AG’s Proposed Changes to the MMMA

by Dr. Robert Townsend DO.
A quick editors note:
This article, comes from Dr. Bob Townsend. He’s a medical cannabis Dr. and activist who works with patients in northern & southern Michigan and the upper peninsula where he holds clinics for patients. He is a member of the UP Hemp and Cannabis Alliance group. Which has members thru out northern Michigan and the upper peninsula. Dr. Bob asked that this article be spread far and wide so we are doing just that. I believe all that Dr. Bob is saying, as I have uncovered similar facts about the medical program in Michigan.
In reality I believe everything is pointing toward a Repeal of Prohibition. Medical laws are just not compassionate. I was a victim myself of a warrant-less search last summer. There were no charges, the police wanted to count my plants. Nobody should be harassed like this, its a health issue. Not a police issue. Health workers should be calling on patients, and setting up appointments to help them get well. There should be no threat of arrest to the legal patients and caregivers. After all we paid our money to the state to get the medical cards. We deserve protection not persecution from the state.

AG’s Proposed Changes the the MMMA
My review is complete, please review and make comments. I am going to submit it to the press, I suggest it also be put on the boards.

Here is the link:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/28101571/Discussion%20of%20AG%20revision.docx

I think the approach we need to take is to approach every news agency we can with the following attitude-

The AG is using public funds to rent luxury conference rooms to promote his own political views.

The purpose of these meetings is to show local authorities how to bypass a voter initiative using federal laws and public nuisance complaints.

The AG is using his position to promote a personal vendetta against medical marijuana and lobby for support to make draconian changes to the Act.

The revisions change the entire intent of the Act from one of compassionate medical use to the systematic control and prosecution of MMJ patients.

The meetings are closed to the public and the press.

Here are the conclusions I reached:

Conclusion:

1. The entire Act is changed from one calling for the compassionate use of marihuana by medical patients as enacted by the people of Michigan to limited tolerance of criminal activity.

2. Patients are criminalized

3. Local law enforcement is given the ability to completely bypass the Act by citing federal law.

4. Local communities can eliminate the use of marihuana by patients simply by zoning out the cultivation at a community level.

5. The registry is converted to an investigative tool with:

a. Mandatory participation in the registry

b. Registration of patients, medication, and grow operations

c. Local enforcement of federal law

d. Warrantless searches of homes and grow facilities

6. The medical basis of the Act as enacted by the voters is watered down, going from a firm statement by the voters that marihuana has medical use to a ‘suggestion’ that ‘some components’ MIGHT have some medical benefits. This is designed to attack the very premise the Act is based on for later challenge.

7. The entire medical tone of the revision is designed to put a chilling effect on certifications

a. New conditions may only be added based on previously approved conditions.

b. Physicians are directly threatened with licensure and possibly criminal prosecution. As a result, few if any will participate in the program, resulting in decreased access to certification at increased cost to the patients.

c. Notification of primary care physicians is required; otherwise the certification is permanently revoked. There is NO protection for the patient against inappropriate discontinuation of pain medication or discharge from the primary care practice once they obtain a MMJ card. Both these practices are common.

d. There is no protection for primary care doctors from being prevented from participation in the program in the first place. It is common for hospital systems to bar their staff physicians from writing certifications. This can result in licensure action against the physician if they write certifications- suspensions or other actions by hospitals have to be reported to the National Practitioner Database. What physician would be willing to risk that?

8. The entire tone of the revision is to control and prosecute medical marihuana patients under both state and federal law. The Act was designed and approved by the People of Michigan to shield patients from prosecution for their medical use of marihuana. This revision is designed specifically to trip patients up, after they have been identified and located, to ease their prosecution.

9. Basic functions and rights are denied to patients:

a. They are not allowed to drive

b. They are not allowed to work

c. They are denied insurance coverage for their treatment

d. They must open their homes and businesses to warrantless searches

e. They have no medical privacy and risk loss of their healthcare and medication

10. The ability to use medical marijuana is no longer offered as an alternative to more traditional therapy, it is reduced to a treatment of last resort, after all others have failed, in the terminal stages of the condition.

a. Patients must ‘prove’ they are actively suffering at the time of their use

b. Patients must ‘prove’ they are suffering ‘enough’ to deserve to have a card.

i. This proof must stand up to non-medical review

ii. Physicians may not exercise judgment in their therapy decisions

c. The proposed revision in no way promotes access to medication, certification, or supports patients in any way. It is designed from start to finish to restrict, prosecute and deny access in direct violation of the language and intent of the initiative approved by over 63% of Michigan voters and reaffirmed repeatedly both on the state and national level. Most recently in Kalamazoo, where 65% of the voters passed a charter amendment to make the prosecution of small amount marihuana the lowest law enforcement priority.

Please read the paper, give your comments and let me know. I am submitting it to my news sources in the am.

This is a serious threat, not only to medical marijuana in Michigan, but to some basic constitutional rights.

Dr. Bob