The Michigan Court of Appeals recently voted to remove a ban against medical cannabis consumption for people who are on probation.
Michael Komorn, the lawyer who successfully argued the appeal, was representing the interests of Michael Thue, a 40-year-old man from Traverse City, Michigan. Thue was on probation following a road-rage incident, and also happened to be a medical cannabis consumer. To help with the pain of a childhood accident, he used cannabis instead of turning to opioids.
“He’s convinced that he’s better off with medical cannabis,” Komorn said.
In the case against Thue, many extreme opinions against cannabis have come out of the woodwork. One prosecutor compared using medical cannabis to letting people drink alcohol while on probation for a DUI. Korman refuted this argument with, “Really? Since when has there been a medical alcohol law?”
In Michigan, being a legal cannabis patient requires having a form authorized by a doctor that claims the patient needs medical cannabis. Only those with “debilitating medical conditions” according to the state are granted prescriptions, diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and cerebral palsy.
This really is a big deal,” said Tim Beck, a cannabis advocate in Michigan who used to sell health insurance, regarding the new ruling. “Only now are authorities beginning to accept that “this is truly a medicine.”
Beck recalls how, when medical cannabis first passed in Michigan, skeptics “were sure it would unleash a wave of addiction, juvenile delinquency, mayhem on the highways and a statewide crime wave, and of course none of that happened.” Now, the same tactic is being used to argue against medical access for those on probation.Michigan is setting a precedent to stop criminalizing lack of access to healthcare when people are imprisoned or on probation. Many who were suffering will now be able to access the medicine they need.
