Local prosecutors lauded a Michigan appeals court decision today ruling that medical marijuana cannot be sold through private shops, essentially banning all sales of pot and the businesses trying to make a profit from it.

Only cardholders or their registered primary caregiver will be allowed to grow marijuana. The court held that the law allowed for delivery and transfer of marijuana, but not the sale of it.

"This is good news," Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz said. "It supports the intent of the voters and the intent of the statute. Nowhere in the statute does it provide for dispensaries."

"It's a significant step."

Neither Berrien or Cass counties have dispensaries.

However, Geoff Hurst, former president and current member of the Southwest Michigan Compassion Club, estimates 25 percent to 50 percent of locals with cards drive to dispensaries. The closest ones are in South Haven, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek, he said.

He said closing dispensaries would hurt someone approved for a card tomorrow, as it takes about four months to grow marijuana.

"An 80-year-old woman could be diagnosed with cancer today; what does she do tomorrow?" Hurst said. "Their access has just been denied. And they don't know anyone else that can supply them."

Both Fitz and Berrien County Prosecutor Art Cotter said they have been adamant about not allowing dispensaries to open in their counties, and would shut them down if they had.

"I've made it very clear that I don't believe dispensaries are legal," Cotter said.

Cotter said the dispensaries have turned into a money-making operation.

"What they found is when you permit things like dispensaries, what you find is a lot of drug dealers making a lot of money," he said.

Hurt, one of about 300 people in the Southwest Michigan Compassion Club, said the law will hurt many.

"This is probably the worst thing that can happen to somebody that is diagnosed with cancer today," he said. "One thing I've been consistently told by cancer patients is it helps them eat."

Cotter, though, argues how often cards are being used by cancer patients. He said of the last 63,000 people who were issued cards, only 1,400 had cancer.

It is the first time, meanwhile, the appeals court has ruled in a case involving commercial pot sales. The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to hear appeals on other aspects of the medical marijuana law, while legislators are looking at possible changes to the law.

Compassionate Apothecary, which can be shut down immediately, allowed certain people to sell marijuana to each other, with the owners taking as much as a 20 percent cut. The business earned $21,000 in less than three months.

Matthew Abel, a Detroit attorney who specialized in medical marijuana law, estimates there are 200 to 300 such shops in Michigan.

The decision comes as law enforcement and prosecutors across the state have blasted the vagueness of the law. Cotter says it has become a "joke" to obtain medical marijuana cards in the state. Almost 100,000 people are registered cardholders.

Medical marijuana cardholders are allowed to possess up to 2.5 ounces of pot and keep up to 12 plants in a locked place.

The Associated Press Contributed to this report.

Source: South Bend Tribune (IN)

Author: Tom Moor, South Bend Tribune Staff Writer

Published: August 24, 2011

Copyright: 2011 South Bend Tribune

Contact: tmoor@sbtinfo.com

URL: http://drugsense.org/url/IS0op95s

Website: http://www.southbendtribune.com/

CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives

http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml