TIME TO FIX MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

Not everyone was happy when Michigan voters overwhelmingly said that
marijuana should be available for those who find it helpful in
dealing with pain and other debilitating symptoms arising from
various medical conditions.

They should be happy now.

Thanks to a vague law, a listless Legislature, aggressive police work
and a crushing appellate court ruling, it's just about impossible for
a person to legally obtain the marijuana that 63 percent of the state
- -- and Livingston County -- voters said should be available to them.

In other words, if grandma's cancer-related nausea is alleviated by a
small dose of marijuana, she better know how to grow it herself. And
she better have a grandchild who can connect her with the local pot pusher.

The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, approved in a statewide
referendum in 2008, has some wording problems. That's one reason why
this newspaper did not endorse it. But, vague wording
notwithstanding, the public clearly supported the intent.

That didn't sit well with some politicians, including Bill Schuette
who two years later became attorney general, thanks to a Republican landslide.

It also hasn't set well with police and prosecutors. To be fair, they
were in a bind. The possession, manufacture and sale of marijuana is
still illegal. Without clear guidelines, they needed to enforce the
law as they understand it. Some, however, seem to take this
responsibility quite eagerly.

For instance, the Michigan Court of Appeals court ruled last week
that no one -- caregivers or so-called dispensaries -- could legally
sell marijuana to legitimate, card-holding medical marijuana users. A
day later, two Ann Arbor medical marijuana clinics were raided by
mask-wearing police officers who took some employees away in
handcuffs. Police officials told AnnArbor.com that the raids were
unrelated to the court ruling, but also declined to provide any
details or specifics about what crime may have been committed.

Sound familiar? That's what happened south of Fowlerville this year
when a similar LAWNET squad, some wearing masks, raided a dispensary
that was openly providing marijuana to medical marijuana
card-holders. It took months for court and police officials to reveal
the justification for that raid.

Attorney General Schuette didn't try to restrain his glee. Shortly
after last week's ruling, he essentially informed law enforcement
officials that it was open season on medical marijuana clinics.

In a prepared statement, he called the ruling "a huge victory for
public safety and Michigan communities struggling with an invasion of
pot shops near their schools, homes and churches."

In an earlier guest column for this newspaper, Schuette described the
horror created by the act. It seems that somewhere in the state, the
holder of a medical marijuana card may have been stopped while
driving under the influence of pot.

That just shows how hyped up this campaign has become. One place the
act is specific is that it is illegal to drive under the influence of
marijuana, medical card notwithstanding. Someone who violates the law
should be arrested, just like the thousands caught driving while
drunk. That is done all the time without shutting down all bars,
liquor stores and distributors of alcohol.

Schuette says the law was intended to help "the seriously ill." But
that didn't stop police and prosecutors from successfully seeking
felony charges against a Genoa Township man, a registered card-holder
with rheumatoid arthritis, who was growing marijuana along with his
wife, another card-holder who has breast cancer. Their crime? They
didn't have a cover on the otherwise enclosed area where they grew
the legally allowed amount of marijuana. Such is the "invasion"
facing Livingston County.

The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act makes it legal for a person to use
marijuana for medical purposes, but it pretty much provides no legal
way for a person to obtain that marijuana. That's even more true now
that the appeals court has spoken. The situation begs for the
Legislature to take action.

But Lansing has barely lifted a finger, despite continued evidence
that people want this solved in a way that will provide for the safe,
effective distribution of marijuana for legitimate medical purposes.

Legislators have had time to cut funding to public schools, hack away
at public employee benefits, raise taxes on retirees and cut benefits
to children in poverty.

But grandma and her glaucoma? She's on her own.