[MIway]

This month has been particularly bad for MI MMj... we've had multiple raids involving the Feds, several of which have been of very large operations, to varying City bans, to Court upholding of invasions to private caregivers & patients, where 70 year old women can be the intended target for conviction & jailing.

Right now, the Attorney General is extending his position that MMj is unconstitutional on a State level as it violates Federal law, asserting all MMj patients are acting illegally. And this has recently been upheld by a Midland County judge, leaving it to go next to the Court of Appeals.

https://www.dailytribune.com/articles...mode=fullstory

Furthermore, there is Legislative intent to offer a 'package' of bills to alter the existing MMj laws in a manner to make it much stricter & with much more ease in policing. This is despite generating $9.7million in total revenues with a net profit of $8.2million, thus far.

https://www.freep.com/article/2011061...ofit-8-million

It would appear that overall climate for MMj to be... concerning. I'm not terribly confident about the total impact we can have, but rallying the troops to fight might be in order, and as loudly as can be done.



https://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...a-changes.html

"LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Republicans said Tuesday they are introducing legislation aimed at clarifying the state's voter-approved 2008 law related to growing, selling and qualifying to use medical marijuana.

The proposed changes would require stricter doctor-patient relationships before a patient could get authorization to use the drug. Supporters said it would crack down on the practice of doctors certifying patients to use medicinal marijuana without ever seeing them.


Michigan's 2008 law allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes is leaving communities, courts, patients and police locked in disputes over what is legal and what isn’t. Leaders of the Republican-controlled state Legislature said Tuesday, Jun3 28, 2011, that they are introducing legislation aimed at clarifying the law and requiring stricter doctor-patient relationships before a patient could get authorization to use the drug.


Other provisions likely would result in fewer medical marijuana dispensaries in the state. Zoning guidelines would be clarified so local governments would have a better idea of how to regulate them under state law.

Law enforcement, local communities, courts and some patients have been locked in disputes about what's legal and what isn't since shortly after the law was approved.

Advocates of medical marijuana say nothing in the law prohibits dispensaries and collective growing facilities, and that communities are ignoring the will of Michigan voters by cracking down on those businesses.

Many Michigan communities have said state law isn't clear or is largely silent on how the drug can be grown and distributed by anyone other than patients or caregivers, or how plants and seeds can be bought in the first place.
"
The point is, confusion reigns," said Rep. John Walsh, a Republican from Livonia and a key sponsor of the legislative package. "The existing law is unclear."

Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette said the current law has "more holes than Swiss cheese." Schuette said he has filed a brief in support of the city of Livonia's policies that critics say effectively ban the use or sale of medical marijuana.

The American Civil Liberties Union has sued Livonia and a few other Michigan communities over the policies. The new bills likely would run into opposition from medical marijuana supporters worried about legislative interference that could make the drug more difficult to get for some patients.

"It seems as if there's more and more bills coming out trying to prohibit behavior," said Michael Komorn, an attorney and president of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association. "The theme has been to view this from a law enforcement standpoint and not from a medical marijuana community standpoint."

Since the law was originally approved by voters, some of the changes would require support from three-fourths majorities in both the House and Senate.

Walsh said the legislation would be worked on over the summer and could be voted on in the fall.

Michigan allows marijuana to be used to alleviate the symptoms of certain illnesses if someone sees a doctor and gets a state-issued card. People can possess up to 2 1/2 ounces of ready-to-use marijuana and have up to 12 plants in a secure, locked area. They can arrange for caregivers, who are limited to five patients each, to grow plants for them.

Schuette issued an attorney general's opinion Tuesday that he said is aimed at making clear that each patient's plants must be grown and maintained in a separate, enclosed and locked facility.
The state has issued more than 80,000 patient registrations since the program began."



https://michiganmessenger.com/50369/m...l-in-the-state Bill Schuette, the Republican Attorney General and strong opponent of medical marijuana, issued an opinion on Tuesday that, in effect, makes medical marijuana dispensaries illegal in the state.

The opinion says there are only two ways patients can get their medication — they can either grow themselves or they can get it from a registered care giver. The ruling eliminates patient to patient transfers as well as marijuana dispensaries. Under the ruling, Schuette says that care givers are required to have a locked enclosed location for each separate patient they are growing for.

This interpretation is consistent with the plain language of the MMMA, and accords with basic principles of statutory construction that require this office to discern the intent of a statute from its language, and to forgo reading anything into a statute that is not within the intent of its drafters.8 Moreover, this construction ensures that the twelve-plant-per patient maximum is followed. It also protects against unauthorized access to marihuana plants because, at any given time, there is only one person responsible and accountable for a patient’s plants. The plain language of the MMMA thus prohibits the joint cooperative cultivating or sharing of marihuana plants because only the individual authorized to cultivate the marihuana plants, either the registered patient or the patient’s registered primary caregiver, may have access to the enclosed, locked facility housing the marihuana plants intended for the individual patient’s use.
It is my opinion, therefore, that the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, Initiated Law 1 of 2008, MCL 333.26421 et seq, prohibits the joint cooperative cultivation or sharing of marihuana plants because each patient’s plants must be grown and maintained in a separate enclosed, locked facility that is only accessible to the registered patient or the patient’s registered primary caregiver.

Under the ruling, if a person is providing medical marijuana to four patients, that care giver is required to have four separate growing locations that are locked and enclosed and only accessible by that care giver. Each growing location can contain up to 12 marijuana plants.

Meanwhile, patients are required to have an enclosed, locked facility where the growing occurs. They can have 12 plants, but as with the care giver, the location can only be accessible by the patient.

An Attorney General opinion has the force of law, until and unless it is overturned by the courts.

[budlover123]

As I see it, medical marijuana is a stepping stone, it has already served it's purpose in the sense that the federal law banning marijuana stands blatantly in the face of the all the state laws allowing medicinal marijuana use, we need to say "hey government, this stuff is illegal because it has no medicinal value? well how come 16 states have medical laws. Hey, wait a minute, these medical dispensaries are just a "front" so regular people have the freedom to buy Marijuana, so what the fuck government?"

we need to jump on to the fight that we can win, the one that states the controlled substances act of 1970 is unjust and NEVER WAS <-(the hardest part to get over)

[paladin420]

They push Me back Underground they ain't ah gonna like IT. Keep Pissin me off I will Run For office. Without gettin a haircut...Shulte (AG) is a fuckin moron... I've met him..Politics is the only job he can get. All you need is a suit,n a cute billboard

[paladin420]

Hey MIway any new word? We are rockin as many people to the party as poss b4 any changes..

[Warped1]

I don't think we need to forget why Michigan(where I was born and raised) or any other med state, got the right to grow medical cannabis...or should I say privilege? Sometimes it seems like the medical folks kind of get forgotten, and that's not how it should be.
Yeah,probably every law ever written has been abused at one time or another,but I think we all realize that the reason mmj was ever passed was for a springboard to cannabis legalization for everyone. Is that right or wrong? Yes, I'm for total legalization,and these med laws, I think, are a means to an end. We have a foot in the door, let's do things legally.. make the necessary changes when we can, and move forward.
There is no reason for a 70 year old anyone to be arrested for using medicine..legally prescribed. Unless you include greed. JMO

[br26]

The state should tax every sale at the dispensary,compassion center, or co-op, or whatever you call it. The new republicans in office may finally shut their pie holes about this subject if they can rebuild our infrastructure with this generated revenue. We could build newer, more advanced schools for our children. Instead, we are building new jails all over Michigan. The estimates for incarcerations for any drug offense is 80-90% of the total population of inmates. When Michigan abandoned it's mental health facilities (Gov. Engler era) , many psych patients were put on the street. Many of these ended up in jail, not receiving proper rehab or medication. Whoops, on a rant again.

The nation should vote on legalization. Pharmaceutical corporations are obviously keeping this from ever getting on the ballot. Now, especially due to unlimited campaign financing (legal bribery) to our officials who represent us. But how can we trust them to have our best interests? Not only are the herbs' future are in jeopardy, but our future may be in the hands of corporations if we do nothing!

Peace and love

[devilgoob]

yes, anybody who pays for cannabis...might as well pay taxes.

[danut]

Anyone read the complaint about to be filed with the State Bar?

It's asking for the Attorney General to be disbarred.

[megayields]

Originally Posted by mullray

To loosely rip off Hunter S Thompson - if you look closely you can see the high water mark of the med scene in Oakland. The tide has turned. It's going to get far far worse I expect.

.............................. .."truth resonates" .............................. .................

[MIway]

Originally Posted by paladin420

Hey MIway any new word? We are rockin as many people to the party as poss b4 any changes..

Sorry brother... missed this post, didn't mean to leave ya hangin! ;-)

But not much... there is the wait for the MI SC to review some cases... and I did find a contact person with Dearborn PD to inquire about the commercial application process, so I guess that actually exists... funny asking about it in the legal dept of City Hall... the cop shop visit is going to be even better! lol




https://www.tokeofthetown.com/2011/06...l_marijuan.php


By Steve Elliott
Thursday, June 23, 2011, at 7:20 pm

"​The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to hear several cases that could clarify the rules surrounding the state's medical marijuana law, approved by an overwhelming 63 percent of voters in 2008.

One Shiawassee County patient with a medical cannabis card who grew marijuana in a backyard structure wants the criminal charges against him dismissed, reports Rick Pluta at Interlochen Public Radio. Police cited him for not having the grow area locked and enclosed.

In another case, an Oakland County man fighting pot possession charges is using for his defense the fact that he's a medicinal cannabis patient, even though at the time of this arrest he had not yet obtained his medical marijuana card.

In both cases, drug charges were dismissed by trial judges but restored by the Michigan Court of Appeals, reports The Associated Press. The Supreme Court agreed to hear appeals in brief orders released on Thursday.

​ Supreme Court justices said they would welcome any input from the attorney general and the associations representing Michigan defense lawyers and prosecutors, as well as attorneys in the two cases.

The court cases are working their way through the legal system as Michigan communities are sorting it all out, drafting and re-drafting ordinances regarding medical marijuana dispensaries. Meanwhile, the Legislature is debating additional laws to stake out the rules surrounding medical marijuana.

However, many medical marijuana advocates say the efforts are actually an attempt to subvert the law and the will of the voters, who chose to allow patients with chronic or terminal conditions to use and posses cannabis with a doctor's approval.

Some Michigan judges won't even follow the state's medical marijuana law, citing federal bans on possessing cannabis for any purpose. It's not clear if the state Supreme Court will address that issue, according to AP.

"There are certainly a lot of gray areas in the law," said Montcalm County Prosecutor Andrea Krause, reports John Tunison at The Grand Rapids Press. "I hope they give us some clear direction."

Krause said she hopes the courts can eventually give clear direction on the legality of medical marijuana dispensaries. "We have had quite a few pop up lately in Montcalm County," she said.

Kent County Sheriff's Sgt. Rick Coxon with the Kent Area Narcotics Enforcement Team estimated about half of the team's cases have some connection to medical marijuana.

Coxon advocates a database to let police know who is growing medical marijuana, but privacy laws prohibit that. Police are currently obligated to check out complaints about possible illegal growing operations, but might not have to if a databse existed, Coxon said.

Members of the State Bar of Michigan's criminal law section are recommending the state follow Colorado and allow commercial sales of medical marijuana "with strict oversight."

Originally Posted by danut

Anyone read the complaint about to be filed with the State Bar?

It's asking for the Attorney General to be disbarred.

I did, now that you brought it to my attention! Thank you... very interesting... curious to see what the evidence is & how this will actually go down...?

Don't understand the request to not post with the exception that they did not want to become inundated with queries regarding the complaint. But it certainly is something that should be shared, so I'm giving the content without the source...




"In the face of compelling circumstances, The People of The State of Michigan are forced to turn to the State Bar, to seek relief from the Attorney General. He has on numerous occasions taken prejudicial actions against innocent citizens. He has failed to disclose material conflicts of interest as proscribed in Section 1.7 of the Code of Professional Conduct. He has Comingled his profession duties as the states chiefs law enforcement officer with a private corporation that he chaired, “Citizens Protecting Michigan's Kids”. To date in his official capacity as attorney general, he has yet to disclose this conflict, as required by the Professional Code of Conduct. He has failed to honor his oath of office or to provide competent representation to his client as provided in Section 1.1 of the Professional Code of Conduct. His unsubstantiated, slanderous and libelous accusations against innocent citizens has brought contempt upon the court and the judicial system as a whole. His opinions are biased and usurp the meaning and intent of the law. The same has placed tens of thousands of Michigan’s Citizens in legal, physical and moral jeopardy.

It is for these reasons that we implore the board to disbar, sanction, and prevent AG Bill Shuette from practicing law or inflicting his will on the citizens of the state of Michigan.

The evidence on the following pages establishes not only a continuous behavior indicative of the chair of an organization, but a clear and continuous agenda, dating from 2008, that makes AG Bill Shuette ineligible to participate in any case involving medical marijuana. The evidence also establishes a person of low moral character, not fit to serve the court, to be a member of the bar or serve The People of the State of Michigan in any capacity."