Ramblings

August 24, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

New Court of Appeals Opinion Released today 08/23/2011

State of Michigan v. Brandon McQueen and Matthew Taylor, d/b/a Compassionate Apothecary, LLC

The Compassionate Apothecary opinion was issued today and has immediate effect.  Even though this is a civil case involving an injunction, the Court’s findings, reasoning, and holding will have impact on criminal cases.  Prosecutors may now reference this case in currently pending cases.  And, municipalities can use it as support to ban dispensaries in their communities utilizing patient to patient transfers.

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August 15, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana in Michigan

There is a movement within law enforcement, chiefly Michigan’s “Top Cop”, Attorney General Bill Schuette, to lobby for legislation that would restrict a medical marijuana patients ability to drive. Meaning that any amount, even trace amounts in the system would be considered illegal if driving. Even 7 days after use a patient would not legally be allowed to drive.* Unfortunately, this legislation has a good chance of passing.

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August 14, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

Medical Marihuana Lecture Series: Updates in the Law Affecting Business and Growers

Litigation has surrounded the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act since Michigan voters passed the initiative in 2008.  This summer several bills have been proposed in the Michigan legislature that will affect patients, caregivers, and cannabusiness.  Most recently the Attorney General Bill Schutte issued a memorandum stating that the Medical Marihuana Act prohibits the collective growing or sharing of marihuana plants.

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July 17, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

Lansing’s Dispensary Lesson

As an active investor and counselor in various medical marijuana operations and also a citizen of Michigan, I share concerns about the medical marijuana industry with opponents. Every day I hear citizens voicing discomfort about the prospect of a dispensary in their town and am often forced to agree with them. A lot of this fear is moral panic brought on by the status quo. A truer concern for communities should be less-than-professional operators of dispensaries.

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July 17, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

Hypertension and Medical Marijuana; Why is it so important?

The leading cause of death in men AND women is not cancer, it is cardiovascular disease. And the main contributor to heart disease is your blood pressure. Before I go into the “why’s” let me make this blanket statement. Along with controlling your blood sugar (and insulin levels) the most important thing you can do to lower your risk of having a heart attack, stroke or kidney disease is to keep your blood pressure in the normal range.

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July 3, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

John Walsh v. Bill Schuette

Michigan House Representative John Walsh has submitted several bills that would start the intelligent dialogue of medical marijuana regulation in the State. Most fear this as an attack on our rights as medical marijuana patients, caregivers, business owners, dispensaries and the like. Why wouldn’t any reasonable person believe this when Bill Schuette’s name is also attached.

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June 28, 2011 Marijuana Patients Organization

Lansing Dispensary Ordinance Puts Patients at Danger

The city of Lansing has set ordinances of who, what, and where regarding medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, and said loudly absolutely no medical marijuana on Michigan Avenue. This recent action was in response to the lobby efforts of two Lansing neighborhood associations to eliminate the dispensaries along Michigan Avenue. Both are 501(c) organizations that are tax exempt and also unable to participate in the political process, i.e. lobby for policy change, given their tax status. Who is more guilty, the neighborhood association or a city council that restricted business to the even more dangerous part of Lansing, putting patients at risk and limiting safe access.

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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.

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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.

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