Lowell’s Poll- Just In
by Jamie Lowell/ Devember 29, 2012
Results from last weeks’s question:
The question was- A new Michigan law requires patients driving a car to carry their marijuana medicine in a case or in the trunk. Do you feel this is a reasonable protection for patients and other drivers or is this an unreasonable restriction to the ill and injured?
77% of respondents thought that the new law equals an unnecessary restriction, while 23% view it as a reasonable protection.
Here is what the experts, in this case criminal defense attorney Michael Komorn, business attorney Denise Pollicella, and the “Godfather” of marijuana reform, Tim Beck have to say about recently passed, House Bill 4856.
Attorney Michael Komorn’ practice specializes in Medical Marihuana representation. He is the President of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association (MMMA), a nonprofit patient advocacy group with over 26,000 members, which advocates for medical marihuana patients, and caregiver rights. Michael is also the host of Planet Green Trees Radio, a marijuana reform based show, which is broadcast every Thursday night 8-10 pm EST www.planetgreentrees.comHere are his thoughts on 4856:
“4856 born out of the late night lame duck session is not a law intended to protect patients or caregivers. Instead it sets out a new opportunity for law enforcement officers to find violations of how patients and caregivers engage in the medical use of cannabis. Furthermore it is a law that exclusively targets persons who choose to treat their serious or debilitating condition with medical cannabis, and no one else.
If the goal of this legislature was to clear up the “holes” in the law, the passing of 4856 would earn the Legislature an (F) Failure on their report card, for doing the exact opposite…
The goal of this legislature should have been to ensure the implementation of the voter’s initiative. They should have started with the premise what can they do to protect patients and caregivers from arrest, and treat these issues as public health concern and not public safety issues. Their failure to follow this approach is the reason why laws like 4856 were passed. 4856 is not a reasonable restriction and the legislatures attempt to “fix” the act, can only be described as a big swing and a miss.”
Attorney Komorn’s complete response is contained in a guest blog on The Compassion Chronicles. He outlines 5 individual aspects of 4856 that support his statements above. Click here to view that post:
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Denise Pollicella, founder of Cannabis Attorneys of Mid-Michigan and a 1996 graduate of Wayne Sate University Law School, practices Corporate Law, Business Transactions and Medical Marihuana Law in Livingston County.
Ms. Pollicella finds HB 4856 to be a “tolerable restriction” and explains in detail:
“HB 4856 is a tolerable restriction on the transportation of usable marihuana. I have likened it to the seatbelt laws. It is frustrating that a liberty needs to be constrained and codified, but it protects people against themselves. Too many times in the past four years have I seen cars torn apart and drivers arrested over a joint in the ashtray. Like most laws, this one is aimed at the lowest common denominator of our society, and the rest of us with more common sense must bear the irritation.
Arguments that keeping marihuana on your person while driving is not dangerous are invalid. This bill was written to placate those who associate marihuana use with alcohol abuse, and who see it as a potentially dangerous recreational drug, and they are not wholly wrong. If driver’s licenses were only issued to mature people with common sense who could always be counted on to make the safest choice, we wouldn’t need any vehicle laws.
Of course anything that makes life more difficult for a very ill person is unfair; however, driving is a privilege, not a right, and if you argue too strenuously that a person is too ill or disabled to stow marihuana in his trunk, you argue against his ability to safely operate a two ton moving machine.
The most troubling part of HB 4856 is that it may have created a new crime or, at the very least, a new revenue source through ticketing. It is my hope that we see more restraint out of heretofore overly zealous patrol officers, and do not end up with marihuana enforcement zones next to the seatbelt ones.
Although it has far yet to go, marihuana has come a long way in five years. Unless it is legalized completely, however, we will be suffering many more attempts to restrict it, and will be fortunate if the restrictions are as tolerable as this one.”
Tim Beck, often referred to as the “Godfather” of Michigan’s marijuana reform movement, finds 4856 to be “less convenient” but also believes that it’s passage helps to indirectly “makes the MMMA stronger”:
“While this law will make it less convenient to transport medical cannabis, on a big picture level it was necessary for the Legislature to do this. One of the most frightening things in the minds of the vast majority of voters who do not use cannabis, is the real or imaginary threat of “drugged drivers.” Passage of 4856 helps to alleviate this problem. It makes the MMMA stronger and insulates it from attacks by critics looking to exploit these fears.
There is also defensible precedent for this law. It has been illegal in Michigan for many years to have open containers of alcoholic beverages anywhere in the passenger compartment of one’s vehicle.”
It appears that many tend to believe that proper care and storage of one’s cannabis medicine is a responsible measure to take while driving, and one that may alleviate some entanglements with aggressive law enforcement officers. However, the majority clearly views 4856 as an additional tool for law enforcement to use against legally registered patients and not a necessary protection for patients, caregivers, and others on the road.