Medical marijuana law in full effect; Registry identification card applications now available
Last update: April 6, 2009
On November 4, 2008, Michigan's medical marijuana law, Initiated Law 1 of 2008, received a resounding 63% of the vote and majority support in each of Michigan's 83 counties. The new law, which MPP's campaign committee drafted and ran the campaign for, went into effect on December 4, 2008. In the first five months, seriously ill patients had an affirmative defense available, which could be raised in court if they were arrested. On April 6, the full law went into effect and patients can now apply to the state department of health for ID cards that also prevent them from being arrested for the doctor-advised, medical use of marijuana. Many thanks to all of you who made this victory possible by speaking out, collecting signatures, donating to the campaign, and voting.
Application forms, which include written certification forms for physicians, can be found here.
The MDCH is required to issue an ID card within 20 days of receiving a completed application and registry fee from a qualifying patient. As is the case in most other medical marijuana states, ID cards will protect patients from arrest under state law, provided that they are in compliance with the law.
Patients will be allowed to choose to cultivate their own medical marijuana in an enclosed, locked facility or to designate a caregiver to do so for them. Caregivers will be allowed to assist no more than five patients. Michigan's law is also one of the three laws that extends its protections to visiting seriously ill patients who are allowed to use medical marijuana in their home states. For more details, you can read the full law here.
MPP has created an educational brochure for Michigan patients with qualifying conditions to use when talking to their doctors about Michigan's medical marijuana law. You can use this brochure to assist you in educating your doctor about Initiatied Law 1 of 2008 and doctors' protections for writing recommendations. MPP has also created a handout with medical marijuana research about each qualifying condition: check out www.mpp.org/research.
Thank you again to each of you who made this compassionate law possible! Please be sure to sign up for MPP's alerts so that you can help to ensure smooth implementation of the law and to defend it against any attacks in the days to come.
