Earlier this month, the Court of Appeals, in a split choice, established that the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act does NOT protect caregivers or patients that remain in possession of wet cannabis that remains in the drying out process, from prosecution. The Courts judgment in the case of People v. Vanessa Mansour identified that because wet cannabis that remained in the drying out procedure was not usable marijuana, possession of wet cannabis was not protected by the MMMA.
The MMMA defines a number of the terms of the act. The term usable marijuana is specifically defined in the MMMA. The act defines usable marijuana to suggest the following: "Usable marihuana" means the dried leaves, flowers, plant resin, or extract of the marihuana plant, however does not include the seeds, stalks, and roots of the plant. The Court found that due to the fact that the act chose to use the word "dried" before the remaining components, that meant that wet, undried marijuana was not a component of what the protections of the act were suggested to shield. As a result, any person in the cannabis business of caregiving, that is growing under the MMMA for themselves or various other registered qualifying patients, is in infraction of the law, if they have wet cannabis, regardless of the objective for which you possess it. Also you remain in the process of drying the marijuana, if you are raided and the marijuana is wet, you can be in trouble.
The ruling is rather bothersome for a number of factors. First, any caregiver that is presently growing under the MMMA, will, eventually, have wet cannabis that is drying yet not usable. Because of this, any caregiver has to understand that if you remain in possession of wet, non-usable cannabis, and the cops show up, you can be jailed and also the Court of Appeals has actually established that you can be prosecuted and punished for possession with intent to deliver cannabis, and that the immunity provisions of Section 4 and Section 8 of the MMMA will not protect you. Second, the matter creates concerns about the feasibility of the caregiving model, as well as likewise creates a problematic scenario for caregivers applying under the Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act (MMFLA) for a growing or processing license.
Understanding that you are caregiving, which the Courts are showing that a part of your growing procedure causes you to commit, at minimum, a misdemeanor, produces prospective troubles for the application review process. Better, if having wet marijuana cause for criminal arrest and also prosecution, exactly how does that effect growers as well as processors that are to be licensed under the MMFLA. Ostensibly, both statutes are not interlinked therefore, there shouldn't be any kind of problems. Nonetheless, the MMFLA uses the same "usable" marijuana definition as the MMMA. Especially, subsection (ff) of M.C.L. § 333.27102 defines usable marijuana as follows: (ff) "Usable marihuana" means the dried leaves, flowers, plant resin, or extract of the marihuana plant, but does not include the seeds, stalks, and roots of the plant.
As a result, it wouldn't be a stretch to see the Courts prolong that MMMA meaning to the MMFLA. Such a ruling later on might place a major kink in the medical cannabis industry under the MMFLA, likely as an outcome of a possible chilling impact. The ruling clearly triggers problems for registered caregivers, and also, possibly, for MMFLA growers, ought to the Court broaden this reading to cover marijuana growing as well as processing under the MMFLA. Essentially, since "wet" undried cannabis, according to the Court, does not satisfy the definition of "usable" marijuana, if authorities were to come to the area and also discover wet marijuana, you could be looking at possible criminal liability. If you are a caregiver and also are preparing to proceed growing for your patients under the mmma, and also you have questions about the possible liability you have under this new judgment, do not wait to contact our office for a consultation.
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