A Republican state lawmaker has introduced legislation to allow medical marijuana dispensaries in Michigan.
The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled the state’s medical marijuana law does not allow dispensaries.
State Representative Mike Callton says that’s a hole in the law that needs to be fixed because it creates an unfair hardship on terminally ill people.
“The problem”, he said, “if there’s 126,000 patients in Michigan right now, and only one in three has a caregiver. So the Supreme Court ruling, by taking out the dispensaries, and I can see that it wasn’t in the law, it either leaves patients without caregivers to either go underground or go without.”
“This cancer patient, this AIDS patient should be able to go right to a provisionary center – which my bill is creating – and get that prescription filled right away, get rid of that nausea, get that appetite back, keep that weight up, and have that quality of life even though you’re dying,” said Callton.
Callton says his bill would also reduce the illegal sale of marijuana because people who grow more than they need could provide it to other patients through a dispensary.
The legislation would allow local governments to outlaw dispensaries.
Similar legislation failed to win approval last year, but Callton says legislators from both parties seem to be more accepting of the idea in this term.
The medical marijuana law was adopted overwhelmingly by voters in 2008.
