The Michigan Court of Appeals has rejected the legal defense of a man who got a medical marijuana card after he was busted for possession.
This the second time in two weeks the appeals court has narrowed the scope of the state’s medical marijuana law.
Last week, the appeals court ruled shops where money is exchanged for medical marijuana are illegal.
Now the court has ruled people who grow marijuana better have their state-issued medical marijuana cards in hand – getting one after a police raid is no defense against prosecution.
The court struck down the defense against marijuana charges that has been tried in several Michigan counties.
Brian Reed’s home was raided after a police drug team spotted six marijuana plants growing in his backyard.
Reed says he never got a medical marijuana card because his regular doctors work for a clinic that would lose its federal funding if they prescribed marijuana to patients.
Between the raid and when he was formally arrested and charged, Reed got a different doctor’s approval and a state-issued medical marijuana card as a treatment for chronic back pain.
Reed said that should be enough to protect from prosecution under Michigan’s medical marijuana law, which was approved by voters in 2008.
The appeals court upheld a lower court ruling and agreed a person busted for marijuana possession cannot use getting a doctor’s permission after the fact as a legal defense.
The ruling could be appealed to the state Supreme Court, which already has two other medical marijuana cases on its docket.
