Before it is enacted as law, the legislation must survive a joint conference with the U.S. Senate and the approval of President Barack Obama.
Across the country, DEA raids on state-legal operations have been a “destabilizing factor in trying to set up a regulated (medical marijuana) system,” communications director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Erik Altieri, said.
The raids are possible because marijuana is federally classified as a Schedule I substance with “no currently accepted medical use,” offering little clarity to those states who have legalized medical marijuana usage.
State Rep. Sam Singh, D-East Lansing, said needed clarity must come from Congress, who has “dropped the ball on any meaningful dialogue.”
“We should not be prosecuting individuals under the federal law if they are legally using medical marijuana under our laws,” Singh said.
But DEA intervention is only a piece of the medical marijuana issue in Michigan, Cannabis Counsel Senior Partner Matthew Abel said.
Abel called the medical mar ijuana industry in Michigan the “wild, wild midwest,” with dispensaries, which are not technically legal, operating “by the grace of local authorities.”
Abel said extreme conservatism within Michigan’s judicial system and legislature are blockading any clarity.
“It’s a market that cries out for regulation,” he said. “The people are way ahead of the legislature. The legislature dithers while the people who have serious illnesses have a hard time getting the medication that’s working for them.”
Some patients use medical marijuana as a substitute for dependancy-forming narcotics, such as morphine and oxycodone, and some others use it to lessen the frequency and intensity of epileptic seizures, said Rocky Antekeier, owner of the medical marijuana dispensary Helping Hands.
Tim Jenkins, manager of Star Buds, said although medical marijuana is legalized in Michigan, many patients still fear legal repercussions because of unclear laws and regulations.
“Harassment by law enforcement is the number one biggest fear of patients,” Jenkins said. “That’s their biggest fear. I’d like to say that it never happens, but it does occasionally.”
