WSMH FOX 66 on Facebook WSMH FOX 66 Twitter WSMH FOX 66 RSS Feed WSMH FOX 66 Mailing List
Wsmh:inc-ads

FOX 66 News at Ten

WSMH FOX 66 :: News - News at Ten - Court: Mich. medical-pot dispensaries not allowed
Court: Mich. medical-pot dispensaries not allowed

By MIKE HOUSEHOLDER, Associated Press


The Michigan Supreme Court says users of medical marijuana can't buy it at pot shops.


The 4-1 decision Friday is the most significant court ruling since voters approved marijuana for certain illnesses in 2008. It means the state's 126,000 approved users must grow their own pot or have a state-licensed caregiver grow it for them.


The state appeals court declared dispensaries illegal in 2011, but enforcement has depended on the attitudes of local authorities. Some communities took a hands-off approach while waiting for the Supreme Court to make the ultimate decision.


The case involves a Mount Pleasant dispensary that allowed medical-marijuana users to sell pot to each other. Owners took as much as a 20 percent cut of each sale. Isabella County shut it down as a public nuisance.


Meanwhile, Michigan's attorney general says he's notifying county prosecutors that they have the green light to shut down medical-marijuana shops.


Bill Schuette says the decision Friday by the Michigan Supreme Court means so-called dispensaries "will have to close their doors." Schuette says that's clearly illegal. The Michigan appeals court made a similar decision in 2011, but the Supreme Court's opinion now settles the issue.


Hot on the heels of the court's decision, a Michigan lawmaker plans to quickly introduce a bill to legalize medical-marijuana shops. Republican Rep. Mike Callton of Nashville says he's concerned cancer patients and others won't have access to the drug without dispensaries.


He says many of the state's 125,000 medical-marijuana users can't grow their own and there aren't enough caregivers to grow it for them. Callton says patients will be forced to go underground to find pot.


A similar bill went nowhere last year, but Callton says the issue is more urgent after the Supreme Court decision Friday.


Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved.


 

Court: Mich. medical-pot dispensaries not allowed

Monday, February 11 2013, 08:55 AM EST

National News Headlines

Utah boy, 15, arrested in deaths of two younger brothers

A teenager was arrested Thursday in the deaths of his two younger brothers, ages 4 and 10, at the family home in a Utah subdivision of new houses and tidy lawns, police said.


Highway bridge collapses in Washington state; people in water

The Washington State Patrol says the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River at Mount Vernon has collapsed, dumping vehicles and people into the water.


FBI arrest 37-year-old man in Washington state ricin letter investigation

The FBI has arrested a suspect in a case involving the discovery of a pair of letters containing the deadly poison ricin and says investigators are working "around the clock" to address any remaining risks.


RI education board approves arming university cops
State education officials have approved allowing the University of Rhode Island to arm its campus police officers.

Defense releases photos, texts of Trayvon Martin
Data released Thursday by the defense from slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin's cellphone includes texts with a friend about fighting, smoking pot and being forced to move out of his mother's house because of trouble at school, as well as photos of a gun and what looks to be a potted marijuana plant.

Judge declares mistrial in penalty phase of Jodi Arias trial

The judge in the Jodi Arias murder trial declared a mistrial in the penalty phase Thursday after the jury reported for a second time that it was deadlocked on whether to sentence her to life in prison or death for killing her boyfriend in 2008.


Hand of Lincoln: Abe's note saving teen soldier up for sale

A hastily scrawled note by President Abraham Lincoln just two months before his assassination ordering a disabled 14-year-old boy released from the army in response to a plea from the boy’s father went on sale Thursday in Philadelphia.


Chicken fight: Study backs farmer in pollution battle with EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency has overestimated the levels of water pollution on poultry farms by as much as half according to a recent study by the University of Delaware.


Boy Scouts approve plan to accept openly gay members

The Boy Scouts of America's National Council has voted to ease a long-standing ban and allow openly gay boys to be accepted as Scouts.


NYPD: Merchant held for ransom, tortured for month
New York police say three accomplices to a brutal monthlong kidnapping of a businessman have fled to Ecuador.

News at Ten Stories

Wsmh:inc-ads

News Videos

IE6 Float Fix
Wsmh:inc-ads