The 44-year-old Kalamazoo woman said she had her home searched last March by Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team officers, who found 4 grams of marijuana, enough for about eight joints. She said she told officers she had her doctor’s permission to use the drug to treat chronic pain related to her fibromyalgia, a debilitating nerve condition, but they confiscated the marijuana and she was later charged with misdemeanor possession.
The Kalamazoo Gazette agreed to her request for anonymity because she is no longer charged with a crime and said she fears she will lose her job if she is identified.
The Michigan Medical Marijuana Act that was passed by voters in November 2008 and took effect last spring states that a patient or caregiver in possession of a state-issued card will not be arrested or prosecuted for possessing marijuana.
The Kalamazoo woman said her physician had given her the OK to use the drug, but that at the time her house was searched she didn’t have a state card indicating she was a registered medical marijuana patient. The Michigan Department of Community Health didn’t begin issuing the cards until April 4 and she received her card from the state on May 5.
“If I had my card, of course I would have showed it to them,” she said of police.
A gray area of the law, attorneys have said, is that while police may be unable to determine if a person without documentation is legally possessing marijuana, a so-called “affirmative defense” provision in the law broadens the definition of a patient to anyone who can document a covered medical condition or to whom a physician recommends it for treatment, regardless of whether they can produce state documentation.
After reviewing the case against the Kalamazoo woman, Kalamazoo County District Court Judge Robert C. Kropf on Wednesday dismissed the misdemeanor marijuana charge.
“This is a big victory for me. I deserved to win,” the woman said.
Assistant Prosecutor Mark Holsomback, who argued the case, was out of the office and unavailable for comment when the Kalamazoo Gazette tried to reach him Friday.
The woman’s attorney, John Targowski, stopped short of saying Kropf’s ruling is a precedent-setter. A higher court, such as the Michigan Court of Appeals or Michigan Supreme Court, would have to make a judgment to firm up protections under the affirmative defense portion of the law, he said.
A user of medical marijuana has a much stronger case if they possess of a state-issued ID card, said Targowski.
Source: Michigan Live
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