Medical Marijuana Cases Increasing In Michigan Courtrooms

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Frederick Wayne Dagit's trial may have been the most high profile medical marijuana case at the Ingham County District Court Thursday, but it wasn't the only one on the docket that day.

Attorney Mike Nichols has one medical marijuana case pending.

"It's about whether my client and his doctor had a bona fide relationship," Nichols said.

Other attorneys state-wide have taken on many other issues.

"We've been seeing cases for the last 6-8 months," Jeffrey Sauter, the Eaton County Prosecuting Attorney, said.

Sauter said that's because the statute, as written, leaves so much un-said.

"There are things that aren't covered in the law," Sauter said. "The first question everyone had way back when, how do people with a card obtain medical marijuana?"

Local judges tell News Ten it really varies on how many cases of medical marijuana their seeing right now, but before this law took effect, they went to a conference, where they had a lot of questions then, and have even more now.

"Some of it is going to be resolved case by case," Sauter said. "We are having decisions across the state we are watching."

But only a few decisions, Sauter said, have been made by the Appellate Court, which is what everyone is looking for.

"I think there will be a bottleneck for a period of time while we get guidance from the Appellate Court on what the statute really means," Nichols said.

Until then, this is the process, of finding answers through the haze.

Sauter said there is a meeting planned later this month that will include prosecutors and city attorney's. The plan, he said, is for everyone to get on the same page, and to understand how local governments legally can regulate medical marijuana in their areas.



NewsHawk: MedicalNeed:420 MAGAZINE
Source: WILX - Homepage
Author: Jamie Edmonds -Email Address: jamie.edmonds@wilx.com
Contact: WILX - Homepage
Copyright: 2002-2010 Gray Television, Inc
Website:Medical Marijuana Cases Increasing in Michigan Courtrooms
 
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