The Michigan Supreme Court has decided to hear 2 criminal appeals involving medical marijuana; the first time the Court will hear these types of cases since voters overwhelmingly approved its use in 2008.
Since 2008 officials from many communities across the state have been enacting all kinds of knee-jerk ordinances, moratoriums, and other "Reefer Madness" shenanigans basically saying "not in our community," creating such a confusing state of affairs about pot that one needs directions, a lawyer on retainer, charters, consultants, and laws just to navigate through the state's cities, or avoid them, if you are a user, or grower of medical marijuana.
And if you happen to have a dispensary of this substance, you have likely been raided already, or will in the near future, as occurred in Oakland County not long ago.
Now we have both district, and circuit court judges who will find you guilty for possessing, smoking, or growing pot for medical reasons because federal law trumps state laws in this regard according to them, and now making criminals out of law-abiding citizens. The federal government lists marijuana as a Schedule I drug making it illegal to possess, sell, or grow the substance.
The law circus surrounding medical marijuana in Michigan has been wafting its way up to the Michigan Supreme Court's level, the states highest court, and that probably isn't saying much with regard to how they might rule.
Known to flip like Cheetah, often the only thing that gets accomplished is pushing their thumbs down a little harder on the little guy.
Some words to a song come to mind when thinking how the Court might rule: "Smoke gets in your eyes."
One of the cases to hit the court is out of Shiawassee County where they will decide what is meant by keeping marijuana in a locked facility, a requirement under Michigan law.
The second case is out of Oakland County where the issue is whether a person already using marijuana needed to consult with a physician after the law was passed in 2008 approving the use of pot.
Michigan allows marijuana to be used to alleviate the symptoms of certain illnesses if someone sees a doctor and gets a state-issued card. People can possess up to 2 1/2 ounces of ready-to-use marijuana and have up to 12 plants in a locked area. A registered caregiver also can grow the drug for them, reported myfoxdetroit.com.
However the court rules in these cases we might expect nothing to get accomplished given all the talk about federal law trumping state law. And the fact is, the court may not even go there with respect to federal and state law being in opposition about marijuana in any respect.
Seems more like a design on the federal level than any attempt to resolve, or reconcile the conflicts. The state of Michigan is surely confused, as are the officials running our communities. And now that the Obama Administration has gone back on their word to back off on the medical marijuana busts for those following state laws, it seems clear more lies beneath the rug than is being touted.
In the meantime, our state continues to make criminals out of citizens who are only trying to alleviate serious medical symptoms conventional medications don't work on.
We have far more important things to worry about. One of them being prescription drug abuse and addiction, crime in the Detroit as well as suburbs literally off the hook, murders damn near daily, and a host of other serious issues to deal with other than a citizen using pot for medical reasons, or a person carded to smoke pot growing marijuana in a locked dog kennel.
Peace...
- The adolescent brain is not fully developed, making a young person extremely vulnerable to drug and alcohol addiction among other problems.
Comments