There was a lot of buzz in Detroit over the weekend — a Snoop Dog-Charlie Sheen (pardon the pun) joint appearance at Detroit’s Fox Theatre, the Ohio Players in town, the Red Wings win, the Tigers played the Yankees, and, finally, the 40th annual Hash Bash in Ann Arbor.
More than 6,000 marijuana legalization supporters and smokers gathered on the campus at the Univeristy of Michigan in Ann Arbor to flaunt weed smoking in the face of the law and to safeguard the drug for medicinal use.
Although medical marijuana has been legalized in Michigan, citizens continue to take issue with the state’s Medical Marihuana Act, including its spelling of marijuana with an “H.” Complaints include the vagueness of the law regarding key issues, such as what constitutes a legitimate doctor-patient relationship and the conditions under which marijuana growing and selling are permitted.
Also at issue — the attitude of law enforcement officials toward the use, growing and sale of the drug. “We are getting slammed from every direction,” said Steve Greene, 43, of South Lyon. Greene is a medical marijuana patient whose home was raided twice by police. He launched a weekly radio show at noon Saturday called “High Noon” on WDTW-AM 1310.
Concern for possible abuse and criminal exploitation has lawmakers divided over how to best address revising the act, while law enforcement officials are wheeling nearly out of control in an effort to decipher and interpret the law for themselves.
Meanwhile, patient complaints about police harassment are on the rise. “We need our rights spelled out, so law enforcement can’t keep arresting people like me,” said Adam Brook of Royal Oak. Brook — who was prescribed marijuana for chronic back pain and thyroid cancer — was arrested at his home in March for marijuana possession and intent to deliver the drug. Brook served as emcee of Saturday’s 40th annual Hash Bash in Ann Arbor.
The bottom-line is as long as patients and caregivers are compliant with the law as it is currently written, they will not be targeted for arrest and remain free from prosecution — for now. –roz edward
