Medical marijuana users in Michigan could get up to two years in prison

  Medical marijuana users may get pot like this from
  pharmacies

Medical marijuana users will not be able to farm their own crop of pot if Michigan legislators pass a bill now pending in the senate.Fox 2 News Detroit reported on 1-19-10.

The bill was introduced by Senator Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland.

According to Micihgan Senate Republicans, "Senate Bill 618...would require pharmacists to purchase medical marijuana from licensed growers and provide for the licensure of 10 growers statewide who would be subject to annual inspections."

“The purpose of these bills is to protect the public by putting in place common sense safeguards and oversight necessary to make sure medical marijuana is safe and used appropriately,” Kuipers said.

Also in the Bill are sanctions for anyone violating this law by serving up to a two years in prison.

Language in the Bill include:

• Treat medical marijuana the same as other schedule two narcotics by restricting a user’s ability to obtain the drug;
• Require the drug to be purchased only through a pharmacist with a prescription from a doctor; and
• Create sentencing guidelines of up to two years in prison for violators.
   

Unfortunately, putting folks in prison for up to two years for pot seems a little stiff. In fact, putting people in prison for pot is draconian.

Having pharmacists dispense marijuana would eliminate pot shops from springing up, and this is probably the main reason for the legislation. Legislators are trying to avoid another Los Angeles where 1000 dispensaries have popped up since pot was approved for sale in 1996.

There is even a web site where folks can find pot shops in California called WeedMaps.com. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but Michigan's legislators may be trying for a more professional approach using pharmacies.

With other communities in Michigan enacting their own legal strategies in the medical marijuana race, it seems like their will be more litigation filings springing up than their are citizens who actually need the drug.

In Canada, you can apply to grow your own marijuana if you qualify as a Category 1 or 2 patient. The categories refer to the type of medical problem you have.

Growing your own medical marijuana in the U.S. varies from state to state for those that have legalized its use. Rather than have 1000 different laws regulating marijuana, however, some thought should be placed in developing parity between states that do allow its medical use.

The flurry of laws being passed by communities, and the state of Michigan to regulate the use, and sale of marijuana may be overkill. If pot was legalized outright this conversation, Bills, or laws wouldn't even be taking place. The incentive to smuggle marijuana would also disappear, at least from bringing it into this country.

But of course, that all depends on where you stand on the issue of marijuana's full legalization, or whether medical marijuana users should be able to grow their own to cut costs.

If you or a loved one needs help with any type of drug problem, contact these sites depending on where you live. SEMCA (Wayne County residents), CARE (Macomb County residents), PACE (Oakland County residents), Drug Free Detroit (City of Detroit residents). For those residing outside the State of Michigan, contact SAMHSA for assistance.

In the flow...

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(Photo Wikimedia Commons Public Domain)

Medical marijuana users may be unable to grow pot by Michael Velardo, aka Crash Test Addict is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.