Michigan medical marijuana program hits backlog in first year
Michigan's medical marijuana program has received more than 23,500 original and renewal applications in its first year, according to the state health department.
It has issued 12,322 patient registrations, and more than 5,200 caregiver registrations were issued.
About 3,600 applications were denied in that time, largely due to incomplete applications or missing documentation, the state said.
Michigan's medical marijuana program has captured so much interest in the year since it started that officials have been dealing with a backlog of applications for months.
About 8,000 of the applications received are "backlogged," due to the growing number of applications, Celeste Clarkson, MDCH compliance section manager, told the Bay City Times.
Michigan's Medical Marijuana program is a state-registry program that requires all patients to have a designated caregiver to provide marijuana.
Voters approved a measure to legalize medical marijuana in Michigan on Nov. 4, 2008. The program began April 6, 2009.
To learn more about the program, visit the state's medical marijuana program Web site at: http://www.michigan.gov/mdch/0,1607,7-132-27417_51869---,00.html
To get information about a local health event or announcement mentioned in the Monday health briefs, contact reporter Tina Reed at tinareed@annarbor.com, call her at 734-623-2535 or find her on Twitter @TreedinAA.
Comments
Doug Orton
Wed, Apr 7, 2010 : 9:35 p.m.
This is shameful behaviour on the part of the MDCH. They realize that police are not acting in patients best interests when they delay issuance of the cards. Police refuse to stay within the law, which states that 20 days after the state cashes the check, that our recommendation is equal to our issued card. Patients are being arrested and harrassed by law enforcement, simply because they cannot accept this change in the laws. Shameful. And, this program (the MMMA) is one of the few programs in the state that is bringing money to the states coffers. Why not use the additional monies the program brings in to bring the state within compliance?
mulberrybank
Wed, Apr 7, 2010 : 9:45 a.m.
I really do not understand why there is such a back-log. Hunting & fishing licenses are gotten immediately. One sends-in their form with a doctor's signature. Done! Send-out license. Cops should stop pot-raids unless another crime is involved, rather than risk possibly scaring already law-abiding sick citizens....Sure seems this margin of gray-area is being exploited by cops and bureaucrats against the will of citizens..... Best Wishes to ALL,
David Briegel
Tue, Apr 6, 2010 : 7:37 p.m.
I totally agree with all these posts! Imagine the sheer ignorance of the status quo. The lunacy of the insane, ineffective, wasteful, senseless, costly, futile and failed, "war on drugs"!! And it is the silence of too many of us that allows the "state" to continue to "crush" the good citizens of our once proud nation. One year later and the "state" is continuing to "crush" our very own citizens!! So much bureaucratic baloney for such a positive! Imagine SWAT teams with automatic weapons "assaulting" the peaceful home of an MS patient? OUR tax dollars fund foolishness! Incomplete or missing documentation indeed. Harassment!! RE-Legalize!! NOW!!!!
treetowncartel
Tue, Apr 6, 2010 : 4:15 p.m.
I competely agree with you Top Cat. The founding fathers would be emabrassed by that one. Liberty and the pursuit of happiness was something they wanted for everyone.
Top Cat
Tue, Apr 6, 2010 : 3:22 p.m.
How silly that one must send an application to the government to privately and legally consume a plant that anyone can grow practically anywhere.
Ignatz
Tue, Apr 6, 2010 : 3:19 p.m.
What? We have over 23K applications and the state didn't implode? Are those who advocate total legalization right about not only the relative benign effects, but also the positive aspects that come with marijuana use? Seriously, I'm glad that some folks who can use this for aid can now do so without the State crushing them. Now if only those protections can be extended to the job site.