Marijuana Policy Project

Doctors and people suffering from a disease will be less fearful of prescribing and using medical marijuana under Michigan's new law after comments by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder that those people complying with state laws will not be the target for federal prosecution, a spokesperson for the Marijuana Policy Project said Friday.

Michigan's medical marijuana law, passed by voters last year, takes effect April 4.

Earlier this week, Mr. Holder told reporters the Justice Department would not pursue raids against people legitimately using medical marijuana, instead focusing enforcement of federal drug laws on those who "use medical marijuana laws a shield" for drug trafficking.

Bruce Mirken with the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, which financed most of the campaign supporting Proposal 2008-1 in Michigan, said Mr. Holder's statement is good news for people legally using medical marijuana in the 13 states with laws for that purpose.

While most of the Justice Department's raids under the Bush administration had focused on California, Mr. Mirken said the attorney general's comments do open a door for lawmakers in states with medical marijuana laws to regulate the distribution of the substance.

He said under the previous administration, states had been afraid to regulate medical marijuana, requiring record keeping from users and distributors, because those people would be targeted for federal prosecution.

Mr. Mirken also said Mr. Holder's comments make doctors prescribing the substance and those using it to treat an illness more at ease in doing.

However, Mr. Holder's remarks are not changing the state rules regarding medical marijuana, which were completed by the Department of Community Health (See Gongwer Michigan Report, February 25, 2009).

DCH spokesperson James McCurtis said those rules will still go into effect as planned without any alterations.

A spokesperson for the opposition group to Proposal 2008-1 said organizations that got involved in that effort were simply concerned that Michigan could turn into California in terms of marijuana use.