".......as new laws regulating the growing industry took effect, and court rulings and prosecutions affected medical marijuana....."
Hmmmmm...so the laws and all the prosecutions of small folks were designed to help with the control/regulation they are going after....
-makes sense now in lieu of my last post^^^^^
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/special-news-reports/20140117/michigan-medical-marijuana-participation-dropped-in-2013
Michigan medical marijuana participation dropped in 2013
There were fewer medical marijuana patients in Michigan in 2013, but the number of medical marijuana providers dropped by nearly half as new laws regulating the growing industry took effect, and court rulings and prosecutions affected medical marijuana outlets.
The number of registered patients fell to 118,368 in fiscal 2013 from 124,131 the year before, or slightly less than 5 percent. However, the number of licensed caregivers fell to 27,046 from 50,188.
Even so, the state took in nearly $1 million more in licensing fees, raking in $10.89 million in 2013 compared to $9.9 million in 2012, according to two annual reports required by the Michigan Legislature. However, the cost of the program rose from $3.6 million in 2012 to $4 million in 2013.
Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe says it’s likely the court decisions have had the most impact on medical marijuana numbers, along with changes in state law.
“I think the all the court decisions that have come out have had a huge effect on that,” says McCabe. “The courts clarified a lot of that. I’m not an expert on this but I would attribute a lot of it to all the court rulings on dispensaries and who can be a caregiver and who can’t be a caregiver.
“It’s much more restrictive as to who can be a caregiver and who can’t be,” he said. “They’ve more strictly defined what is allowable and what isn’t allowable.”
McCabe rejects the implication that law enforcement has aggressively enforced medical marijuana laws.
“I wouldn’t say aggressive,” he said. “I would say law enforcement and prosecutors were following the law. Some chose to lay back and wait for the courts. What occurred in Oakland County, the courts have proven we were correct in our interpretation of the law all along.”
Voters approved a ballot question in 2008, with 63 percent in favor of allowing medical marijuana. Users pay a $100 fee to register. Approved caregivers are allowed up to five patients and to have 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana per patient, and 12 plants per patient.
But how the program works has largely been left to the legislature and court rulings to iron out.
New laws and a key Michigan Supreme Court ruling took effect in 2013.
The state’s high court ruling in February found that retail sale of medical marijuana is legal but that the state’s medical marijuana law doesn’t provide for dispensaries, dealing a blow to storefront operations that were popping up around the state.
Changes in state law that took effect in 2013 include:
•Requiring that transported medical marijuana be inaccessible to the driver.
•Making doctors perform a “complete assessment” (in-person evaluation) of a patient before authorizing a recommendation for medical marijuana.
•Changing the renewal period from every year to every two years. Proof of residency is now required before one may obtain a registration card.
Requiring that outdoor cannabis plants not be “visible to the unaided eye from an adjacent property when viewed by an individual at ground level or from a permanent structure” and be “grown within a stationary structure that is enclosed on all sides, except the base, by chain-link fencing, wooden slats, or a similar material that prevents access by the general public and that is anchored, attached or affixed to the ground, located on land that is owned, leased, or rented” by the registered grower and restricted to that grower’s access.”
•State-qualified caregivers must not have been convicted of any felony within the last ten years, or any violent felony ever.
