Politician: Too Many Abuse Medical Marijuana Law
LANSING (WWJ) - With the state legislature working on the budget, at least one lawmaker wants their attention to go back to medical marijuana when they're done. WWJ's Rob Sanford said a House Republican thinks some people are abusing the law.
Michigan's Marijuana Law has been the subject of debate for months on how to enforce it or regulate it.
The law requires written permission from a doctor to be able to buy marijuana at a dispensary. But the language has been ambiguous, causing some law enforcement agencies to shut down such operations.
House Republican Mike Callton of Nashville, Mich. is not a fan of the law and doesn't believe all people with medical marijuana prescriptions actually need the drug.
"You have marijuana users that are actually using it in a leisure form, but they've gotten a prescription for it and have figured out how to use it in a leisure form legally," Callton said. "I can't think of any other medicine that you take socially with other people, supposedly in a 'comfort club' setting."
Callton said his goal is to eventually ban areas where users gather to smoke the drug with others.
"It would make the medical marijuana comfort bar illegal. The concept of a social gathering for the purpose of consuming your medication together in the form of a social club, that would be illegal," Callton said.
Callton wants to see the Legislature take up the issue once the state budget is completed.
What is clear, is that the debate over Michigan's medical marijuana law is far from being over. Until then, law enforcement officials have said they will continue to shut down dispensaries until the law's ambiguous language is cleared up.
