The Michigan Senate approved a surrogate to HB 4209 of 2015 by a vote of 25-12 which creates the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act. The bill is similar to the version that was overwhelmingly passed by House lawmakers in October, but does contain a number of changes. HB 4209 returns for a concurrence vote to the House and then to Governor Snyder.
MEDICAL MARIHUANA FACILITIES ACT AND MARIHUANA TRACKING ACT
House Bill 4209 (passed by the House as H-5) Sponsor: Rep. Mike Callton, D.C.
House Bill 4210 (passed by the House as H-2) Sponsor: Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons
House Bill 4827 (passed by the House as H-1) Sponsor: Rep. Klint Kesto
Committee: Judiciary Complete to 1-4-16
SUMMARY:
House Bill 4209 creates the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act to establish a licensing and regulation framework for medical marihuana growers, processors, secure transporters, provisioning centers, and safety compliance facilities. The regulatory framework created by the bill for marihuana draws on elements of the regulatory structure in place for alcohol under the Michigan Liquor Control Code and gaming under the Michigan Gaming Control and Revenue Act.
House Bill 4827 creates the Marihuana Tracking Act to require the establishment of a “seed-to-sale” system to track marihuana grown, processed, transferred, stored, or disposed of under the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (House Bill 4209).
House Bills 4209 and 4827 are tie-barred to each other, meaning neither could take effect unless both are enacted.
House Bill 4210 amends the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act to, among other things, allow for the manufacture and use of marihuana-infused products by qualifying patients and manufacture and transfer of such products by primary caregivers to their patients.
All three bills would take effect 90 days after enactment.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF HB 4209:
The bill is tie-barred to the Marihuana Tracking Act (House Bill 4827). A brief summary of significant provisions of House Bill 4209 follows:
A state operating license, renewed annually, would be required to operate as a grower, processor, provisioning center, secure transporter, or safety compliance facility. The application process for licensure requires written approval of the applicant and of the marihuana facility location by the municipality (city, township, or village) in which the marihuana facility is to be located.
A municipality could enact an ordinance to authorize one or more types of marihuana facilities, and limit the number of each type of facility, within its boundaries; charge an annual local licensing fee up to $5,000; and enact other ordinances related to marihuana facilities such as zoning ordinances.
The Medical Marihuana Licensing Board would be created within the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). The Board would have general responsibility for implementing the act and all powers necessary and proper to fully and effectively implement and administer the act.
Licensees, registered qualifying patients, and registered primary caregivers (hereinafter “patient” and “caregiver”) would receive specified protection from criminal or civil prosecutions or sanctions if they were in compliance with the act. “A registered qualifying patient” would include a visiting qualifying patient.
A tax rate of 3% would be imposed on the gross retail income of each provisioning center.
Rather than annual renewal license fees, an annual regulatory assessment would be imposed on licensees to pay for medical-marihuana-related services or expenses of certain state agencies.
Two new funds would be created to receive revenue from taxes, application fees, annual regulatory assessments, fines, and other charges.
Rules would be required to be promulgated as specified in the bill, including the establishment of maximum THC levels for medical edibles sold at provisioning centers and daily purchasing limits by patients and caregivers to ensure compliance with the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act.
Licensees would have to file annual financial statements, prepared by a certified public accountant, of their total operations.
A Marihuana Advisory Panel would be created within LARA to make recommendations concerning rules and the administration of the act.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 4827:
Briefly, the bill would:
Require the system to track, among other things, lot and batch information throughout the chain of custody; all sales and refunds; plant, batch, and product destruction; inventory discrepancies; loss, theft, or diversion of products containing marihuana; and adverse patient responses.
Require the system to track patient purchase limits and flag purchases in excess of authorized limits.
Provide real-time access to the system to local law enforcement agencies, state agencies, and the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA).
Require operation of the system to comply with HIPAA and exempt information in the system from disclosure under FOIA.
Require licensees under the proposed Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (House Bill 4209) to supply LARA with tracking or testing information regarding each plant, product, package, batch, test, sale, or recall in or from the licensee’s possession or control. A provisioning center would have to include information identifying the patient to, or for whom, the sale was made and the primary caregiver, if applicable, to whom the sale was made.
Create penalties for a licensee who willfully fails to comply with the reporting requirements: a civil infraction
BRIEF SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 4210:
The bill would, among other things:
Revise the definitions of “medical use” and “usable marihuana” to include products using extracts and plant resins (known as “edibles”).
Define “marihuana-infused product” and “usable marihuana equivalent.”
Provide immunity to a qualifying patient or caregiver from arrest or prosecution or penalty for certain conduct.
Prohibit transporting or possessing a marihuana-infused product in a vehicle except as specified. Create a civil fine for a violation.
Prohibit using butane to separate resin from a marihuana plant in a residential structure.
Specify the bill is curative and the provisions retroactive.
Here’s the link to the Michigan Legislator website to see more details and future updates
Sheriff: Medical marijuana bills may aid criminals
Lansing — Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard is warning state lawmakers that a sweeping overhaul of Michigan’s medical marijuana law awaiting their final approval could lead to convicted drug dealers and murderers running pot shops.
Bouchard, a longtime opponent of the state’s medical cannabis law, has focused his criticism on language in a five-bill package that would prohibit felons with drug convictions from operating a licensed marijuana dispensary within a decade of their conviction of incarceration.
“If some guy who was a heroin dealer and killed his competitor and got released from prison, 10 years later he’s eligible to run a cash drug business, legally,” Bouchard said. “Obviously that’s fraught with peril.”
The legislation also would disqualify anyone with a misdemeanor conviction involving controlled substances, theft, dishonesty or fraud from obtaining a medical marijuana dispensary license until five years after the conviction.
“It doesn’t make sense to have conviction felons, including convicted murders, involved in a cash drug business,” Bouchard said.
Bouchard, a Republican and former state senator, said the Michigan House of Representatives should add restrictions barring drug felons from getting dispensary licenses or Gov. Rick Snyder should veto the package of bills, which the Michigan Senate approved Thursday.
Birmingham criminal defense attorney Bruce Leach, who specializes in defending medical marijuana patients, said Bouchard is engaging in “reefer madness fearmongering.”
“Law enforcement has a bias and self-interest in keeping marijuana illegal because they profit from arresting people and seizing their property through civil forfeiture proceedings,” Leach said.
The medical marijuana bills would make long-sought changes to the 2008 voter-approved law by creating a regulatory system and taxation of medical marijuana sold in licensed dispensaries.
The current law has been mired in conflicting legal interpretations for the past eight years, leading to a plethora of stores in cities like Detroit and Lansing selling cannabis to patients with state-issued medical marijuana cards.
State Sen. Rick Jones, chairman of the judiciary committee, defended the bills and said Bouchard’s criticism is “too little, too late” after he spent months crafting compromise legislation that law enforcement and prosecutors could live with.
“For Sheriff Bouchard to come at this late date and now claim he has a problem, I think is poor judgment,” said Jones, R-Grand Ledge. “He had plenty of opportunity to have input.”
Jones, a former Eaton County sheriff, said someone convicted of a drug offense 10 or more years ago should not be barred from working in a budding new industry.
“If somebody 10 years ago got picked up for (drug) possession, I certainly don’t think that should, 10 years later, preclude them from having employment,” he said.
The legislation would create a new Medical Marijuana Licensing Board that would be empowered to reject applicants if there were objections to their criminal background, Jones said.
“I don’t think that very many violent people are going to apply for a license,” he said.
Bouchard, a former state Senate majority floor leader, said the Legislature should treat medical marijuana dispensary licenses the same as other regulated industries that prohibit certain felons from employment.
“You can’t be a stock broker if you’ve got a felony conviction,” the sheriff said. “You would expect they would uphold the same standards they have for banking, gambling, for alcohol and for cigarettes.”
The package of bills needs a concurrence vote by the state House to go to Snyder’s desk for the governor’s consideration. The Republican governor has not said whether he would sign the bills.
But Lt. Gov. Brian Calley indicated Friday the Snyder administration is interested in having a regulatory system that ensures medical marijuana cultivated and sold to terminally ill patients is subject to inspections like fresh produce in supermarkets.
“That’s really the main crux behind it, that’s the thing that I think this bill advances,” Calley said in an interview on the Lansing radio station 1320 AM WILS.
The bills also would create a legal framework for communities to regulate where medical marijuana dispensaries are located, he said.
Calley urged sheriffs and law enforcement officials to “reach out” to House members with any “additional concerns or changes that need to be made” to the bills.
“Until it passes through the Legislature, it can still be modified,” Calley said. “So keep working on it.”
CLIO, MI – The attorney for the owner of a medical marijuana facility faced with the possibility being padlocked for a year questions why prosecutors are trying to have the business declared a nuisance.
Attorney Michael Komorn said he doesn’t understand why prosecutors are trying to close the Clio Caregiver Connection as a nuisance even though the community hasn’t come forward with complaints.
“It appears that the main allegation regarding ‘a nuisance’ comes from the drug task force and not the local police agency or community leaders or citizens,” Komorn said.
Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton filed a nuisance ordinance violation March 3 against the business after an investigation by the Flint Area Narcotics Group alleged the business at 105. N. Mill St. was acting outside of the state’s medical marijuana act.
FANG began its investigation into the facility Sept. 22, after receiving information that the facility was acting as a dispensary, according to the violation complaint.
“It appears as if FANG and FANG alone are the persons complaining of the behavior and will testify about that behavior justifying any injunctions,” Komorn said. “Instead, FANG warrants an injunction for their behavior, and the complaint of nuisance in this case.”
State law allows officials to padlock a property for up to a year over complaints of drug dealing.
Three separate controlled purchases of marijuana were conducted at the business, according to the complaint. The purchaser was a medical marijuana patient, but no person present at the facility was the registered caregiver for the buyer, the complaint claims.
State law allows individuals to serve as caregivers for medical marijuana patients, allowing them to possess up to 2.5 ounces of useable marijuana or 12 marijuana plants for each of their registered patients. Caregivers are allowed to have up to five registered patients.
Search warrants were obtained for the facility and executed Feb. 18. Officials claim they discovered multiple jars of marijuana in cases listed for sale, edible marijuana items, THC wax, suspected psychedelic mushroom cultivation, suspected LSD tabs in the business owner’s vehicle, 12 marijuana plants and $860, according to the complaint.
Komorn also took issue with Leyton filing the complaint, claiming it contradicts prior statements from the prosecutor.
“The restraining order action seems absurd in light of David Leyton’s declaration that he will only review cases where the ‘community’ brings it to him or his office,” Komorn said.
Leyton said Komorn took his statements out of context, and said he would review any case brought to him by law enforcement.
A temporary restraining order was issued this month against the business by Genesee Circuit Judge Archie Hayman after authorities alleged the business continued operating even after the warrants were executed.
On Monday, March 28, Hayman agreed to continue the restraining order until a hearing is held on the padlocking of the business.
The business’s owner did not appear in court for Monday’s hearing. His name is not being released because he has not yet been arraigned on the suspected crimes.
The case will return to court April 25 when Hayman will be asked to decide if the business can be padlocked for up to a year.
SPRING LAKE, Mich. — After 18 months, a Spring Lake family’s son is out of foster care and reunited with his parents. Yet the fight to be together, through court battles and serious drug charges despite being card-carrying medical marijuana patients, still haunts them.
Thursday, Max Lorincz’s son Dante, 6, picked out his favorite toys from a basket in the family’s living room, handing one to FOX 17 saying, “this is my dad’s favorite.”
Piece by piece, Max and his family are putting their lives back together.
“It’s like 100 pounds being lifted off my chest,” Lorincz said. “It’s like our entire life was put on hold the entire time he was gone.”
Dante was ripped away from the couple after Max was charged with a felony for possession of “synthetic THC.” Between family and criminal court cases, it’s an experience they call hellish.
“It’s not something I’d wish on my worst enemy, the experience we went through,” Lorincz said.
“[Dante] is 6 now, almost 7, you know he’s his own little person at this point. But before, he was just coming into his own, and we missed that entire portion of his life.”
September 2014 it all started when police found a thumbprint of hash oil at Lorincz’s home during an unrelated medical emergency. That lead to a felony charge for a charge the judge later ruled unfounded: possession of “synthetic THC.”
Fast-forward 16 months, a judge drops Lorincz’s felony. But the court battles continued in family court for Lorincz and his wife to regain custody of Dante for another two months against Bethany Christian Services.
Only FOX 17 cameras were in court for several permanency planning review hearings including last November during this exchange between Lorincz’s Attorney Michael Komorn and the Bethany Christian Services caseworker:
“What is it, other than [Lorincz’s] use of marijuana, that creates bad parenting?” asked Komorn of the caseworker.
She testified, “Marijuana is a psychoactive substance, and being under the influence doesn’t allow you to be in the most clear mind for your child.”
This woman was the third of five total caseworkers now in the 18-month family court case representing Bethany Christian Services. The agency threatened to petition for permanent removal of Dante from his parents.
In this November hearing, the judge already allowed Lorincz, a legal card holder, to continue use of medical marijuana. The caseworker here on the stand testified that marijuana, even legally used for medical conditions, may make an unfit parent. This was a sticking point in many of these permanency planning review hearings, but ultimately she testified BCS had no evidence to prove drug abuse.
Komorn continued to ask her, “One of the reasons for you to recommend the permanent removal is because of drug substance issues, am I right?”
To which the caseworker said, “Yes.” Komorn continued with, “Ok, and we’ve already clarified that there are no drug substance issues at all regarding my client [Lorincz], am I right?”
She testified, “Yes, yes.”
Now, weeks later, another slap in the face for the Lorincz family: a billboard popping up several blocks from their home on 144th Avenue, with the face of Attorney Chris Wirth, who advocated for their son, working against them in their custody fight.
Lorincz and his family are moving on, but he continues to call for clarified medical marijuana patient rights in Michigan, for the medicine he says saved his life.
“2009 when he [Dante] was being born, he was born in Butterworth Hospital, I was dying of liver failure in Blodgett Hospital across town. It was due to my doctor prescribing too much medication,” Lorincz said.
And the 18 months Lorincz spent legally removed from his son, he reminded, they will never get back.
“We’ll try and make as many positive memories as we can to make up the gap,” Lorincz said. “But there’s definitely nothing that’ll replace the time that we lost, that’s for sure.”
The Lorincz’s have started this GoFundMe page, asking for any help to cover their expenses at this time.
What started as a benefit concert for John Sinclair evolved into one of the most enduring marijuana protests in America.
Freedom Leaf Magazine / By Adam L. Brook
Any history of the Ann Arbor Hash Bash has to start with John Sinclair’s 10-year prison sentence in 1969 under Michigan’s felony marijuana laws, a punishment so outrageous that Abbie Hoffman interrupted the Who’s set at Woodstock to express his disapproval.
The December 10, 1971 “John Sinclair Freedom Rally” at Crisler Arena brought John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Stevie Wonder, Phil Ochs, Bob Seger, Archie Shepp, Allen Ginsberg, Bobby Seale ,and original Yippies Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, among others, to join Sinclair’s wife Leni, and advocate for his release. Lennon even wrote a new song for the occasion, “John Sinclair.”
Three days after the concert/rally, the Michigan Supreme Court ordered Sinclair released on an appeal bond from prison after serving almost two and a half years, while it considered the constitutionality of the law. The Court completed its review when it overturned Sinclair’s conviction on March 9, 1972, declaring that the statute violated the state Constitution’s equal protection clause for erroneously classifying marijuana as a narcotic.
On the heels of this decision, the Michigan legislature reclassified pot possession as a misdemeanor. But the new law didn’t take effect until April 3, 1972, creating a brief window of time where there was no state marijuana law on the books. To celebrate, anonymous founders jokingly suggested Ann Arbor’s first “Hash Festival” on April 1, 1972, putting up flyers promoting Pharaoh Sanders, Van Morrison and their own fictitious band. None of the three were actually going to appear, but the Michigan Daily picked up the story and people showed up on the Diag. According to the Daily, there were 500; police estimated 150 and made no arrests at what the Ann Arbor News called an “orderly festival.”
A few months later, Ann Arbor’s City Council passed an ordinance making marijuana possession a mere $5 civil fine, putting the city on the map as a beacon for proponents of cannabis reform.
The following year, Hash Bash boasted 5,000 participants, and featured unabashedly liberal and pro-marijuana legalization State Rep. Perry Bullard, who was photographed toking on a joint. Bullard went on to enjoy a successful 20-year career as Ann Arbor’s state representative.
Under a different mayor, the City Council repealed the new law after the ’73 Hash Bash, but a year later, a successful citywide referendum to entrench the $5 civil marijuana fine in the city charter was passed, making it impossible for the law to be overturned by a vote of the Council. More than 1,500 people showed up in 1974.
As early as 1977, the Michigan Daily lamented the event wasn’t the same as during the “good old days.” Two years later, the paper called for the end the of Hash Bash, which they termed a “disgusting farce” taken over by “belligerent and hostile” high school students.
Interest continued to wane, and the Michigan Daily and Ann Arbor News each eulogized the event as dead. After all, it was the Reagan “Say No to Drugs” era.
In 1986, the Daily reported, “At noon, about 130 people lit up, forming a ragged group that began at the brass M.”
But a change occurred in 1988, when 2,000 people showed up, thanks in a large part to a contingent of “Freedom Fighters” from High Times who entered the Diag dressed as colonial Minutemen, playing instruments and carrying a banner proclaiming “Pot Is Legal.”
In 1989, the Hash Bash crowd swelled to 5,000 again. That night, Michigan’s men’s basketball team edged Illinois to earn a trip to the national championship game (which it would win two days later).
The ensuring celebration on South University turned into a riot – which was cunningly blamed by UM President James Duderstadt not only on the Hash Bash, but on Deadheads arriving early for the April 5 and 6 Grateful Dead concerts. This prompted UM officials to publicly state they would deny the campus NORML chapter a permit to hold the Bash next year.
UM relented under strong pressure, but shockingly reversed course just weeks before the 1990 event, denying a permit. U of M NORML sued and won. Moreover, the University’s newly formed police force vowed to enforce state marijuana law, with its harsh criminal penalties. At the same time, the City Council placed a question on the ballot to increase the civil penalties for marijuana possession from $5 to $25, with increased sanctions for subsequent offenses.
In 1991, Hash Bash was moved from April 1 to the first Saturday in April. UM once again lost its court battle, and up to 10,000 people converged on the Diag.
During the ’90s, the event went from 2,000 to 10-12,000 attendees. Speakers like Tommy Chong, Chef Ra, Steve Hager, Jack Herer, Ed Rosenthal, Dana Beal, Ben Masel, Elvy Musikka, Gatewood Galbraith, Eric E. Sterling, The Lone Reefer, John Sinclair (who returned in ’96) and Stephen Gaskin were the main attractions.
