State, marijuana advocates prepare to work together

For the first time ever, the state Department of Community Health is working out a process to permit some seriously ill people and their caregivers to possess and grow marijuana. The move is required by the medical marijuana initiative that Michigan voters approved last month.

The law, which won a majority of voters in every county of the state, takes effect on Thursday. The state has until April 4 to establish the rules for the program. The Department of Community Health will issue draft rules this month, and a public hearing is expected in January.

Both the Department of Community Health and the newly formed nonprofit Michigan Medical Marijuana Association are planning education drives to help smooth the transition into state licensing of medicinal marijuana users.

DCH has added a medical marijuana FAQ to its Web site. According to spokesman James McCurtis, the department plans to launch a new site dedicated to solely medical marijuana early this month. McCurtis said the department has been working on guidelines with officials from Oregon and Montana, which passed similar laws in 1998 and 2004, respectively.

Statistics maintained by the state of Oregon give some sense of the results of such a law. More than 3,000 Oregon doctors have recommended marijuana to patients there; more than 20,000 patients hold cards authorizing marijuana use.

Advocates of the law say coordination is needed to meet expected public demand for medical marijuana.

“What we need to do is to have real, open communication between the medical cannabis community and law enforcement and the Department of Community Health,” said Greg Francisco, an elementary school counselor turned wool mill operator in the southwestern Michigan community of Paw Paw, who serves as spokesman for the MMMA.

Francisco said the MMMA will serve as an information clearinghouse and resource center on the medicinal use of marijuana.

“We do anticipate doing trainings around the state to inform people about the law. Doctors, nurses and social workers are going to need in-services on this.”

Francisco said that he’s been getting four or five e-mails daily from ill people who want to learn how they can become registered medical marijuana patients.

He said he encourages them to begin by speaking with their doctors about whether marijuana would be right for them.

Several doctors have indicated that they are open to exploring the possibility of making marijuana recommendations, he said, but so far only one doctor — Paul Stanford of The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation — has announced plans to recommend marijuana to eligible patients.

Stanford is founder and CEO of The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation which operates medical marijuana clinics in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington and claims to have helped over 40,000 patients obtain a permit to legally possess, use and grow medical marijuana.

Dr. Stanford told Michigan Messenger that the THC Foundation has rented space in Southfield and that he plans to travel to Michigan and begin issuing marijuana recommendations to eligible patients on Thursday, the day the medical marijuana law takes effect.

“We go to areas where law is just being implemented,” Stanford said, “Once a doctor has had couple of patients find relief through the use of marijuana, we find they are more willing to recommend it. We try to encourage other doctors.”

In order to make an appointment with the THCF Medical Clinic patients are asked to have their doctors fax or mail medical records related to their qualifying conditions.

“We only need chart notes from 2-3 recent visits on your condition,” the THCF website specifies, “These can be UP TO three years old. … These notes must be from an MD (medical doctor) or a DO (doctor of osteopathy).”

Marijuana, though illicit, is Michigan’s third-most valuable crop behind corn and soybeans.

Marijuana possession is illegal under federal law even in cases of medical use; however, the federal government’s role in drug law enforcement is small compared to state enforcement, and President-elect Barack Obama has indicated that he would not support pursuing medical marijuana users.

“Typically we don’t arrest people for simple possession, even though those people that possess marijuana are breaking federal law,” Rich Isaacson, special agent and information officer for the Detroit field division of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration told the Saginaw News, “The goal of the DEA is to identify who the large-scale drug trafficking organizations are.”