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Supreme Court will Decide Whether Patients can Share Marijuana

The Michigan Supreme Court will decide whether the state’s medical marijuana laws allows medical marijuana cardholders to sell to each other.

In this case, the Compassionate Apothecary in Mount Pleasant was shut down by a local prosecutor as a public nuisance for facilitating patient-to-patient marijuana sales. The dispensary took a share of each sale. The state Court of Appeals ruled the only way people with medical marijuana cards can get medical marijuana is from a licensed caregiver or to grow their own. The decision shut down hundreds of marijuana clubs and dispensaries across the state.

This is the third medical marijuana case the court has accepted since the law was approved by voters in 2008. Decisions are still pending on whether getting a medical marijuana card after being arrested is a legal defense, and whether a cardholder can be prosecuted for failing to keep his plants in a closed and locked place.

Rick Pluta is Senior Capitol Correspondent for the Michigan Public Radio Network. He has been covering Michigan’s Capitol, government, and politics since 1987. His journalism background includes stints with UPI, The Elizabeth (NJ) Daily Journal, The (Pontiac, MI) Oakland Press, and WJR. He is also a lifelong public radio listener.
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