MI: Comments on draft medical marijuana rules due tomorrow!

Published: January 8, 2009

On Monday, the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) held a public hearing on its overly burdensome and restrictive draft rules for Michigan's new medical marijuana law. In a great turnout, more than 150 people showed up, and you made sure the MDCH heard the voices of patients and caregivers loud and clear!

While that showing was heartening, our work is not done: Many of you have not yet submitted a written comment. This is your chance to make a difference.  You only have until tomorrow, January 9, at 5:00 p.m. to do so.  If you haven't done so yet, please write and submit a comment urging the MDCH to bring the rules in line with the law. Then, urge your friends and family to do so too. Please be sure to be respectful and polite in your letters.  

Proposal 1 tasked the MDCH with issuing state registry ID cards to qualifying patients, which will protect them from arrest. It gave the MDCH authority to issue rules about processing applications, adding additional qualifying conditions, and setting fees. But these draft rules go much further and seek to rewrite new and unreasonable requirements into the voter-enacted law. Here are some of the provisions of the draft rules that conflict with Proposal 1 and need to be revised:

• The draft rules would require patients and caregivers to submit inventory reports on their marijuana cultivation each year. The law does not require any such records, and the department does not have the authority to require them. Inventory reports would be self-incriminating since they would document violations of federal law.
• The draft rules indicate that all marijuana must be kept in an enclosed, locked facility, when the law only requires that marijuana plants be stored in an enclosed, locked facility. There is no similar restriction for potentially deadly medications like prescription morphine, OxyContin, or methamphetamine.
• The draft rules provide for monitoring, inspections, and reporting by the department that are not provided for in the act.
• The draft rules seek to define a "public place" where marijuana cannot be used to include anywhere "visible to the public." This could include a front porch or the inside of a patient's house, if the patient is near a window.
• Click here for a longer list of draft rules that need revision.

The public hearing on January 5 in Lansing went very well.  The MDCH heard nearly three hours of testimony from the public, including several medical marijuana patients, and there was widespread coverage in radio, television, and print media and no organized opposition presence. Thank you to all of you who took the time to travel to Lansing and stand up for the will of the voters and patients' well-being.

Please pass this message on to other supporters of Proposal 1 so we can ensure that the law is implemented faithfully. Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project.