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.
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.
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.
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.
This article was originally published on the Marijuana Patients Organization site on May 20, 2011. Senate Bill 377 is an amendment to the Michigan…
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?
Associated Press – Two medical marijuana providers have sued the federal government over what they are calling unconstitutional raids of their Montana businesses.
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.
This article was originally published on the Marijuana Patients Organization site on May 3, 2011. It appears that medical marijuana is in one of…
Oakland county court houses are prosecuting many individuals for legally possessing doctor prescribed marijuana, and a handful of judges are not allowing any one to mention the words Medical Marijuana at trial. In addition any reference that the defendant is legally allowed the use of marijuana prescribed by a doctor will not be permitted, an effort spearheaded by prosecutor Jessica Cooper. Oakland county (Cooper) is abusing power.
Last week a friend Barbara Agro, age 70, was in Oakland County Circuit court for growing 14 marijuana plants in her home with her husband (now deceased) Sal, 68. A number of plants far below their legal limit afforded by the State. A judge has ordered that attorneys cannot tell the jury Mrs. Agro was certified by a doctor, issued a license by the State of Michigan and afforded the right by Michigan voters to possess a limit of plants that far exceeded the amount she is charged.
The headlines last week were about the front page story that the Detroit Free Press wrote, Medical Pot Prescribed Mostly For Aches and Pains. The article showed data released by the Michigan Department of Community Health that indicated about 90% of patients had received their pot cards for chronic pain, muscle spasms and nausea and that only a handful of doctors prescribed it. Clearly an attempt to smear the validity of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.
A seminar today on how medical-marijuana patients and their drug providers can stay within state law was cancelled after the lawyer scheduled to speak said Highland Township threatened her with a land-use violation.
