Madison NORML

Source: Detroit News click here

Sunday, April 5, 2009
Monday starts process for medical marijuana program
Charlie Cain / Detroit News Lansing Bureau

Lansing -- Five months after voters approved a ballot measure to allow people with "debilitating" illnesses and diseases to use marijuana, the state Monday begins taking applications for the Michigan Medical Marijuana Program.

But it will take weeks before patients can legally use marijuana.

Once state health officials receive an application for approval they have 15 days to review it. If approved, the state will then mail out a picture ID card within five days.

"We should be issuing the cards probably by the end of April," said James McCurtis, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Community Health, which will oversee the program. Michigan is the 13th state to legalize medical marijuana.

A rally is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday at Lansing's Gone Wired Café. Organizers expect as many as 200 people to attend. Buses will then take participants to the state's Ottawa Building in downtown Lansing to turn in their paperwork. It must include a certification form from a Michigan-licensed physician that the patient suffers from a medical problem covered under the new law. The registry card costs $100.

The doctor will have to vouch that a patient's pain and suffering could be lessened though marijuana use. Conditions include patients with cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C and Crohn's Disease. It also covers those with wasting syndrome, severe and chronic pain or nausea, seizures and persistent muscle spasms. It's unknown how many people will qualify for the program, although those who backed the successful petition drive placing the question before voters estimated that it could be as many as 50,000.

"Some police departments are still resisting the law," said Brad Forrester, communications director for the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, which is helping patients get marijuana.

"But judges are throwing these things our way," he said, adding that in at least three recent cases, judges have dismissed marijuana charges against people who will likely qualify under the law.