Michigan Medical Marijuana Laws Challenged to Improve the Legislation

DETROIT - With the recent raids on a number of medical marijuana "dispensaries" in Oakland County last week, many Michigan voters, which the majority voted yes on approving of medical marijuana law in 2008, were confused and upset. What appeared as an illegal raid by law enforcement with the backing of conservative Oakland county politicians and judges to raid and steal medical marijuana from patients was anything but.

In order to properly serve a community with medical marijuana and to properly collect taxes from the sale of that medicine requires regulation, something sorely missing in the 2008 Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.

Regulation on where and who can have a dispensary to sell marijuana out of, how many plants can such a dispensary hold, and what are the security measures to make sure you are selling to a legitimate patient and not some pot head?

As a medical marijuana card holder since the inception of the law, I have witnessed plenty of violations of the statute, and any time I read about someone getting "harassed" by law enforcement for being a legal medical marijuana patient, I'll usually discover the "innocent" patient was not legally registered or was in violation of the law in some way.

It's actually quit a simple law to follow, but does need clarification and also needs to set up a system for tax revenues in order to be a viable statewide.

If the majority of Michigan voters are still unhappy with law enforcement's crackdown on violators of Michigan's medical marijuana laws, I suggest we get a petition ratified statewide to make marijuana all out legal like they are attempting to do in California.

If we are not willing to take that step, we must regulate and hold the public accountable to adhere to those regulations when it comes to medical marijuana and the distribution and growing of.

A number of cities are currently having this debate, and a great compilation of city hearings and notes have been collected by L. Brooks Paterson and can be found here. I suggest you read all of it, I know I will be contacting my local representatives to make sure our politicians and law enforcement aren't trying a power play to violate the voters right to medical marijuana and bring an end to the law.

What they are proposing is to put a six-month hold on issuing any more medical marijuana cards, licenses, etc... until regulation can be created and put in place to safe guard communities against unregulated dispensaries.

A lot of the language surrounding the topic in the city hearings is stereotypical and paints a picture that the scum of the earth will flock to any area medical marijuana dispensaries are located, and this is true if the owners of the dispensaries are running it like a frat house party. Too many people taking advantage of the vaguely defined Medical Marijuana Act have created "compassion clubs" which could be putting communities in danger by allowing their members to smoke and then leave and drive home impaired.

Although I agree on enacting more defined regulation, I unfortunately do not know if there are many supporters of medical marijuana in many of these city governments deciding on the future regulation; and having them decide on issues us voters put in to action, without our input, is dangerous and may be against the public's best interest.