Medical Pot Users Need More Than A Doctor's Note

[Jim Finnel]

Almost 2,000 people have applied to use and grow medical marijuana in Michigan, and roughly half fall in a legal black hole where they have letters recommending its use but not the state-issued cards that make it legal.

Of the applications, about 700 have not yet been processed and 260 have been rejected, according to the Michigan Department of Community Health. Some people who have cards now face legal questions because the state took months to launch its ID program after the law went into effect.

"There hasn't been quite the degree of confusion as in the Michigan program," Dan Bernath, a spokesman for the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project, said about the other states the group has guided in starting medical marijuana programs.

Medical marijuana advocates maintain a doctor's letter is sufficient to prevent prosecution for small amounts of marijuana, but state health officials disagree.

"You needed to wait until the program was established," said James McCurtis, spokesman for the MDCH.

In the courts, the law is being tested by Bob Redden, 59, and Torey Clark, 47, of Madison Heights, who face a preliminary examination Wednesday on felony charges of manufacturing marijuana. Police took multiple plants during a late March raid on their home. While they both have cards now, the raid came before the state was issuing them. Their attorney is trying to get the charges thrown out because they had doctor's letters.

The defense could work, said David A. Moran, co-director of the Michigan Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan, but it's "an expensive, dangerous risk to take."

McCurtis said another gray area is the roughly 15 days between submitting an application and when the card is in hand. And while most of the denials thus far have been for improperly filled-out applications, they still represent one out of every six processed applications.

Stephanie Annis, 30, of New Hudson said many patients can't wait for the card. She wants one for appetite stimulation after multiple surgeries left the 5-foot-6 graduate student at 99 pounds and without much of her intestinal tract.

She's on disability, and since April has tried to gather required documents to qualify for a reduced fee of $25 for the card, rather than $100. The soonest she says she thinks she would get her card is late June."I would think the doctor would be the authority," she said.


News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Freep.com
Author: MEGHA SATYANARAYANA
Copyright: 2009 Detroit Free Press
Contact: Freep.com | Detroit Contact us | Detroit Free Press
Website: Medical pot users need more than doctor's note | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

 

[Caber1]

The one thing that sticks in my craw the most is the lack of compassion by the people in power.
Forget what they feel about pot. What do they feel about their fellow man and woman.
So many of these medical pot users have such a hard life as it is and to heap scorn and mistrust onto them seems beyond belief.
Are we really the land of the free? Where there is justice and fairness for all.
You would need a pretty strong case to convince me.

 

[Weed420]

Another example of why you don't want an ID card from the state. All you need is a doctors authorization. The rest is just another way to control you.
Luckily here in Washington we don't have a card system. A doctors authorization is all you need.