Researching Medical Marijuana leads to more questions

Submitted by Heritage Newspapers' Austen Smith

When Michigan residents in 2008 voted in the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, allowing for the growing and distribution of medicinal marijuana for patients with debilitating ailments, it's safe to say there were very few people, if any, throughout the state legislature who had a clear idea of how this "law" would shape up and how it would be regulated.

Nearly two years later, state lawmakers and local governments are nowhere closer to getting a handle on this voter referendum act and how the impact of distribution is affecting local communities - if anything, they are further away.

For the past two weeks, I have been researching the controversial topic of medical marijuana dispensaries and caregivers and how local government is regulating this "budding" business enterprise, starting with a live chat that had more than 30 participants. I have talked with medical marijuana advocates and activists, I have talked with an area lawyer familiar with the act and how it is affecting local government and I have even talked with a representative from the state Department of Community Health in order to clear up some cursory questions I had.

And you know what? I have gone from slightly confused to downright clueless. This experience so far has been a good example of "The more you know, the less you understand."

And it is the understanding part which I am really trying to get after, but of course understanding this convoluted and highly vague act has been elusive at best. Here are some "facts" I have dug up so far in my research:

- The 2008 Michigan Medical Mari(h)uana Act is a law that isn't a law. Because marijuana is still a Schedule 1 narcotic according to the federal government and, more importantly, the Drug Enforcement Administration, using medical marijuana is still illegal. However, if you get arrested for a marijuana-related crime and you are a registered patient then your lawyers can use the MMMA as a defense.

- Subsequently the Medical Mari(h)uana Program, a department under Community Health, established soon after the voter referendum act was approved, basically serves one function - to approve licenses for caregivers and medical marijuana patients. Beyond that they are helpless. So if you got busted and are a medical marijuana patient, calling the state for legal advice or anything else will not help you in the least. In addition, the MMMA and MMP are "silent" on a number of legal issues such as the No. 1 concern affecting local communities in medical marijuana dispensaries.

- Speaking of the dispensary issue, the MMMA is also silent on the concept of profit. According to the act, a caregiver (a designated person who is allowed to grow up to 12 plants per patient, for a maximum of five patients) is only allowed to accept compensation from his or her patients enough to cover expenses for the raw materials used in growing and cultivating the plants. But, some forward-thinking people in Washtenaw County have started collective caregiver facilities called "dispensaries" in which they are legitimate business ventures and there are more around the area than you think. I think the obvious question here is, if caregivers are only allowed to break even on the production, than how are the dispensaries paying for things such as property taxes, business licensing and administrative fees in order to stay open. When I asked the Department of Community Health rep this very question, he very bluntly stated, "I have no idea."

So, from what I can gather, we have a law that really isn't a law and legal medical marijuana that really isn't legal. Does that sound about right?

These, unfortunately, are just some of the issues that scratch the surface of this act. And so far we have seen several tug-of-war situations between local government and business entrepreneurs wanting to open medical marijuana dispensaries such as in the Village of Dexter and Ann Arbor.

What I am looking for now is for more stakeholders involved in this mess to please come forward and speak up whether you are for medical marijuana dispensaries, against them or indifferent. Feel free to e-mail me at asmith@heritage.com, or post a comment to our Facebook page.