Marijuana Patients Organization - Capone Of Cannabis

June 28, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

Barney Frank and Ron Paul Introduce Bill to End Federal Marijuana Prohibition

Rob Kampia MPP- I just left a landmark news conference on Capitol Hill where — along with Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) and spokespersons from three other advocacy organizations — we announced the introduction of the first-ever bill to end marijuana prohibition on the federal level.

June 21, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

The Attorney General and Medical Marijuana

Our Attorney General, Bill Schuette, the person who is charged with protecting the rights of medical marijuana patients, has done the exact opposite. His opposition to the law was known prior to the passage of the act in 2008 and was the proverbial soap box that Schuette used to get elected as our Attorney General. Bill Schuette has one clear agenda, to reverse this act and kill the law. He has touted this at cocktail parties and truly believes the death of the act will catapault him into the governors office or some other important role.

June 16, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

Patient Using Marijuana Convicted on Drug Charge

LAKE ORION — Retired police dispatcher and school-bus driver Barb Agro of Lake Orion said today she planned to appeal her conviction this week on manufacturing marijuana — a four-year felony — after an Oakland County judge would not let jurors hear that Agro was a state-approved medical-marijuana user.

Judge Wendy Potts “allowed the jury to see my statement that I had 17 plants in my basement, and to see my signature on there, but she wouldn’t let the jury see the rest” of her written statement, Agro said. The rest of the statement included Agro saying that she was a state-approved medical marijuana patient as well as an approved caregiver, allowed to supply the drug to as many as five approved patients, under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.

June 10, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

The State Profits from Marijuana Program

Amount of Profit the State of Michigan Made Administering the Medical Marihuana Program

FY 2009 $308,443

FY 2010 $3,677,993

FY 2011 $4,173,149 (looking to be a great year for the program, profit through March)

June 8, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

Medical marijuana lawyer expects 70-year-old woman’s drug charge to be appealed, overturned

MLive.com with audio – A 70-year-old medical marijuana patient convicted for delivering/manufacturing marijuana should have her case overturned in appeals court, according to one expert.

Matthew Abel, a Detroit attorney who specializes in marijuana defense cases, told MLive Detroit he believes the four-year felony conviction of Barbara Agro, a Lake Orion resident, will be reviewed, and overturned.

June 1, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

Theory of Criminalization

Turk’s “theory of criminalization” posits the organization and sophistication of both authorities and subjects affect the likelihood of conflict between them. Because law enforcement is organized (as it is a prerequisite for possessing power), conflict is more likely to start when subjects are organized. The level of conflict and level of criminalization is dependent upon the meaning that the prohibited act has for those who enforce the law. To the extent the officials find the prohibited act very offensive, it is likely there will be high arrest and conviction rates and severe sentences. So one of the areas of focus on this is how you organize and sophisticate the movement.

May 28, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

Oakland County Cops Invest in Marijuana Facility

The Oakland county narcotics enforcement team has not been supportive of medical marijuana and denies any legality pertaining to the topic. They raided dispensaries in August of 2010 citing there is no room in our law for their existence and “robbed” them of both product and cash. The new stance should state, they are not allowed unless we have some upside in them.

May 25, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

Sheriff Mike Bouchard Validating Dispensaries, Prior to Raiding and Denying Their Legality

Lake Orion township meeting minutes A. PC-2010-02, Text Amendment to Zoning Ordinance No. 78, Article III, Medical Marijuana (Compliance with Federal, State, and Local Laws): Mr. R. Donald Wortman, of Carlisle/Wortman Associates, Inc., overviewed their correspondence, dated March 22, 2010*; attached proposed text amendment*; and, attached correspondence from Sheriff Michael Bouchard, dated March 8, 2010.

May 20, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

Senate Bill 377, Good or Bad?

This article was originally published on the Marijuana Patients Organization site on May 20, 2011. Senate Bill 377 is an amendment to the Michigan…

May 19, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

Confusion Over What a Caregiver Is

The dictionary defines a caregiver as a person who cares for someone who is sick or disabled. So how does the State of Michigan define a caregiver as it pertains to medical marijuana and how does law enforcement confuse this meaning?

May 12, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

Raided medical marijuana providers in Montana sue federal government

Associated Press – Two medical marijuana providers have sued the federal government over what they are calling unconstitutional raids of their Montana businesses.

May 6, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

Medical Marijuana Politics in Michigan

Medical Marijuana has been a hot topic in Michigan since the 1970s. For decades Michigan’s citizens, politicians and interest groups have debated whether medical marijuana is a necessary drug for sufferers of debilitating illnesses or a dangerous drug that must be forbidden for its cancerous and memory affecting properties. In this time, interest groups on both sides of the issue have weighed in on the debate and pushed toward various policy reforms on this issue. The Michigan legislature has also taken sides on this issue. While this does not tend to be a strongly partisan issue in Michigan, individuals within the Michigan legislature clearly have mutually exclusive intentions for medical marijuana’s future in Michigan. In the end, the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act was passed in 2008. This was viewed as a win by many medical marijuana supporters, but the issues of regulation and implementation of the act are still being discussed and many caretakers and patients still commonly experience entanglements with law enforcement over grey areas of the act. One Flint area caretaker explained his point of view by saying, “the local ordnances still discriminate and profile against the people who use medical marihuana. Rather then looking at it as a medication, they are still viewing it as a common street drug rather then educating the authorities and society about marihuana.” Overall, the issue of medical marijuana is one that has divided Michigan interest groups and policymakers for decades and will likely continue to be a divisive issue for years to come.