Commercial Marijuana Sales Deemed Illegal in Michigan
The Michigan Court of Appeals issued a ruling on Wednesday that deemed commercial sales of marijuana illegal.
This is the reason why medical marijuana dispensaries on Michigan Avenue in Lansing, Michigan, remain closed. Most of the dispensaries in this area are used by patients who are students, because of their accessibility. This means that students who are coming back on campus for the fall term will have to find other dispensaries which are open, or find caregivers who are willing to add them to their roster of patients.
Caregivers are legally-certified marijuana growers, who are aged 21 or older.
Jonathan Beagley, a 2011 alumnus of Michigan State University (MSU), founder of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and a medical marijuana patient, shared that the ruling will “totally… change everything.” Having to turn to caregivers, Beagley shared, is not a very reliable option, as based on his personal experience, there are caregivers who agree to add students as patients, then fail to come through at the last minute.
The ruling will most likely be appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court. There is no telling, however, how long the dispensaries would remain closed.
The decision of the Court of Appeals came after the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act received criticism from Attorney General Bill Schuette, and groups of Republican Lawyers. They pointed out that there were holes in the state’s medical marijuana act, and that it did not allow dispensaries to exist legally.
Robin Schneider, a spokeswoman for an advocacy group for dispensaries, shared: “I’m in shock right now… We’ve pushed people out on the streets and back in the neighborhoods to get their medicine illegally.”
Tags: michigan marijuana, Michigan marijuana law, Michigan medical marijuana
August 31, 2011 at 9:28 ammalcolm kyle
link
Prohibition does nothing but bankroll dangerous criminals, corrupt whole law enforcement agencies and generously arm international terrorists. Alcohol prohibition (1919-1933) was a casebook example of such dangerous folly. Today, alcohol is taxed and regulated and the shoot-outs over turf and the killing of innocent bystanders are no longer a daily part of the alcohol trade. So how come so many of us lack the simple ability to learn from such an important historical lesson, and are instead intent on perpetuating the madness and misery that prohibition has always invariably engendered?
It is clearly our always-doomed-to-fail policy of prohibition that is causing this intense misery. We need to fix ourselves (start thinking clearly) and in doing so, we will not only help rid ourselves of this terrible self-inflicted curse but also help to heal the whole planet.
Are we really such an adolescent nation that we can expect neither maturity nor cognitive thought from either our leaders or our populace? This is not a war on drugs; it’s an outright war on sanity!
Colombia, Peru, Mexico or Afghanistan, with their coca leaves, marijuana buds or their poppy sap, are not igniting temptation in the minds of poor weak American citizens. These countries are merely responding to the enormous demand that comes from within our own borders. Invading or destroying those countries, creating more hate, violence, instability, injustice and corruption, will not fix this problem. We need to admit that It is ourselves who are sick. Prohibition is neither a sane nor a safe approach. Left unabated, it’s devouring inferno will surely engulf every last one of us!