LEGISLATURE NEEDS TO END CONFUSION OVER MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Hamilton, MI - In November 2008, Michigan voters passed the Michigan
Medical Marijuana Act by on overwhelming 63 percent majority. The
intent of the law was to provide marijuana to patients suffering from
a "debilitating medical condition." Clearly Michigan citizens felt
compassion for this unique group of patients and sought a measure to
help relieve their suffering. Now it gets interesting!

While on the surface the act seem simple enough - just provide
marijuana to those in need - the enactment becomes a significant
challenge. The law was written with the end result in mind without
spelling out the means to get there. Voters responded to the concept
without being aware of the logistics. As is often the case, the final
result may be different from the original intent.

Currently, most cities and townships are wrestling with a method of
implementing this new law. There are significant challenges. The act
allows for an individual to grow his own marijuana and allows for a
"caregiver" to grow plants for five patients. Officials need to
decide, and in some cases legislate, where should these growers be
located in the community, should growers be allowed to join into some
type of large-scale operation, should marijuana be consumed on the
premises, and should this activity be allowed in neighborhoods and
near schools and churches?

Most local townships are considering zoning ordinances to regulate
the location and nature of these growing operations. Since the law is
quite vague on implementation, and there is little precedence to
guide officials, this is proving to be and expensive and
time-consuming task. The state looks like a patchwork quilt with a
variety of ordinances which vary significantly from township to
township. This variety in interpretation is sure to set the stage for
numerous legal challenges and significant added costs.

The other factor is privacy. Because of the medical nature of the
product and security issues involved, most caregivers would not be
required to register with the township and thus there would be no
oversight, inspections or accountability. While a small home business
in a residential zone that sold almost any other product would
require a special permit and a public hearing, the marijuana
caregiver would be exempt. In an era when everything is inspected and
controlled, there is currently no method to verify quality,
cleanliness, or purity of the product delivered.

I would propose that the issue be revisited by legislators at the
state level. We should remove the burden from local government. This
is a medical product, prone to abuse, still federally illegal, and
should be regulated and controlled by the state as it does other
prescription drugs. It would be far more beneficial to the community
and to the patients to have the product grown in an industrial
setting. There would be security, quality control and even potential
price controls.

We have a distribution network in place for prescription drugs. It is
called a pharmacy. The drug could be delivered in the prescribed
manner by a trained pharmacist. As with other prescriptions, he would
be able to advise the patient about potential drug interactions,
risks, etc. Records would be kept, stored and shared on a database as
we currently do for other controlled substances. This would help
prevent abuse and overuse.

Michigan voters have shown themselves to be a compassionate group.
The state's own estimate places up to 80 percent of the current legal
marijuana use as possibly not a medical necessity. Let's bring the
issue out of the dark and into the light. Our voters and patients
deserve no less.