According to the Michigan Department of Community Health, 483 people have applied for the program, however no cards have been issued thus far.

“(This) week we are going to issue our first set of licenses,” said MDCH Spokesman James McCurtis Jr. “And I don’t suspect we are going to have any problems.”

McCurtis said as of April 14, the number of applicants was 252, but there was a spike in applicants at the end of the week and the department has not run into any problems yet.

“We have all the information posted on the Web site telling people what to do, how to do it,” he said. “And basically if they follow those basic instructions then they shouldn’t have any problem either.”

According to MDCH’s Web site, michigan.gov/mmp, to register, all an applicant must do is 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 of $100, or $25 if enrolled in a Medicaid health plan or receiving Supplemental Security Income.

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

According to the act, MDCH has 15 days to verify the applicants’ information and if approved has five days to issue the identification card.

“I was expecting maybe we would hear some people receiving them today,” said attorney Matthew Abel on April 17, who is a criminal defense attorney for marijuana cases.

Abel said he spoke with a doctor who has written some recommendations for patients and MDCH had not contacted him to confirm his approval.

“They certainly have the right to contact the physicians, we thought they would be, but I don’t want to say anything negative,” the Central Michigan University alumnus said. “There’s no reason to expect they are dragging their feet, we just haven’t seen anything one way or the other.”

metro@cm-life.com

Alright, that may be an overexaggeration, but it has been more than five years since the world has heard from Eminem, Slim Shady and Marshall Mathers on a full-length album.

On May 19, the anticipation will cease and everyone will undoubtably find out if the 36-year-old, multiple personality rapper is still worthy to be categorized with the kings of rap/hip-hop.

“Relapse,” Eminem’s fifth solo album (excluding “Curtain Call: the Hits”), is scheduled to hit stores in 34 days and it will be the first mainstream album I have bought for myself since Nov. 12, 2004 when “Encore,” his fourth solo album, was released.

And as with his prior albums, I hate his first music video single.

“We Made You” follows suit with “My Name Is,” “Without Me,” “The Real Slim Shady,” and “Just Lose It” by having immature, shenanigan raps with a catchy beat that do not showcase the raw, poetic rhymes he is capable of.

The song pokes fun at current trends and people in pop culture, such as Jessica Simpson, Tony Romo, Bret Michaels’ “Rock of Love” TV show, Jessica Alba and “Star Trek.”

However, within the ridiculous, slapstick humor of the music video and lyrics, Eminem addresses the skeptics that have questioned his longevity and skills with: “Can he come back as nasty as he can? Yes I can, can, don’t ask me this again.”

Personally, I believe him.

In the half decade that Eminem has been in the shadows, numerous life-impacting events have happened nationwide and personally to the Detroit hip-hop icon. With his stint in rehab for sleeping medication and longtime friend/D12 group member, Proof (DeShaun Holton), being killed on April 11, 2008 in a Detroit night club, the album adds up to be his most emotional and hard-hitting one yet.

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However, as I drove away from the city, that world of cheering and sunshine quickly transitioned into one of poverty, arson and deterioration.

I have lived no more than 10 minutes from Detroit my whole life and love the city.

But between the suburbs and downtown, it’s practically impossible to find a street without an abandoned building, remains of a building that has been burnt down, or a house that looks like it should be condemned.

The Final Four is expected to bring about 100,000 people to the city, who are estimated to be spending $15 million to $50 million; this supposedly will help “boost” Detroit and the state’s economy.

In the past five years, Michigan has hosted the NBA Championship (’04, ’05), Ryder Cup (’04), Stanley Cup (’08), World Series (’06), MLB All-Star Game (’05) and of course the Super Bowl (’06), which is estimated to have brought $274 million in spending to Detroit.

And guess what? Our economy continues to decrease, our unemployment rate continues to rise and these events give nothing to the citizens of Michigan except a brief hiatus from the crushing financial woes.

After tonight’s game, the nets will be cut down (hopefully by State, even though I was raised a Wolverines fan) and everyone will leave the city and state the same way they found it – with the highest unemployment rate in the country (12 percent) and a once-powerhouse city that ran out of gas after lighting itself on fire.

In Detroit, almost one out of four citizens is unemployed, and while I’m not saying that the Final Four won’t help the city, it isn’t the miracle solution the city and state are longing for.

On ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” there was a five-minute video about Detroit and it had Michigan icons such as Steve Yzerman, David Bing and Magic Johnson discussing the state of Michigan and the deterioration of the city from the thriving automotive capital it once was.

Johnson is a MSU alumnus and I think he described best what the Final Four is to Michigan, by saying even if MSU doesn’t win, “the state of Michigan is smiling – they’ve had a week to smile and feel good about themselves.”

So Michiganders, I hope you have enjoyed your weekend of sunshine because as soon as it’s gone, we’re still left with a whole lot of problems, even if Kwame Kilpatrick is gone and the Big Three have their bailout money.

“This law, like all laws in Michigan, comes up for review in two years and it cannot be touched until then because it is a ballot initiative,” said Greg Francisco, executive director of the Michigan Medical

Marijuana Association.

Medicinal marijuana advocates in Michigan are already working on legislation advocating dispensaries, which have been the focus of so much attention in states like California, where the federal government has been raiding them regularly for several years.

Michigan’s law does not currently allow for dispensaries, causing problems for patients trying to obtain seeds/plants once they have an official registry card.

“Any other type of controlled substance, or any other prescription drug, you go to a dispensary, mainly a pharmacy to get it; and it’s a very structured type of setup,” said Isabella County Prosecutor Larry Burdick.

“Medical marijuana is a little bit different,” he said. “You don’t go to your local Walgreens to get a couple ounces of marijuana.”

However, dispensaries, or “pot shops” opponents to the law call them, have been under fire by the federal government for years.

On March 18, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced medical marijuana dispensaries operating legally under California law would no longer face prosecution.

But a week later, as politicians and media outlets were discussing the announcement, a dispensary in San Francisco was raided.

“It’s not clear whether the agents that did that are rogues and just trying to get in a few last licks before the word officially trickles down from the administration that the raids are going to be stopped, said Matthew Abel, a Michigan attorney and Central Michigan University alumnus.

Abel has built a reputation as an advocate for medicinal marijuana and said despite the latest news, raids have decreased since the Bush administration left office.

“They have definitely backed off and it seems that the White House got an ear-full after that raid,” he said.

Francisco said Michigan’s law can be amended by a simple majority vote and that he and a group of other medicinal marijuana advocates are preparing for it.

“We are preparing now for what happens two years from now and we would like to see not-for-profit cooperatives and dispensaries,” he said.

Meanwhile, others believe the passing of Proposal 1 has opened the flood gates to disaster.

“Marijuana is still illegal in the federal government and it’s just a nightmare scenario to me,” said James Muffett, president of the Citizens for Traditional Values, a Lansing-based conservative group.

Muffett and his organization ran a campaign against Proposal 1, stating, “The proposal is filled with loopholes, errors and unintended consequences.”

“It’s all going to roll out slowly and we’re going to deal with the problems little by little, but when we get to the end we’re going to have pot shops all over the state of Michigan,” Muffett said.

However, whether there will be any dire consequences is still unforeseen.

“It will be interesting to see because no matter what you regulate, or what you allow, or what you make laws for, there’s always going to be abuses,” said Bay Area Narcotics Enforcement Team Lt. Amado Arceo.

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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

A week after the NCAA Tournament where sophomore 174-pounder Mike Miller finished runner-up in the country, Metro Editor Mike Wayland spoke with head coach Tom Borrelli about the past season, the future of the young team and recruitment.

Mike Wayland: What do you think of this past season compared to others in your career?

Tom Borrelli: I’m very happy with the season that we had this year and knowing what we lost last year; last year we lost one of our assistant coaches who was very instrumental in building the program of where it is today. And we also lost four All-American athletes, so for us to finish 14th in the country and win another MAC Tournament Championship and go 17-3-1 in dual-meets, that’s a heck of an accomplishment.

MW: You said before that you weren’t expecting this out of this team. What were you expecting?

TB: Well I was expecting a little bit more of a rebuilding year. I certainly wasn’t expecting us to beat a No. 5 team in the country, Missouri in a dual meet, I wasn’t expecting us to tie Nebraska in a dual meet at a time they were ranked third or fourth and they finished fourth in the NCAA Tournament, so those kinds of things were very encouraging.

MW: What exactly do you see particularly for Jarod Trice and Scotti Sentes in the future?

TB: I think the sky’s the limit for those guys, I think both of them are capable of winning NCAA championships here at Central, if they continue to improve and enjoy what they are doing.

MW: How has recruitment been going so far?

TB: We have really been evaluating the state of Michigan in the last couple months and we spent (three) weekends ago at the Michigan High School State Tournament. And we really have a good idea who we want to bring in and actually we (had) six young men coming in on visits (last) weekend and probably six or seven more (this) weekend.

MW: Is it hard to recruit against some of the bigger universities, such as Iowa?

TB: Those things kind of vary; it depends on the type of athletes you are recruiting as far as what his goals are coming out of high school. Guys who are looking for a top 10 program and want to kind of make a name for themselves and make a name for the program outside of some of the glamour conferences, it’s not too difficult to get them to come here.

MW: Any predications for next year?

TB: No, I expect us to have a very exciting year next year and continue to improve.We want to move forward from there.

After a search and rescue mission or narcotics investigation, one law enforcer likes nothing better than getting her belly rubbed and eating out of her bowl.

“K9-Lizzy” just finished her tenth year serving Central Michigan University and the Mount Pleasant community. Her partner and handler, Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski, said it is almost time for Lizzy to start considering retirement.

“She just turned 11 years old and she’s starting to get a little grey, like I am,” Mioduszewski said. “She’s still doing well with the drugs and the tracking, but I would expect another year.”

Lizzy is a Belgian Malinois, imported from the Netherlands, and has been trained for tracking and finding drugs like marijuana, cocaine, crack, heroin, methamphetamine and Ecstasy.

Work Dogs International Chief Instructor Patrick Beltz has been working with police dogs for more than 20 years in California and said the best dogs to train for police work are from Europe.

“If you want a horse, you come to America,” Beltz said. “Americans raise horses and people come from all over the world to get them. But if you want a great working dog, you go to Europe.”

Mioduszewski said he and Lizzy have officially been patrolling together since May 15, 1998, at CMU and then with the sheriff’s department.

According to CMU Police Chief Stan Dinius, drug arrests increased about 33 percent after they got Lizzy. On Feb. 2, 1999, after less than a year of patrolling, Lizzy assisted in one of the biggest, cocaine drug busts in Isabella County history.

Mount Pleasant Public Information Officer Dave Sabuda said he was called in as backup and saw Lizzy search the vehicle, which led to three arrests and the confiscation of more than 300 grams of cocaine.

“The dog hit under the air cleaner,” Sabuda said. “There was nothing in there, but when we got into the trunk, the dog hit on a locked container.”

Sabuda said officers believed the three individuals in the vehicle had already dropped drugs off at other places because when Lizzy “hit” under the air cleaner, the air cleaner was missing.

Isabella County Prosecutor Larry Burdick said in his more than 20-year career, he cannot remember a bigger cocaine bust occurring.

According to court records, multiple charges followed, including possession of a controlled substance involving 225 to 650 grams, and delivery/manufacturing of a controlled substance involving 225 to 650 grams.

Mioduszewski said that when Lizzy is tracking people or sniffing for drugs, she is trained to believe it is a game. Her reward for winning the “game” is a tennis ball.

“Everything is on a positive reward system,” Mioduszewski said, “I’ll get excited and just pet her and throw the ball. They want to please the handler.”

However, Mioduszewski said Lizzy does not do too much work anymore because the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Police have a younger drug dog, but Mioduszewski still trains with Lizzy regularly.

Mioduszewski said when Lizzy does officially retire he has an agreement with the Isabella County Board of Commissioners to buy Lizzy for a dollar because Lizzy is really “just a part of the family.”

metro@cm-life.com

After more than four years as undersheriff of Isabella County, John Vinson is leaving to become chief of police at the University of Washington.

On Tuesday, Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski announced that Laude Hartrum, from the Mason County Sheriff’s Department, will be Vinson’s replacement.

“The bottom line came down to (Hartrum’s) work experience,” Mioduszewski said. “He basically worked his way up through the Mason County Sheriff’s Department.”

Hartrum said he is looking forward to continuing his career in law enforcement at the new day-to-day operations in Isabella County.

“I’m excited to be coming to (Isabella County),” he said. “And I’m looking forward to the new challenges,”

As undersheriff, Vinson has been second-in-command behind Mioduszewski and organized the daily operation of the divisions in the department, including road patrol, the detective bureau, records and jail operations.

Vinson’s last day will be Feb. 6, but Hartrum will work alongside Vinson before he leaves to make sure the transition is smooth.

“(It’s) to provide him with a basic overview of some of the major duties and responsibilities that I have been performing over the past four years,” Vinson said.

Mioduszewski received about 15 applications for Vinson’s position after putting an ad in the Michigan Sheriff’s Association newsletter and narrowed the pool of applicants down to seven, which he personally interviewed.

He said the 47-year-old Hartrum has spent 23 years in law enforcement and has served as a deputy, road sergeant, detective, jail administrator, undersheriff and sheriff in Mason County.

“After the interview process, it was quite apparent he had the experience and knowledge regarding sheriff’s departments,” Mioduszewski said.

Vinson and Mioduszewski have known one another for about a decade, and both said they will miss their daily interaction.

“I will miss the friends and relationships I have built up (in Mount Pleasant) over time,” Vinson said.

Vinson is one of the only undersheriffs in Michigan to have a doctorate degree. He has taught courses at Central Michigan University and is looking forward to his new duties at the University of Washington, where he will oversee a department of roughly 100 officers on a campus of around 67,000 students, faculty, and staff.

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