BRINGING CLARITY TO MICHIGAN'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

Of marijuana, two things can be said with confidence:

. A significant majority of Michigan voters believe doctors should be
allowed to prescribe the drug for patients to whom it provides relief
from illness and pain.

. The law those voters adopted in November 2008 to protect patients
and doctors from prosecution for the prescription, cultivation or use
of medical marijuana has overwhelmed the state bureaucrats charged
with administering it, created loopholes for traffickers, left police
and prosecutors too much discretion to harass authorized users, and
spawned dozens of court cases that will effectively force judges to
make policy as they go -- unless state legislators do the responsible
thing and fix the troubled statute.

Today, the Free Press examines some of the difficulties created by
the Michigan Marihuana Act -- and suggests how lawmakers can address
them without thwarting the compassionate objective Michigan voters
have overwhelmingly embraced.

How to Fix Michigan's Medical Marijuana Law

Two years after Michigan voters legalized medical marijuana, 10
full-time workers in the state Department of Community Health are
struggling to process 550 applications a day from Michigan residents
seeking permits to cultivate and use the drug.

The new law obliges the state to approve or disapprove applications
within 15 days; last week, state workers were just processing
requests that arrived in early December. So far the state has
authorized about 64,000 patients to use marijuana and another 25,000
caregivers to grow and administer it. More than 24,000 applications
are still pending -- and DCH is already receiving requests for the
annual renewals mandated by the new law.

Meanwhile, several Michigan counties are pressing criminal charges
against -- and being sued by -- individuals who claim to be
cultivating and selling marijuana for medical use, or providing
venues for its consumption by registered users. In other counties,
entrepreneurs doing the same thing face little threat of prosecution,
much less official regulation.

What a mess!

Almost everyone agrees that Michigan's medical marijuana law isn't
working the way it's supposed to.

But there's no consensus on how to fix it -- or even on what needs fixing.

A group of law enforcement officials spearheaded by Oakland County
Prosecuting Attorney Jessica Cooper and Oakland County Sheriff
Michael Bouchard contend that unscrupulous physicians are prescribing
marijuana promiscuously for ill-defined maladies, and that
opportunistic entrepreneurs are forging an extra-legal and
unregulated market for a controlled substance whose sale and public
use remains illegal.

Medical marijuana advocates counter that conscientious physicians and
legitimate users are being harassed by law enforcement officials who
refuse to reconcile themselves to a legal sea change supported by
nearly two-thirds of Michigan voters.

Caught in between are judges, criminal defense lawyers and
bureaucrats who complain that the current law simply doesn't address
many of the practical questions they're asked to answer every day:

. How can medical marijuana be lawfully obtained?

. Where can it be lawfully consumed?

. What restrictions can local governments, health care providers,
employers and landlords impose on authorized users?

How can registered users be certain the marijuana they're ingesting
is pure, safe and appropriate for treating their particular illnesses
or symptoms?

And how can a state that is scrapping for money to provide the most
basic government services pay for the bureaucratic machinery required
to make it all work?

Two simplistic solutions proposed by advocates at either end of the
political spectrum seem equally unworkable. Those who favor outright
repeal of the two-year-old medical marijuana law on grounds it has
proved impossible to administer are flying in the face of an
electorate that has overwhelmingly endorsed the principle behind the
law. And while wholesale decriminalization of marijuana use would
render many questions surrounding the new law moot, there is no
public mandate for such a move, and plenty of problems associated
with legalizing a controlled substance whose use remains proscribed
by federal law.

The challenge for legislators is to address the practical problems
that stand in the way of the mandate Michigan voters have embraced.

Problem No. 1 Where Will Medical Marijuana Come From?

The Medical Marihuana Act clearly authorizes card-carrying patients
and caregivers to cultivate marijuana plants in limited quantities
for personal use. But it does not specify how plants or even seeds
may be lawfully obtained, nor protect unlicensed parties who grow or
provide marijuana for purely medical use.

Dispensaries that provide marijuana on a wholesale scale appear to
fall outside the scope of existing law -- and some state lawmakers
and municipalities want to outlaw them explicitly. But as a practical
matter, the state will need to develop procedures for authorizing and
licensing suppliers to meet the demands of legitimate users.

Whether the mechanisms for distributing liquor or those for
distributing other prescription drugs provide the better model
remains an open question.

But the need for some sort of state-approved distribution system is
clear -- and the fees that could be imposed for the right to operate
such lucrative franchises are a logical source of funds needed to
administer the law.

Problem No. 2 Who Will Make Sure Prescriptions Are Appropriate?

Law enforcement critics complain that the state is rubber-stamping
marijuana prescriptions without adequately investigating the medical
claims on which they're based. But it's unreasonable to expect
outmanned Department of Community Health workers to subject medical
marijuana applications to a level of scrutiny beyond that required of
pharmacists filling prescriptions for other drugs.

Doctors who habitually overprescribe any medication should continue
to face scrutiny and discipline by the medical licensing board, as
they do now. But harassment or overzealous prosecution of physicians
who appear to be complying with the law should be recognized as an
illegitimate effort to thwart the will of the voters.

Problem No. 3 How Can Michigan Hold Up Its End?

The resources available to process applications for medical marijuana
cards are clearly insufficient to comply with the 15-day processing
deadline imposed by Michigan's existing statute.

"We're having difficulty keeping up with the volume," concedes Rae
Ramsdell, director of the Bureau of Health Professions division that
oversees the application process. And she foresees no let-up in the
deluge now that the medical marijuana program's first patients are
beginning to seek annual renewals.

But it's unreasonable to make patients endure lengthy waits for a
treatment to which they're legally entitled. What's needed is a
schedule of licensing fees for users and/or distributors that
supports the costs associated with a reasonably efficient system,
like pharmacies use to distribute other prescription drugs.

Problem No. 4 What About Rest of US?

The needs of medical marijuana patients should not supersede the
legitimate demands of employers and communities who want to safeguard
workplaces and roads, or of landlords who want to protect tenants
from secondhand smoke. Some conflicts are doubtless destined to be
sorted out by the courts, but lawmakers can help by establishing
clearer boundaries between the rights of registered marijuana users
and the rights of those around them.

Because the Medical Marihuana Act was enacted by voter initiative,
substantive changes in the law will require a two-thirds
super-majority of both the state House and Senate. That means
policymakers seeking a viable fix will have to chart a reasonable
path between prohibitionists who want to repeal the law outright and
zealots who seek an accelerated path to wholesale legalization.

The existing statute has established that voters are lousy draftsmen.
But their desired outcome is clear: a state in which patients for
whom marijuana offers relief from illness or chronic pain enjoy the
right to obtain it without fear of prosecution or harassment.

The job of our elected representatives is to realize that vision, not
to sabotage it.

[sidebar]

Applications to use or provide 111,451

Patients registered 63,869

Caregiver cards issued 24,976

Applications pending 23,617

Patient applications denied 8,510

Number of marijuana plants each patient is entitled to cultivate 12

Maximum number of patients per registered caregiver 5

Fee for application $100

All figures as of March 15, 2011

Source: Michigan Department of Community Health