On Tuesday, November 10th, the Warren City Council held a public hearing regarding a proposed medical marijuana ordinance being championed by Mayor Jim Fouts. Fouts claims the ordinance is in response to concerns about growing medical marijuana in residential areas, including a house explosion on Harold street on September 28th that was reportedly due to butane hash oil extraction being performed inside of the home.
The Warren ordinance seeks to:
• Prohibit the consumption of marihuana in any area of any property open to the public or in a non-public area of a property where the owner has prohibited it
• Prohibit the transfer of marihuana at a caregiver’s residential dwelling
• Prohibit the odor of marihuana from being emitted beyond the interior of a structure
• Demands ventilation, filtration, and exhaust equipment to control the odor of marihuana
• Prohibits the growing, manufacturing, or processing of marihuana by a caregiver outside of an M-1 or M-2 industrial district. A qualifying patient may grow marihuana in their home, but only after registering and submitting a plan with the city’s building department and allowing inspections by both the building and fire departments
• Demands that, if a fire occurs as a result of the growth, cultivation, or processing of medical marihuana, that the qualifying patient be responsible for all emergency response costs or injuries which result
• Demands that when medical marihuana is transported inside of a motor vehicle, that it only be done in a sealed and locked container which is not readily accessible from the interior of the vehicle.
Violation of the proposed ordinance would be misdemeanors.
During public testimony, Southfield attorney Michael Komorn said, “There is an old saying for lawyers: When you don’t have the facts, argue the law, and when you don’t have the law, argue the facts.” Komorn went on to say, “After reading these proposed amendments, I can tell they have neither.”
Attorney after attorney echoed Komorn’s sentiment, stating the proposed ordinance was unconstitutional and in direct conflict with the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act as well the Supreme Court opinion issued in Ter Beek v City of Wyoming.
In addition, several residents also testified about how they would be negatively affected should the ordinance pass.
After enduring 2 hours of public testimony, of which none was in support of the ordinance, Council President Cecil St Pierre stated that the Council had “received an education” regarding the proposed ordinance and a motion was passed to table the first reading of the ordinance for further discussion by the committee of the whol
e. Several Council members, including Council Secretary Scott Stevens, pressed to have a motion to deny heard – a vote, however, never materialized. It is expected that a revised ordinance will appear on the Council’s agenda sometime in the next several months.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – First on FOX 17, we broke serious allegations that state police crime labs are being told to falsely report marijuana test results. This is resulting in misleading lab reports that an attorney claims creates felonies without real proof.
Attorney Michael Komorn believes a recent policy change in the way Michigan State Police forensic science crime labs report marijuana may have led to years of wrongful convictions.
Komorn called this a “perversion of science,” and “crime labs turned crime factories:” accusations that politics are trumping forensic science by escalating misdemeanor marijuana charges into felonies without proof.
It’s torn one Spring Lake family to pieces: a 6-year-old son taken away from his parents 14 months ago, in part, because of a disputed felony.
Since September of last year, Max Lorincz has been cheated of carefree moments with his son, Dante. Afternoons of uninterrupted fun have morphed into supervised visits.
“The doctor is telling me one thing, the judge is telling me another,” said Lorincz. A card-carrying medical marijuana patient, Lorincz is caught between doctor’s orders and a judge.
For years he has been ingesting marijuana oils for serious stomach issues and pain after a debilitating back injury. Last year, during an unrelated emergency, a cop walked into his home finding a “smudge” of butane hash oil.
His medicine got him in trouble, and he was charged with a misdemeanor for having marijuana. But he has a medical marijuana card, which should protect him for having what’s called “usable marijuana,” under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.
So the charges could have been dropped, but that is not what happened.
The Ottawa County Prosecutor charged Lorincz for having a schedule 1 synthetic drug; that is no longer a misdemeanor, it is a two-year felony. Komorn calls it a “bogus crime.”
“When you have a laboratory that is looking at a substance and reporting it in a way that makes it a schedule 1 instead of the marijuana they know it is, it’s creating a crime,” said Komorn.
What Lorincz had is a marijuana extract: butane hash oil, made by filtering butane through the plant, extracting the cannabinoids, or chemicals unique to marijuana, namely THC, the plant’s most psychoactive ingredient.
The certificate of analysis of Lorincz’s MSP crime lab report includes the phrase, “origin unknown.”
“In this particular case a quantitation was not done, and therefore I could not conclude whether or not it was hemp, you’re correct,” said William Ruhf, the MSP forensic scientist who completed Lorincz’s lap report.
Ruhf wrote this lab report, and then testified in April that he could not determine if this hash oil was natural or man-made. Again, this is the difference between a misdemeanor and a two-year felony.
Jay Siegel, a chemist with a PhD and the former MSU Forensic Science Director, disagrees. “Yes, this is a preparation of marijuana. It was extracted from marijuana,” Siegel said. Siegel told FOX 17 Lorincz’s sample, based upon the lab report, is natural marijuana.
He pointed out in this lab report’s data several tell-tale signs of the natural plant: a brown color, and several cannabinoids, including cannabidiol, cannabinol, and THC. He said it is unreasonable to say this is man-made.
“It’s much easier to get marijuana and extract it; the syntheses are quite sophisticated,” said Siegel.
Then, why are state police forensic scientists writing “origin unknown” on reports like this?
“The substance that we’re talking about has always known and been reported as from the lab as being marijuana, they know it,” said Komorn. “The lab is being forced, compelled, the policy changed to do this a certain way, to report this as a synthetic THC.”
“They also know that by reporting it as synthetic THC, they are stating that they can prove that it came from a synthetic source, as opposed to a natural plant source. This is a lie,” said Komorn.
Komorn said this is the result of a recent MSP Forensic Science policy change, which is not based in science. He obtained months of emails between 2013 and the present through the Freedom of Information Act.
They expose a lengthy debate among MSP forensic scientists, directors, and prosecutors associated with the Attorney General’s office, all regarding a specific procedural change for marijuana lab reports after 2013.
“The law enforcement community is focused on criminalizing medical marijuana patients, creating crimes in a crime laboratory that gives them no integrity,” said Komorn.
First, a crime lab technical leader wrote, “although THC found in foodstuffs and oils is most likely a marijuana extract… our scientists cannot determine if it’s marijuana without seeing any plant material.”
But, Siegel and Komorn already said this is not true.
Emails show after meeting with the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan (PAAM), a lab leader turns one prosecutor’s opinion into policy.
“That is my opinion, THC is a schedule 1 drug regardless of where it comes from,” Ken Stecker, a prosecutor who works with the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan (PAAM), which is affiliated with the Attorney General’s office, wrote in an email.
But, according to the law, where THC comes from does make a difference.
“The most damning evidence is that their own forensic scientists calls them out that they can’t do it based on forensic science, and yet they do it anyways,” Kormon said.
MSP forensic scientist Scott Penabaker wrote his concern to colleagues: “By going out on that limb and calling it THC, you jump from a misdemeanor to a felony.” He goes onto write, it is “highly doubtful any of these medical marijuana products we’re testing are synthetic.. That’s completely impractical.”
Then, controlled substances unit supervisor Bradley Choate wrote his heated opposition, including that identifying THC gives scientists two choices: one, marijuana possession as a misdemeanor; or two, synthetic THC possession, a felony; he wrote there is not a third choice.
But if lab reporting goes on like this, Choate wrote: “This could lead to the wrong charge of possession of synthetic THC and the ultimate wrongful conviction of an individual. For the lab to continue this possible miscarriage of justice would be a huge black eye for the division and the department.”
“You don’t just call up the Attorney General’s office and ask them what they think because they’re not scientists,” said Former Director of MSP Forensic Science John Collins. Collins served as the director of MSP Forensic Science from 2010 until he said he surprised the department with his resignation in 2012 in part, because of these issues.
“In my experience, it was just a nonstop political game,” said Collins. Collins reviewed documents in Lorincz’s case, including another email chain from Choate to the department citing their professional training materials.
Choate wrote that their conclusions are based on the evidence, not on political pressure, or other outside influences. Then he wrote, “whether or not an individual has a medical marijuana card is immaterial to how we report out our results.”
This was in response to another email, from MSP lab director Jim Pierson who wrote that lab tests from THC waxes and oils are coming back as marijuana, so they cannot arrest people. Then Pierson wrote, “Is there a way to get this changed? Our prosecutors are willing to argue that one speck of marijuana does not turn the larger quantity of oil/wax into marijuana.”
“Any time that scientists, or administrators of scientific operations, if they would intentionally try to create ambiguity to create a political advantage is beyond unacceptable,” said Collins.
When FOX 17 reviewed some emails obtained through FOIA with Collins he said, “That doesn’t surprise me.”
Michigan State Police Public Affairs and the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan’s president responded to FOX 17, deferring to each other.
State police public affairs said, it is up to the prosecutors to charge crimes, and lab policy was changed to add the statement “origin unknown” when it’s not possible to determine if THC comes for marijuana or is synthetic.”
Then the PAAM president wrote, it is up to the crime labs to report science. Quote, “any accusation that the lab and PAAM are directing lab personnel to report crimes without evidence is untrue.”
Komorn doesn’t buy it. “There is some wrongdoing going on, that they know that it’s wrong, and they continue to do it otherwise,” said Komorn.
And Siegel, who is also a former professor of many of these MSP employees, urges them to uphold the integrity of science. “What I would say to these people is get yourselves together,” said Siegel. “Get them all together to agree that this is bad science.”
Meanwhile, Lorincz is only allowed to visit Dante twice per week. He said he will not stop fighting for custody, and for the right to use the medicine he says does not hurt his body like pharmaceuticals.
“If nobody stands up for this and it just keeps going the way it is, how many more people are going to get thrown under the bus just for using their prescribed medicine? It’s just ridiculous,” said Lorincz.
Thursday evening FOX 17 caught up with Attorney General Bill Schuette at another event. When FOX 17 asked specifically about these emails that suggest prosecutors within his office are manipulating the way crime labs are reporting marijuana, and what his involvement is, Schuette answered:
“We’re in the middle of an investigation so I really don’t, I can’t comment one way or the other. But, we have an outstanding group of people that work very hard to make sure we enforce the law and defend the Constitution of Michigan.”
Schuette also told FOX 17 his office is “always very open, very transparent, and we have a great group of lawyers who work very hard for the citizens of Michigan.”
An evidentiary hearing for Lorincz’s case was originally set for Nov. 5, but it was adjourned. The Ottawa County Prosecutor filed a motion suppressing the defense’s subpoenas for 13 people, many of whom are quoted from the emails in question.
The defense told FOX 17 they plan to re-file motions and set another hearing likely in December. At this point, it may be up to another court to address the underlying allegations outside of Lorincz’s case.
Meanwhile, there is pending marijuana legislation statewide that would expand the definition of “usable marijuana,” according to the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, to include concentrates and extracts; for example, House Bill 4210. This would explicitly protect people like Lorincz from charges.
A Michigan medical-marijuana patient claims in court papers that state police crime labs are bending to pressure from prosecutors in analyzing marijuana samples, leading to harsher punishments.
Maxwell Lorincz, 35, was originally charged with a possessions misdemeanor for a small amount of marijuana oil after a Sept. 2014 arrest during an emergency call to his home, according to court papers. He contested the charge, due to his status as a legal medical-marijuana patient. It was dropped in January. But a month later he was charged again – and due to a laboratory finding that the oil could be synthetic THC, it was increased to a felony charge with potential prison time under Michigan law.
Lorincz’s attorney Michael Komorn alleges the lab engaged in perjury, evidence tampering, and even “rampant illegality” in considering the sample synthetic, due to pressure from prosecutors, they contend in the latest court papers filed Oct. 24.
“The Crime Lab was transformed into a Crime Factory which had the direct effect of stripping, in this case Mr. Lorincz, and other patients or caregivers statewide the State authorization to the entitlement to immunity, from arrest, prosecution, or any penalty associated with the medical use of (marijuana),” contends Komorn in the latest motion.
The latest filings, obtained by Forensic Magazine, include emails between lab staff, produced by a Freedom of Information Act request. The emails show that the scientists Michigan State Police Crime Lab found the hash oil was “Schedule I THC” from “origin unknown” – mostly because the analysts contend it showed no visible plant material. Prosecutors then brought the felony charge, based on the finding the THC could be synthetic.
However, the defense attorneys argue that there were multiple other naturally-occurring cannabinoids in the sample which are not psychoactive – and would be pointless to synthesize.
In one of the internal emails, a forensic scientist wrote to his colleagues at the lab that the origin “could not be determined,” and outlined some of the policy repercussions.
“Also, by going out on that limb and calling it THC, you now jump from a misdemeanor to a felony charge,” wrote the analyst. “We’re bringing this up because there seemed to be some concern about uniformity in making these calls.
“Further, it is highly doubtful that any of these Med. Mari. (sp) products we are seeing have THC that was synthesized,” the analyst added. “This would be completely impractical. We are most likely seeing naturally occurring THC extracted from the plant!”
The Michigan Attorney General’s Office and the Ottawa County Prosecutor’s Office did not return calls from Forensic Magazine.
“Any accusation that the Lab and PAAM are directing lab personnel to report crimes without evidence is untrue,” Michael Wendling, the Association’s President reportedly said in a prepared statement.
Attorney Michael Komorn “Allowing medical marijuana for those with autism was supposed to be the clinical trial,” Komorn said. “Instead, we’re going to have criminal trials.”
Medical marijuana use for Autism rejected-More local and national news
LARA director rejects autism for medical pot, upending state board approval. Despite getting the go-ahead from a state board made up largely of physicians, Michigan will not allow autism patients to use medical marijuana.
DETROIT (AP) — Michigan won’t allow the use of medical marijuana to control the effects of severe autism, an official said Thursday, rejecting the recommendation of an advisory panel.
Michigan would have been the first state to add autism to the list of conditions that qualify for medical marijuana use. But Mike Zimmer, director of the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, said he wasn’t swayed, citing a lack of deep research and other concerns.
“It’s frustrating and disappointing after all we’ve been through,” said Michael Komorn, an attorney for the woman who filed the petition. “It should be a choice that parents and doctors make.”
DETROIT (AP) — Michigan will not permit using medical marijuana to regulate the consequences of extreme autism, an official stated Thursday, rejecting the advice of an advisory panel. Michigan would have been the primary state so as to add autism to …
DETROIT — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder ‘s top state regulator Thursday rejected a state panel’s advice to allow medical marijuana as a treatment for autism. The decision followed three years of efforts by parents of autistic children, their lawyers and …
DETROIT (AP) – Michigan won’t allow the use of medical marijuana to control the effects of severe autism, an official said Thursday, rejecting the recommendation of an advisory panel. Michigan would have been the first state to add autism to the list …
safer michigan marijuana These tired eyes, which were filled with hope four short weeks ago, are now closing in disgust. The state of Michigan has denied allowing doctors to recommend marijuana for the treatment of autism. On July 31, a panel of mostly …
Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Director Mike Zimmer upended an expert panel’s recommendation that autism be added to the list of conditions. The Michigan Responsibility Council (MRC) announced this week it will push …
Patients with autism and Parkinson’s disease could use medical marijuana under a new effort to overhaul the system in Michigan. The Michigan Responsibility Council (MRC) announced this week it will push lawmakers to make the state’s medical marijuana …
California could still see a medical marijuana regulation bill this year, a Michigan officials ignores his own advisory panel and bars medical marijuana for autistic kids, California counties strike out in an effort to make Big Pharma pay for damages …
Grand Rapids Business Journal (subscription) – Aug 28, 2015
A group of more than 50 attorneys with a stake in marijuana-related law will meet for the first time in October as a formal section of the State Bar of Michigan. In July, the State Bar of Michigan voted to create the Marijuana Section, which will focus …
In this photo taken on Friday, June 26, 2015, Ida Chinonis helps her daughter Bella take her cannabis based medication at their home in Grand Blanc, Mich. (Photo: The Flint Journal). Lansing — Michigan’s regulatory director on Thursday rejected the …
A sweeping bipartisan bill introduced in 2015 could soon legalize medical marijuana in all American states. on.aol.com. Despite a recommendation by an autism review panel, a Michigan official has rejected adding autism to the diseases that can be …
(MPRN-Lansing) Despite getting the go-ahead from a state board made up largely of physicians, Michigan will not allow autism patients to use medical marijuana. Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Director Mike Zimmer overturned the …
MICHIGAN (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – A state official in Michigan has rejected a recommendation to add severe autism to the list of conditions that qualify for medical marijuana. The head of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs says there’s a lack of scientific
LANSING, Mich. – Michigan’s Director of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) has rejected a state panel’s recommendation to include autism in the list of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana. The decision came from Mike Zimmer, the Director …
LANSING, MI — A Michigan official has rejected a citizen petition and review panel recommendation to add autism to the list of conditions that qualify patients for medical marijuana use under state law. Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs …
Aug 5, 2015 – After a year long battle, Michigan Attorney Michael Komorn and his staff have chalked up another positive conclusion for a client caught up in the medical marijuana and forfeiture debacle.
Some may consider it a win, but this slow ruination of a family like so many other Michiganders… should most likely have never occurred.
What’s left to do after this… is to put the shattered pieces back together, emotionally, physically and financially. Then hope the children can go on and forget this ever happened.
The story’s beginning of the end starts here… Read on and you will find out how it began.
The Beginning of the End: Prosecutors drop marijuana charges against Michigan mom.
Prosecutors have dropped marijuana charges and will return items seized from a woman in the wake of a Michigan Supreme Court ruling last week.
“I’m elated that this part is over,” said Ginnifer Hency. “…It’s been a long year.”
St. Clair County Prosecutor Michael Wendling said about 18 cases were on hold while prosecution and defense waited on the Supreme Court decision.
“We reevaluated the files that we had pending and at least five were no longer viable in light of the Supreme Court decision,” Wendling said.
“I think that’s an analysis that prosecutors across the state are undertaking.”
The Supreme Court ruling last week clarified when caregivers and users can use their medical marijuana certification as a defense or immunity if charged with a marijuana-related crime. It was the court’s ninth medical marijuana ruling since voters approved the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act in 2008.
“We would have to have specific evidence on those items in order to overcome that burden now that we did not have to show before,” Wendling said.
Wendling said any unresolved civil forfeiture cases connected to those five dismissed cases also will be dismissed, and items seized will be returned.
The Free Press in February reported that police seized more than $24 million in assets from Michiganders in 2013. In many cases the citizens were never charged but lost their property anyway.
Komorn said Hency was arrested and her home raided in July 2014. The medical marijuana caregiver was charged in December 2014 with possession with intent to deliver marijuana.
According to appeal documents from the prosecution, Hency told a Drug Task Force member she had six ounces of marijuana in a locked bag that she intended to exchange for a different strain with another caregiver and give the marijuana to her patients.
Her case was dismissed by visiting District Judge David Nicholson in May after Nicholson found that no crime had occurred.
The prosecutor’s office appealed in circuit court. Oral arguments on the appeal were supposed to be heard by Circuit Judge Michael West Wednesday.
“But that does not eliminate the horror of what they’ve had to deal with the last year,” Komorn said.
“It didn’t come easy. We’ve had to fight for a year.”
Komorn said Hency’s family was devastated by the July 2014 raid on their home and Hency has had trouble finding employment because of the pending narcotics charge.
Hency said authorities seized several items, including a Chevy Impala, two iPhones, an iPad and a ladder, when they raided her home in 2014. The mother of four, who has multiple sclerosis, told Forbes Magazine that they even took her sex toy.
Hency said she appreciated the prosecutor’s decision to dismiss the case “in the interest of justice.” But she said she feels her case isn’t completely finished.
“When I get my stuff back I will consider it over,” Hency said.
From the beginning of the end to when it started
(you should start at the bottom and work your way back up to here)
