1,500 Rally at Capitol in Favor of Medical Marijuana

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1,500 Rally at Capitol in Favor of Medical Marijuana

Marisa Schultz/ The Detroit News

Lansing— About 1,500 filled the Capitol lawn Wednesday afternoon bobbing signs reading “Patients are not Criminals” and “Weed Deserve Better” in the largest pro-medical marijuana rally in Michigan.

The spirited gathering, featuring young, old and sick in wheelchairs, comes after an Appeals Court ruling last month that shuttered many of the estimated 400-500 dispensaries and banned patient-to-patient sales of pot for the nearly 100,000 carriers of medical marijuana cards. The ruling has effectively limited the ways in which patients can get medical marijuana and leaving them with few safe options to get their doctor prescribed medicine, supporters said Wednesday.

“This is about our rights,” said Robert Redden of Ferndale.

Much of the anger was centered on Attorney General Bill Schuette who has praised the August appeals court ruling. One of the biggest cheers of the afternoon rally came with a plane flyover with a banner: “Schuette: Keep Patients Off the Streets!”

Those rallying told stories of their dispensaries being raided and shut down. Others praised the effects marijuana has had on improving their health. They lamented the government’s role in attacking medical marijuana users and providers, even after Michigan voters approved its medical use 2008.

Schuette has argued marijuana is authorized in only very limited circumstances and medical use doesn’t include sales of marijuana. He’s called the appeals court ruling a “huge victory for public safety and Michigan communities struggling with an invasion of pot shops near their schools, homes and churches.”

Under the law, state-issued medical marijuana cards let holders have 2.5 ounces of “usable” pot and up to 12 plants. Registered caregivers also can grow marijuana for five people.

Changes proposed by some legislators require stricter doctor-patient relationships before a patient could get authorization to use the drug.

mschultz@detnews.com

(313) 222-2310

The Associated Press contributed.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110907/POLITICS02/109070393/1-500-rally-at-Capitol-in-favor-of-medical-marijuana#ixzz1XJ9vjHu5

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