Ballot initiative for 2016 aims to allow for cannabis oils, edibles
By Ethan Merrill
LANSING – A young man steps out of a store on Michigan Avenue during a sunny August day, holding the door open for the older woman about to enter. She smiles and thanks him as they part ways under the neon sign above.
This is an every day sight on Lansing’s busiest road, the same one leading directly to the Capitol building that looms over this often-bustling business district. To take a drive down Michigan Avenue can be a healthy exercise of your consumer rights. Cafes, bars, and restaurants dominate the cracked sidewalks. Scenes like the aforementioned are commonplace for legal transactions – but the young man and the older woman were both risking arrest by stepping into this particular establishment.
Our state’s legislative driveway is the home to five medical marijuana dispensaries. A popular website, Weedmaps.com, lists the addresses, phone numbers, and hours for all. Some of the dispensaries on Michigan Avenue list their available medicines and the purchase price. The menus are categorized into sections like “Indica”, “Sativa”, “Edibles”, “Topicals”, and “Concentrates”. Only the first two categories are technically legal to purchase or possess for certified medical marijuana patients in Michigan.
Lansing resident Gordon “Steve” Green is well accustomed to the always changing, increasingly confusing laws that have followed the 2008 voter approval of medical marijuana in Michigan. The 37-year-old former auto mechanic started using medical marijuana as a last ditch effort to curtail the severe grand mal seizures he was having – sometimes as many as three in a day.
“I was on over 30 pharmaceutical drugs,” said Green. “Now I don’t take any prescription drugs besides marijuana.”
The cocktail of pills that Green was taking daily didn’t do the trick, but a certain cannabis extract oil finally did. Green’s doctor had initially made the suggestion to try smoking the marijuana, and he saw positive effects right away. However, it wasn’t until he identified one specific compound in cannabis that his seizures began to completely stop.
CBD, or cannabidiol, is a non-psychoactive compound that is found in many strains of marijuana plants. This cannabinoid is second in average volume on the plant only to THC; the psychoactive compound that drug tests usually seek. Research into CBD has exploded in the past few years because of its many reported medical benefits. Recent trends have seen more development in the growing of CBD-rich strains, some which contain no THC at all. However, CBD still remains illegal in the United States, just like its high-inducing chemical cousin.
For Green, the extracted CBD oil that he began ingesting acted as an effective anticonvulsant. He was able to carry on his days like normal without feeling the sluggishness, nausea or other negative effects of his previous prescriptions.
“So then with my doctor it became, ‘Steve, whatever you’ve experienced, tried and now works – I want you to continue that,” said Green. “But doctor they say I have to smoke it! Then he said, ‘Well does smoking it stop your seizures?’ I said no and he said the answer is obvious – I have to do what is working.”
Michigan Court of Appeals case 309987, People v Carruthers, was the decision in July 2013 that muddled an already fuzzy picture of what exactly the medical marijuana program (MMMP) set out to do. Following a September 2011 traffic stop in Oakland County, Earl Carruthers was arrested and charged with “possession with intent to deliver marijuana”. Carruthers, a legal caregiver under the MMMP, was charged as such because of a determination that the THC-infused brownies he possessed were not considered usable marijuana by law. After bringing his case to the COA in 2012, the drawn out conclusion hinged on the interpretation of one sentence.
According to the laws established in 2008, “Usable marihuana means the dried leaves and flowers of the marihuana plant and any mixture or preparation thereof, but does not include the seeds, stalks, and roots of the plant”. This sentence contains an adverb from hell for many medical marijuana patients in the state. The COA decision concluded that because of the word “thereof”, all preparations and mixtures of usable marijuana must be from dried leaves and flowers. Further extractions or derivatives from the plant were now determined to be illegal marijuana, leaving patients without immunity – and safe access to medicine. By denying Carruthers’ appeal, the state of Michigan essentially decided that the only way medical marijuana patients can ingest their medicine is by smoking it.
“It’s just more ways to render the act useless,” said Green. “If you have a loved one who has cancer, how do you say ‘Hey Grandma, you should take this oxygen mask off and smoke marijuana’?”
Ingestion of marijuana in edible form is generally much safer than smoking when dosed correctly. Chemicals from the cannabis are released into the bloodstream at a slower rate than if smoked, but effects are usually intensified. This makes cannabis extract oil an extremely valuable medicine for those with chronic illnesses where smoking is simply not an option.
Many of the problems associated with edibles or oils surround the lack of information regarding proper preparation and dosage. The ambiguities of the laws have undoubtedly stunted progress in this education. Still, there are upstarts in the medical marijuana community that are committed to transparency. Visit one of the dispensaries on Michigan Avenue and you will not find a shortage of “illegal” edibles, or oils. Most of these are professionally packaged, labeled, with ingredients and doses clearly listed. There are edibles with brand names and unique logos, like MedHead, Ganja Gummies, and Special FX Labs. It is hard to imagine such an effort going into the preparation of any other Schedule 1 drug.
With safer alternatives to smoking the medicine now banned, patients are still risking felonies by possessing edibles or cannabis oils. For Steve Green, there is no other option. Curtailing his seizures with the only medicine that works has already landed him in jail before. In 2001, police smelled marijuana coming from Green’s Oakland County home after an unrelated call next door. Steve’s wife, Maria, is a licensed caregiver and had been growing plants in the house for their medicinal use. The cops were concerned that the plants were being grown in close vicinity to their eight-month-old daughter, Bree. An eventual police raid led to the confiscation of 29 plants, and a drawn out Child Protective Services case. It was a dilemma that Green hopes to never face again as he was forced to choose between his medicine, and his child.
“I was caught between a rock and a hard place,” said Green. “We had to either let them in the garden and break the law, or not let them in the garden and break the law.”
CPS eventually took away baby Bree in September of 2013 after a drawn out legal battle that led the Greens’ relocation to Lansing. Charges from the 2011 case were then dropped in October, leading to Bree’s return six weeks after she was removed from her home. There was no shortage of media coverage for a case that had become a point of interest for marijuana advocates around the country.
“Other people are in similar cases if they have children who need these medicines,” said Green. “You no longer have child protection under the law – it’s a concern every day for those who use edibles or oils.”
If all this sounds so ominous for medical marijuana patients, there is hope on the horizon. The year 2016 will be pivotal marijuana legislation across the country. Several states, including Michigan, will likely have legalization proposals on the November ballot. There are currently three groups pushing to get the required amount of signatures for ballot approval – and they all have some major differences.
The MILegalize campaign sets out to strengthen current medical marijuana laws by allowing for edibles and oils, while legalizing marijuana for those over 21. Their proposal would also decriminalize marijuana for those under 21, and eliminate THC nanogram tests used for OWI charges. Most of the biggest names in legalization advocacy groups have come out in support of MI Legalize, lauding the lack of government interference and potential for new jobs.
The Michigan Cannabis Coalition’s proposal enables distribution by the state government. If the measure were approved, a marijuana control commission would be created, similar to the Liquor Control Commission. This is a troubling proposal for those who left the MMMP in the state’s hands after 2008.
Lastly, the Michigan Responsibility Council has been preparing a proposal for 2016. Little has been revealed about all of the details, but the premise is that there would be 10 large grow sites around the state. Patients, presumably then, would not be allowed to grow their own plants. That’s another touchy subject for proponents of legalization, and an idea they’re not likely to get behind.
Whatever the voters choose to do in 2016, it’s inevitable that the sale of marijuana products – both legal and illegal – will continue in Lansing. Right under the turned up noses of the legislators who tell us “No”, then turn their backs as soon as it starts to line their pockets. While recreational marijuana has undeniably increased in popularity, so has its usage as an effective medicine. Increased scientific research has pushed compounds like CBD to the forefront of the community just in the past few years. Not all patients are as willing to be as up front as Green is about the benefits he receives from marijuana – because he has to be.
“If eating tree bark would have stopped by seizures, then I’d be a tree bark advocate today,” said Green. “When you think about the most valuable thing you have – it’s your health. You only have one body.”
Brickslap 