Chris Tamlyn

Perhaps it’s fitting that a 37-year celebration advocating marijuana reform will usher in a new era of medicinal marijuana use in Michigan.

This Saturday, the 37th annual Hash Bash will take place at the University of Michigan – simultaneously marking the first day medicinal use of marijuana in Michigan becomes legitimate after 62.6 percent of citizens voted ‘yes’ on Proposal 1 in November.

“I think people are coming to realize that everything in life has risks and benefits and this black-and-white way of thinking about marijuana has gone out the window,” said Greg Francisco, executive director of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association.

Francisco and advocates like him have been waiting for the Michigan Department of Community Health to finalize the administrative process for citizens to apply for the official state registry.

Applying for the registry

“What we’ve been doing is basically building the medical marijuana program,” said MDCH Spokesman James McCurtis Jr. “We had to put together the rules.”

The MDCH had 120 days from Dec. 4 to implement the program once Proposal 1 was approved.

“Since the bill was passed, we have received a lot of interest into the program, as you can only imagine,” he said. “A lot of people have been calling our offices asking when the program is going to be implemented and where they can get their marijuana – all kinds of questions.”

McCurtis said on Tuesday the application forms became available at michigan.gov/mmp.

However, no applications sent in will officially be reviewed until April 6, because April 4 falls on a Saturday.

To be eligible for the registry ID card, applicants most complete the form and procedures on the MDCH’s Web site, have a physician certify them as a “qualifying patient” and pay an application fee between $35 and $100.

Under the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, a qualifying patient is “a person who has been diagnosed by a physician as having a debilitating medical condition.”

After the application has been completed and submitted, the MDCH will verify the information within 15 days and, if approve,d send the card to the patient.

Once the patient receives the card they will “not be subject to arrest, prosecution, or penalty in any manner, or denied any right of privilege,” as long as they possess 2.5 ounces or less and they or their caregiver do not have more than 12 plants per patient in “an enclosed locked facility.”

Hazy hindrance

However, even if applicants are approved and patients then receive their cards, there is still some confusion about how to legally acquirethe plants and seeds.

“The law says that patients may acquire the seeds in the marijuana, the problem is whoever sells it to them is still at risk,” Francisco said. “Patients can legally buy seeds for clones, there’s just no one that can legally sell them to them.”

Attorney Matthew Abel has built a reputation for himself as an advocate for medicinal marijuana and said legality questions over how to acquire the seeds for the first time have been plaguing his office.

“I get calls everyday from people asking me ‘can I just buy (the seeds) through the mail? What’s going to happen?,’” the Central Michigan University alumnus said. “Until we have some court cases that have resolved some of these things I can’t give people a definitive answer.”

Police enforcement

Police officials say enforcement will be on a case-by-case basis working with the prosecutor’s office.

“As a qualified caregiver or primary caregiver they are going to be – for lack of a better term – they are going to be carded,” said Inspector Chuck Allen, assistant district commander for the Michigan State Police Department 3rd district. “They are going to have the rights to grow, although whoever wrote the law forgot to include seeds. Reason is going to have to rule.”

Allen said the process is going to take a little bit of time to iron out and he does not want his department being overzealous.

“Because this is a new law, as always with new laws there is always going to be a gray area,” he said. “What we’ve instructed our people to do is basically work with their local prosecutors to make sure to put in place a (reasonable) protocol.”

Bay Area Narcotics Enforcement Team Lt. Amado Arceo said he and Isabella County Prosecutor Larry Burdick will be meeting sometime this week to go over the county’s protocol.

But, both have said it will most likely have to be on a case-by-case basis until case law is set.

“It’s a tough call because certainly you’re going to have to go case-by-case. We’re going to follow the law is the bottom line,” Arceo said. “If somebody is not following the law, then we’ll have to deal with that.”

Burdick said that for the first year, everyone will have to get used to adjustments in the system.

“There’s going to be cases and there’s going to be factual disputes and court rulings and ultimately the court of appeals is going to flush out the law,” Burdick said. “They are going to fill in the gray areas, and that process is probably going be in the next couple of years.”

metro@cm-life.com

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