Latest Medical Marijuana News

"It is well settled that a State cannot authorize violations of federal law," Walsh wrote in a memo dated April 26. "The United States District Court for the District of Colorado recently reaffirmed this fundamental principle of our federal constitutional system in United States v. Bartkowicz, when it held that Colorado state law on medical marijuana does not and cannot alter federal law's prohibition on the manufacture, distribution or possession of marijuana, or provide a defense to prosecution under federal law for such activities."

In a somewhat frantic letter relaying the memo, sent the same day to Gov. John Hickenlooper and members of the General Assembly, Suthers said he felt "compelled" to advise the state that the DOJ "does maintain its full authority to vigorously enforce federal law against individuals and organizations that participate in unlawful manufacturing and distribution activity involving marijuana, even if such activities are permitted under state law." (Emphasis not added.)

So, in a larger context, what does this change? Not much, say Rep. Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs, Rep. Mark Barker, R-Colorado Springs, and Rep. Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs.

"I think it’s our responsibility to make sure that we responsibly manage what is embedded in our constitution now," Massey says, adding: "I think that we will try our best to address federal concerns."

Massey is a co-sponsor of House Bill 1043, known colloquially as the MMJ "clean-up" bill, which contains two measures the U.S. Attorney's office took issue with: a scheme to set up an investment fund which MMJ center owners could use for banking — which has since been stripped from the bill, even prior to federal feedback — and a plant limit for infused products manufacturers.

"The banking piece is really significant in the sense that we want this business to come out of the dark, and be able to actually manage from both a regulatory tax collection standpoint and the fact that we get the element that we’re worried about having," Massey says. "By not giving these folks a source for banking, we actually kind of push them in that direction."

Waller says he thinks federal pushback has been pending the whole time, and that we're not through with it yet.

"I’ve said all along that what these dispensaries are engaging in is still criminal activity at the federal level, and at some point, independent of state law, they can still be prosecuted federally," he says. "They all seem to believe that since the administration, you know, made some sort of executive order that said, ‘Look, if you’ve got a law on the books at the state level, we’re not gonna prosecute federally,’ that that makes them immune from prosecution. That’s not true! I mean, if we have a change in the administration, whatever the change is, that administration might say, 'Well, geez, we’re gonna start prosecuting all these cases.'

"And it wouldn’t be prosecuting cases going forward; you know, most of these things have a statute of limitations that are three or four years long. So they can certainly reach back and prosecute anybody that was doing it under the consideration of what the previous administration had decided."

Barker says he doesn't think the memo will compel any change of course from the state's perspective.

"I think, at the moment, the attitude, at least here that I’ve seen, is not to eliminate or remove these businesses — because they’re being regulated, they’re being watched; the industry, for the most part, wants to be legitimate and professionalized," the state representative says. "So I see that as a positive. I haven’t heard anyone wanting to just wholesale repeal everything and put these folks out of business. I do worry for their sake, but they’re going into it with their eyes open, and so they understand there is a risk.

"But from the state’s perspective, what I want to do is provide them with a structure that promotes a professional persona for the businesses. Like, Walgreens sells pharmaceuticals, but they’re not viewed as a drug dealer, and I would like a similar reputation for the legitimate medical marijuana facilities."

The measure wouldn't allow patients to possess more than 2.5 ounces of medical marijuana, and it prohibits them from driving for six hours after taking the drug. The program would expire after three years.

"It will be the best, most restrictive, mostly regulated law in the country," Lang said.

Lang said he hopes his legislation will have more traction this spring because 15 states and the District of Columbia have decriminalized medical marijuana. Also, House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, agreed to support and vote for the proposed law.

"That ought to give me a little energy on the other side of the aisle, and I'm hoping we can piece together the 60 votes we need to pass it," Lang said.

However, some previous support may be lacking among new members of the House.

For example, state Rep. Adam Brown, R-Decatur, said he likely will oppose the legislation. Brown replaced former state Rep. Bob Flider, who was a "yes" vote on medical marijuana. "I definitely don't want marijuana to be easily accessible for folks that might abuse it and have issues with it," Brown said.

A spokeswoman for Cross said some of his constituents, including a disabled veteran, asked him to support the legislation only for some of the most painful illnesses.

"Many of the people who have talked to Rep. Cross about this, including some in the medical community, have said that medical marijuana is sometimes the only thing that works to ease the tremendous pain that very ill people are experiencing," Sara Wojcicki wrote in an email.

The latest legislation shortens the list of eligible diseases and does not allow people to grow their own marijuana.

A less-restrictive version of Lang's medical marijuana legislation failed by four votes in the House during the lame-duck session in January after being approved by the state Senate. "There will surely be people out on the House floor who are afraid of the word ‘marijuana,'" Lang said.

The Skokie Democrat said marijuana has been accepted as a treatment for pain and nausea associated with illnesses like cancer, multiple sclerosis and HIV/AIDS. "These are not potheads, these are not people who want to get high, these are people who want to feel good," Lang said.

The legislation is House Bill 30.

The Meridian Township Clerk's Office has validated the signatures on petitions calling for the reversal of an office rezoning at the ballot box for the property located at 4133 Okemos Road.

The property, owned by Dr. Shannon Wiggins and her husband, is intended by Wiggins to be a medical clinic.

Critics of the rezoning -- notably attorneys William Fahey and Stephen Schultz of the neighboring law firm Fahey, Schultz, Burzych and Rhodes -- believe Wiggins will instead use the clinic as a platform for medical marijuana certifications and as a dispensary.

Schultz submitted a notice of intent to file a petition on March 7, and was able to hand in around 2,800 signatures by the April 5 deadline.

Meridian Township Deputy Clerk Joan Horvath said the clerk's office did go through all of the petitions, eventually validating 2,478 signatures -- 91 more than needed.

The 2,387 signatures needed represented 15 percent of votes cast in the township in the November 2010 gubernatorial election.

"Our volunteers were simply amazing," Fahey said.

"In rain, snow and bitter cold -- they were out there in front of grocery stores, libraries, the post office, at school events and even going door-to-door to collect signatures. Our supporters are very passionate about keeping our community safe for our kids -- and the success of this effort demonstrates that."

It's unclear when the measure will go before Meridian Township voters, but board members are tentatively scheduled to discuss it at their next meeting on Thursday, May 5.

The board may choose to schedule a special election, but under state law the measure is not required to be put to voters until the next regular election. That might not be until a presidential primary in August 2012.

"We do not seek a special election, which would cost township residents roughly $35,000. Right now, it looks like the first opportunity for a regular election may be August 2012, unless there is a Michigan Republican presidential primary election earlier in 2012. We are respectfully asking the township board to schedule the vote for the soonest possible regular election."

Wiggins did not respond to a phone message requesting comment.

Schweitzer says the Legislature is working on a reform bill, which would do away with the medical marijuana business for profit. The bill would allow patients to grow their own plants, which includes four plants and two seedlings. If the patient is incapacitated, a caregiver can grow the marijuana for them.

The Democrat says when the bill gets to his desk, he's going to make sure legitimate patients still have the option to use cannabis.

"Many people have suggested that this has become so restrictive that people that have actual medical needs for cannabis may be excluded from the process. So we want to look at it very closely and make sure that we're not locking the door on people that have actual medical needs for cannabis," Schweitzer explained.

The amended bill defines chronic pain and forces a patient to either have proof of pain or have two doctors certify a chronic pain patient. Both the Senate and the House have the medical marijuana bill on their agendas on Tuesday.

An Orange County Superior Court judge ordered The Point Alternative Care, a closed medical-marijuana dispensary, and its owner to hand over more than $1.9 million to the city of Dana Point.

That makes The Point the second dispensary ordered to pay the city in a two-year legal fight between Dana Point and several collectives in town, with the city claiming they were public nuisances.

Judge Jamoa Moberly ordered The Point Alternative Care to fork over $1,925,000 for violating the health and safety code and unfair-competition law, according to court records. In the April 15 ruling, Moberly ordered the dispensary's owner, Kathy Lynn Ray, to pay $40,100. Both are the maximum civil damages allowed per offense. In February, Moberly had declared Dana Point the winner in its nuisance lawsuit against the dispensary.

Lee Petros, the dispensary's attorney, said he was uncertain whether The Point would appeal the judgment.

Last month, Superior Court Judge William Monroe ordered Beach Cities Collective, another marijuana dispensary, and its owner, David Lambert, to pay Dana Point $2.44 million in damages for violations of heath and safety and business and professions codes. Beach Cities recently filed an appeal. On April 13, the dispensary filed a Superior Court lawsuit against the city, San Diego Gas & Electric, City Council members and individual staff members on allegations of conspiracy, defamation and other issues.

The dispensaries have argued that they provide medicine to sick people. However, the city says the dispensaries were selling marijuana for profit for nonmedical purposes. State law allows nonprofit collectives to distribute marijuana to patients with a doctor's recommendation. The illegal sale of a controlled substance is considered a nuisance, according to the civil code.

At one point, six dispensaries were operating in Dana Point. Currently there are none.

Police raided Dana Point Safe Harbor Collective last April and said they found $800,000 in small bills in Home Depot cans. Some dispensaries left town, and the city red-tagged the remaining three Beach Cities Collective, The Point Alternative Care and Holistic Health in January, citing municipal code violations such as unsafe entrances and building additions. Holistic Health and Beach Cities appealed the shutdown at a city hearing conducted by a retired Orange County judge but lost in February. The Point Alternative Care did not appeal the closure.

A judge has yet to rule on Dana Point's nuisance lawsuit against Holistic Health.

The city has spent about $400,000 fighting pot shops the past few years. A hearing is set for June to clarify total attorneys' fees and other costs connected to The Point Alternative Care case, according to court records.

In 2009 voters approved the use of medical marijuana in Maine. Representative Deb Sanderson of Chelsea says after that vote lawmakers went too far in making changes to what voters had approved. The way it is now, a patient who is prescribed medical marijuana has to register with the department of health and human services, pay the state a $100 fee, and sign a release of medical information. "This is an egregious movement on the part of the state to get into a patients personal medical record," Sanderson said. "This was not the intent of the law passed by the people on November 3rd 2009."

A diverse group including lawmakers, doctors, and medical marijuana patients were in Augusta Monday urging lawmakers to pass a bill that would change all of that. Representative Sanderson's bill would make registering with the state optional.

A co-sponsor of the bill, Representative Mark Dion (D) Portland, says it would also take the decision about whether marijuana is appropriate in a given situation out of the hands of the state and let doctors decide. "I'm going to defer to physicians that they know what's in the best interest of their patients," Dion said on Monday. "They don't need an index from the legislature telling them what medicine for what illness. We don't do that in any other arena of medicine."

Jeffrey Benedict of Winslow was prescribed marijuana after being diagnosed with a painful auto-immune disease. He came to testify in support of this bill. "Because there shouldn't be a barrier between me and my medication," he said. "I don't want to worry about the federal government bringing charges against me. I just want to stop the pain."

Sanderson says she's not advocating for the legalization of marijuana. She says the law voters approved has been changed and she wants it changed back.