SPRING LAKE, Mich. – The defense representing a Spring Lake father facing a felony marijuana charge is accusing Michigan State Police Forensic Science Division crime labs of misreporting marijuana intentionally. It’s an allegation with statewide implications.
FOX 17 first reported Max Lorincz’s case in February: He’s a card-carrying medical marijuana patient. He was charged with felony possession of synthetic tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) for having a smear amount of butane hash oil (BHO).
“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?” asked Lorincz. “It’s just ridiculous.”
Lorincz said BHO, which is made from marijuana resins, is a prescription he uses for debilitating pain. On an unrelated medical emergency call for his wife, law enforcement found a smear of BHO in his family’s home. Now, in part as a result of the charges, Lorincz has lost custody of his six-year-old son, restricted to supervised public visits for the past several months.
After FOX 17 reported his case, attorney Michael Komorn at Komorn Law PLLC took Lorincz’s case pro bono.
Komorn said MSP crime labs, along with the Michigan attorney general’s office and the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan, changed crime lab reporting policies for reporting marijuana back in 2013. Based on documents and emails received through the Freedom of Information Act, Komorn said state laboratories are falsely reporting marijuana as synthetic THC, essentially turning a misdemeanor charge into a felony.
“What is unique about this case is that they [the prosecution] are relying on the lab to report these substances so that they can escalate these crimes from misdemeanors to felonies,” said Komorn.
First charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession, Lorincz refused to plead guilty because he is a card-carrying medical marijuana patient. According to the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, this charge can be dropped through Section 4 immunity, or Section 8 by asserting an affirmative defense.
However, the Ottawa County prosecutor charged Lorincz with felony synthetic THC possession, relying on the state lab report results from his BHO.
According to Lorincz’s crime lab report, technicians deemed his BHO to be “residue, delta-1-Tetrahydrocannabinol, schedule 1,” then the phrase, “origin unknown.”
The state lab scientist testified in an earlier April preliminary exam that they could not determine whether Lorincz’s BHO was natural or synthetic. However, the prosecution charged him with felony synthetic THC possession.
“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.
“This is a lie,” Komorn said. “We have emails within the state laboratory communications indicating this, that they know it’s unlikely, more than unlikely near an impossible, that the patients and caregivers are in a laboratory synthesizing THC. It’s not happening, yet they report it as such.”
Komorn filed motions in Ottawa County Circuit Court in this case earlier this week. His firm is stating that the crime labs and prosecution are reporting “bogus crimes,” turning crime labs into a “crime factory.” He stands firm that the prosecution has no credible evidence to charge or convict Lorincz, especially since the state lab scientist testified they cannot prove the substance to be natural or synthetic.
“The lab as far as I’m concerned has lost its integrity,” said Komorn.
“You can’t play around with this type of thing and make stuff up and create crimes and be influenced by what the prosecutors want you to do and then come to court, take an oath, and expect to be received as an expert in forensic science. You’ve lost that.”
FOX 17 reached out to Michigan State Police for comment. The MSP public affairs department for the office of the director released this statement to FOX 17:
“The ultimate decision on what to charge an individual with rests with the prosecutor. The role of the laboratory is to determine whether marihuana or THC are present. Michigan state police laboratory policy was changed to include the statement “origin unknown” when it is not possible to determine if THC originates from a plant (marihuana) or synthetic means. This change makes it clear that the source of the THC should not be assumed from the lab results.”
FOX 17 has also reached out to the Michigan attorney general’s office and Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan for comment.
The motions filed in court are calling for an evidentiary hearing Nov. 5.
Posted 7:45 PM, October 28, 2015, by Dana Chicklas
Michigan Panel Votes 4-2 In Support Of Cannabis Use For Children With Autism, LARA Director Denies Petition.
Mike Zimmer, the Director of LARA in Michigan, has taken the futures of children and their families into his hands, only to crush them, insult them, and put all of their lives in danger. I was in attendance on July 31st 2015 at the last autism hearing in Lansing when the panel was finally given the chance to make an informed vote of 4-2 in favor of Autism being added to the list of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana.
I held our 4-year-old son Emery affectionately in my arms as I spoke in front of the panel of our experience over the last year and how it has changed us. We are able to give Emery cannabis because of his epilepsy diagnosis. I explained what it has done to reverse his autism impairment, to help him grow and to be happy, and for us to be able to live together in the same home. Before cannabis, we were going to have to live in separate homes on the same farmland together. Emery could not help but attack everyone around him constantly, including his younger siblings. Now, we happily spend entire days together and can hardly imagine the road we were headed down before Emery’s brain was allowed to work the way it is meant to because of cannabis.
We were at the hearing with other friends as well. These friends have been fighting this for over two years. They are parents, family, friends, attorneys, doctors, experts, and other activists. Parents with adult autistic children spoke to the panel as well. These parents have spent decades watching their children suffer as they refill endless bottles of dangerous pharmaceutical medications. They explained that from all of their research and everything they have seen, they believe that cannabis will work. They want to try it.
Parents like Dwight Zahringer have seen that other children using cannabis are not only experiencing changes in behavior and sleep patterns, but are also becoming verbal for the first time. Like every parent, these are things that he wants deeply for his own son, who is mostly non-verbal at the age of three. The original petitioner Lisa Smith’s son Noah, who has been non-verbal his whole life, has just recently started talking at the age of six because of cannabis. Parents caring for children with an autism diagnosis shouldn’t have to wait another day to try a proven safe and effective medicine that is non-toxic and has never caused a death. This is especially true when it’s helping so many people already.
Mike Zimmer denied the petition despite the panel’s recommendation to add it to the qualifying list of conditions.
The panel is specifically designated by LARA to make the decisions regarding new conditions that should qualify for protection under the MMMA. They reviewed over seventy-five peer-reviewed articles with over eight hundred pages of scientific information relating to the paediatric use of cannabis for autism. Parents should be able to choose this medicine for their autistic children. Adults who are suffering should be able to qualify as well. But instead of passing this decision through so that families can finally find relief, healing, and new positive experiences, Mike Zimmer denied it. From the decision:
“This lack of scientific evidence is concerning … the petition fails to acknowledge the direct impact on children… .”
And Lt. Governor Brian Calley, who has an autistic child of his own, weighed in by saying “there are neither sufficient studies nor scientific trials demonstrating its clinical impact to justify approval at this time.”
Maybe what these guys need is over eight hundred pages of information on the dangers of using anti-psychotics, anti-depressants, anti-insomnia, and anti-anxiety medications on children just to help them cope or to control dangerous behaviors.
Zimmer writes that children with autism “without associated seizure disorders” are already eligible under the language of the MMMA. He implies that if there are no seizures, then the autism is not severe, with no clear definition for what severe autism is.
Let’s help him with that: autism is a word with six letters. That’s it. But children with an autism diagnosis, whether it is considered severe or not, have to see doctors to get that diagnosis. And there are reasons for seeing the doctors. Parents can’t just walk into a dispensary and get an autism diagnosis and a medical card. Children with these conditions have a neurologist and sometimes many other doctors that they see regularly to monitor their growth, behaviors, and intelligence. It feels like what Mike Zimmer is really saying is that he doesn’t trust the many compassionate doctors, attorneys, parents, experts, social workers and other professionals who work in this field. These are the people who spend time with autistic children and their families.
They support this petition. Yet, he feels he has the right to make this decision for all of us.
He does not have that right.
He does not have the right to put a time limit on the lives of people or to force parents to separate siblings from each other when they can grow up together as friends, happily and peacefully. He doesn’t have the right to choose the number of children that are allowed to thrive and succeed in this world. In his Final Determination letter, he even makes it a point to rebut the claims that adding autism would cause a minimal increase in participation among minors.
This guy is the head of LARA, the agency that licenses these physicians, and he relies upon the argument that the doctors that we license can’t be trusted and will abuse the system. To follow his logic, his licensed physicians will treat autistic patients who they are not qualified to treat … The solution is that he can regulate this through the physicians and lay down rules and regulations. Instead he shuts it down.
None of this matters, of course. Every child with an autism diagnosis will benefit from using cannabis. This is clearly outlined in all of the peer-reviewed information that was included with the petition even aside from the hundreds, if not thousands, of miraculous stories from all across the country. These are stories of autism impairment being reversed, sometimes seemingly overnight, just from using low doses of cannabis oil or other forms of cannabis. Let’s make sure these people have all the information they need to make this right for us!
THIS IS A CALL FOR ACTION!
California and D.C parents can already treat their children with cannabis for autism. This fight has been going on in Michigan for long enough now that a lot of people far and away are paying attention. When autism is added to the list of qualifying conditions in Michigan, our children will literally become the long-term studies that Mike Zimmer and other opponents of the petition claim that we need to have first.
Please take a few minutes out of your day and call LARA and the Governor’s office, or send out some emails or faxes. It really does mean a lot to everyone who works hard on this. It could make a huge difference in the outcome and aftermath of Zimmer’s final determination letter, which is included in the article. If you have any creative ideas or information that you feel could help, please tell us about it. Some websites that you can contact are listed below. If you have a success story you want to share, feel free to share in the comments below as well. This might be a game to these politicians and profiteers, but these are our lives! We deserve to create them ourselves!
Here is the contact information for Mike Zimmer, Brian Calley, and the Governor’s Office. Please help these guys understand!
Brian Calley
https://www.facebook.com/briancalley
Mike Zimmer
Phone: (517) 373-3286
Email: zimmerm@michigan.gov
Licensing and Regulatory Affairs
P.O. Box 30004
Lansing, MI 48909
Phone: (517) 373-1820
Fax: (517) 373-2129
This is a link to “The Endocannabinoid System as it Relates to Autism” – Joe Stone; Christian Bogner, M.D. Its references list the peer-reviewed scientific articles relating to cannabis in the treatment of autism that were included in the petition to add autism to the list of qualifying conditions to use cannabis in Michigan:
A series of papers in the Journal of the American Medical Association is starting to correct the shameful legacy of drug war politics over cannabis science. But a research catch-22 persists.
The nation’s top medical organization released a major series of papers on medical cannabis last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, in a move that constitutes a small step for the AMA, but a giant leap in cannabis medical history.
In five key papers, teams of researchers systematically reviewed dozens of clinical studies of marijuana, speaking in clear language that the “use of marijuana for chronic pain, neuropathic pain, and spasticity due to multiple sclerosis is supported by high-quality evidence.”
The review validated what doctors and patients in California have risked their freedom to say for twenty years. The findings also directly refute critics who maintain that “marijuana is not medicine.”
“They concluded cannabis is useful,” said Dr. Frank Lucido, a Berkeley physician who specializes in cannabis. “I don’t think a single study didn’t show benefit. … I think it was very positive.”
“What’s driving this is a tremendous cultural shift that’s preceding the political shift,” said Martin Lee, of author Smoke Signals. The AMA is acknowledging “what’s been known for 5,000 years.”
The AMA actually opposed federal cannabis prohibition in 1937. After losing that round, most doctors have toed the Drug War line ever since. “It’s great that they have finally acknowledged there’s some medicinal value in cannabis, but the whole thing is so pathetic,” Lee said.
Most major news media outlets, however, have spun the JAMA papers negatively, embracing the narrative that many uses for medical pot are still based on poor science. News reports noted that of one of the JAMA studies found that “there was low-quality evidence suggesting that cannabinoids were associated with improvements in nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy, weight gain in HIV infection, sleep disorders, and Tourette syndrome.”
News outlets also pointed to another review that found that “there is some evidence to support the use of marijuana for nausea and vomiting related to chemotherapy, specific pain syndromes, and spasticity from multiple sclerosis. However, for most other indications that qualify by state law for use of medical marijuana, such as hepatitis C, Crohn disease, Parkinson disease, or Tourette syndrome, the evidence supporting its use is of poor quality.”
Cannabis experts say the problem with some of the conclusions in the JAMA studies, and the reporting about them, is that they fail to own up to the main reason why study quality has often been poor: the systematic blockade on pot research. For decades, the federal government has refused to authorize research on the medical benefits of cannabis. As a result, the inconclusiveness of some of the research is more a reflection of the federal ban than of the medical effectiveness of pot. “You know how incredibly hard it is to do research that is intended to confirm benefits of cannabis?” said Warner. “It’s impossible. We still have a huge catch-22.”
Experts also say that the decision by AMA researchers to ignore the research blockade shows their bias. “It’s a national embarrassment. The federal designation that cannabis has no medical value is like saying the moon is made of green cheese,” Lee said. “It seems the AMA can’t say, ‘No, the moon is not made of green cheese.'”
The AMA researchers also fail to acknowledge the real world benefits reported by patients. For example, about one in twenty California adults (1.4 million) have used medical cannabis for a “serious” condition and 92 percent of them have reported that it worked. “We have plenty of evidence that it helps for a lot of things,” Lucido said. “We should always do more research. But we shouldn’t stop people from using it in the meantime.”
The AMA researchers also listed the side effects of cannabis without providing context. “Adverse Effects included dizziness, dry mouth, nausea, fatigue, somnolence, euphoria, vomiting, disorientation, and hallucination,” one of the reports concluded.
But the AMA researchers didn’t compare the adverse side effects of cannabis to those of competing analgesics and anti-inflammatories. Painkiller overdoses are America’s leading epidemic. Ibuprofen, for example, regularly causes kidney failure. But those facts were not mentioned in the JAMA studies. “A full third of the Physician’s Desk Reference is adverse effects, including death,” Lucido said. “Cannabis has about ten adverse effects, at least two of which are often desired.”
The AMA researchers’ statements about cannabis addiction also lacked context. “I imagine sleeping pills probably have a much bigger dependency ratio,” Lucido said.
Still, as half-hearted and equivocal as the JAMA papers were, they contributed to a rising tide of mainstream validation for cannabis that’s washing away its prohibition.
“Culturally, the fight is over. We won,” Lee said. “The pro-cannabis side has conquered the culture. Now politics is catching up.”
Detroit News Opinion Page 12:09 a.m. EDT August 25, 2015
A letter by Michael Komorn was featured in the Detroit News regarding medical marijuana and children with autism.
In the United States, and in Michigan, autism is growing. In fact, it is growing at such an alarming rate that it has just recently been identified as a significant public health issue, due to statistics provided by the Center for Disease Control’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, a nationwide federal program that tracks autism rates around the country.
Estimates show that autism rates have risen in every report since tracking began in 2002, from 1 in 150 in 2002 to 1 in 68 in 2010. There is not a cure, however, new studies show, autism can be treated.
Some 800 pages of research along with 75 peer review articles on cannabis as a viable option for the treatment of autism were recently gathered by Dr. Christian Bogner, a prominent pediatrician currently in practice with one of Metro Detroit’s largest health systems, and presented to LARA, the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.
This data is part of a new, thoroughly researched petition to add autism to the list of conditions, which can be treated with medical marijuana. On July 31 in Lansing, the Michigan Medical Marijuana Review Panel voted yes to recommending medical cannabis as a legal, permissible treatment for all autistic patients. This would include pediatric and juvenile patients under the age of 18 with approval from two physicians. That recommendation is currently being considered by David Zimmer, director of LARA, a Gov. Rick Snyder appointee. The fate of thousands of autistic children now rests in his hands.
It has been a long and difficult road. Initially, and despite what can only be described as overwhelming evidence, LARA, tasked with addressing petitions for new conditions, initially refused to hold a hearing or even consider the petition. As a result, attorneys Tim Knowlton and myself, the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, and Cannabis Patients United, sued LARA in Ingham County Court. It was only after nearly a year of litigation and foot dragging that LARA ceded its position. Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office “defended” LARA’s position by delaying for months, only yielding after the petitioner filed her brief with the court, days before oral arguments. Meanwhile, parents are treating their autistic children, typically orally in tandem with olive oil or other edible sources.
Today, we are at a crossroads. A pivotal moment in history.
All too often the issues regarding medical marijuana are politicized. What is at issue here is the right and desire of parents to protect and treat their children, without fear of breaking the law. What would each of us do for our children if similarly afflicted? In particular when there is medicine available that has already proven effective in treating epilepsy and autism? Our families should have choices. Michigan’s parents and their children should have hope.
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 …
