The judge said there's no economic justification for a
dispensary, given the five-patient rule.

O'Connell also noted the law allows a doctor to write a
"certification" for marijuana use for a patient with whom he or she
has a "bona-fide physician-patient relationship," but it establishes
no criteria by which to determine whether such a relationship exists.
Nor does the current law specify how caregivers are to obtain the
marijuana they provide their patients.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard has proposed a logical set of
reforms modeled after the Michigan Gaming Control Board, which rides
herd on the three non-Native American casinos in Detroit. He's joined
by County Executive Brooks Patterson, a fellow Republican, and
Oakland Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, a Democrat, in a bipartisan effort
to clear up questions the law leaves unanswered.

Bouchard says lawmakers could look at best practices in other states
that permit medical marijuana use, as they did regarding legalized
gambling when they set up the Gaming Control Board.

That would lead to a framework of rules filling in the gaps in the
medical marijuana law.

Because it was enacted by citizen referendum, amending the law will
require approval by three-fourths of the members of each legislative
chamber, often a tall order. It should be feasible in this case
because everyone can see the shortcomings of the current law