LANSING, MICHIGAN -- Marijuana Policy Project director of state policies Karen O'Keefe and Michigan patients will urge revisions to the Michigan Department of Community Health's draft medical marijuana regulations at a hearing Jan. 5. O'Keefe and the patients will argue that the draft rules impose several new restrictions on patients that exceed the department's authority under Proposal 1, the medical marijuana initiative passed by voters in November, and that some proposed rules would put patients at unnecessary risk.
Among the rules considered problematic are requirements that patients or caregivers submit written inventory reports of medical marijuana they grow, that all medical marijuana -- not just plants -- be kept in an enclosed, locked facility, and a definition of "public use" that would make it illegal for patients to use medical marijuana in their own homes with the curtains open.
"Nothing in Proposal 1 gives the department authority to require inventory records, and doing so would put patients at risk," O'Keefe said. "None of the other medical marijuana states has such a rule, because as long as marijuana cultivation remains a federal crime, it would require patients to incriminate themselves in writing."
"The requirement that all medical marijuana be kept in a locked, enclosed facility is stricter than any requirement imposed on prescription morphine, methamphetamine or OxyContin," said patient Lynn Allen of Williamston. "The rule in Proposal 1 applies only to plants, and the department has no authority to expand it."
"Still," O'Keefe added, "we understand that this is just a draft, and we appreciate the effort the department is making to seek input and make adjustments based on what they hear from patients and others." O'Keefe's full, written comments on the rules are available here.
WHAT: MCDH hearing on proposed medical marijuana regulations.
WHO: MPP director of state policies Karen O'Keefe; patients Ken Shapiro (metastatic melanoma, East Lansing), Lynn Allen (AIDS/hepatitis C, Lansing) and Clint Winger (rheumatoid arthritis/degenerative disc disease, Coldwater), plus others as available.
WHEN: Jan. 5, 2009: 9 a.m.
WHERE: State Secondary Complex, General Office Building, 7150 Harris Drive, Conference Room A, Lansing.
With more than 26,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.
