Medical marijuana.zip

In this photo taken Tuesday, May 14, 2013, Medical marijuana vials are displayed at the Venice Beach Care Center medical marijuana dispensary in Venice, Calif.

(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

LANSING, MI -- An evolving proposal to allow regulated medical marijuana dispensaries and related businesses is unlikely to move this year in the Michigan Senate despite an ongoing push from supporters.

Sen. Rick Jones, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, does not have the votes to advance the bills from committee and is instead asking Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof to discharge them to the floor by early 2016.

"That's entirely up to him," Jones, R-Grand Ledge, said Tuesday. "I would hope that it would be this week, but I realize this week is taken up by some very pressing issues."

Meekhof is not writing off the bills for good, but with lawmakers leaving for winter break in just three days, he's focused on other priority legislation, according to spokeswoman Amber McCann.

"I wouldn't consider it a dead issue, because we're not at the end of a term, but I don't see us discharging anything this year," she said.

Jones joined Sen. Bert Johnson, D-Detroit, community leaders and business owners at the Michigan Capitol on Tuesday morning to urge Senate action on the bills, which would see the state license medical marijuana dispensaries, growers, processors, distributors and testers.

Michigan's current medical marijuana law, approved by voters in 2008, created a system of patients and caregivers who can grow a limited number of plants, but the initiated law did not address dispensaries.

The Michigan Supreme Court, in a 2012 ruling, empowered county prosecutors to shut down dispensaries as a public nuisance, but the small businesses have continued to operate in some parts of the state at the leisure of local officials.

Jones, a former Sheriff who has led the push for tighter regulations in the Senate, said patients deserve safe access to quality medicine, but he compared current dispensary operations to "a form of organized crime."

"When a caregiver grows too much, they're violating the law. The dispensaries are in violation of the law. The transport -- a trunk load of marijuana -- is in violation of the law. Each one of those people are risking an arrest," said Jones.

Patient advocates have long called on the state to legalize dispensaries, but the National Patient Rights Association dropped support last week when the legislation was amended to create a tiered licensing system, which the group fears would drive up prices.

Dispensaries would be taxed at 3 percent under the legislation, and patients would have to pay the state's 6 percent sales tax on retail sales. Revenue from the dispensary tax would be used to fund enforcement efforts at the state and local level.

The original package, as approved by the House earlier this year, would also allow patients to use non-smokable forms of the drug and would create a seed-to-sale tracking system for marijuana plants.

Jones wants to link the package to other bills that would let landlords prohibit medical marijuana use and create a pilot program for roadside saliva testing in suspected drugged driving cases.

Statewide regulations would benefit small businesses that play by the rules and their patients, according to Willie Rochon, who operates the Michigan Wellness Group in Detroit and serves as secretary of the Michigan Cannabis Development Association.

"We go above and beyond despite the fact that Michigan law doesn't say what constitutes a minimum acceptable standard, and we know firsthand gaps in Michigan law are why we have a free-for-all in the medical marijuana industry," Rochon said.

"While we follow the most rigorous standards, other businesses may not be so rigorous. While we work closely with small Michigan businesses who supply and test products, others may not be so Pure Michigan."

Dispensary legislation also passed the House in 2013 but died in the Senate amidst opposition from law enforcement groups, who are not activity fighting the stricter regulatory framework proposed in the new bills.

The Michigan Responsibility Council, headed by two GOP political operatives in Oakland County, has said it may pursue a 2016 ballot proposal if state lawmakers again fail to finalize medical marijuana regulations.

Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.