REGULATION IS KEY

Infused cannabis products cover a wide range of forms. Many people are familiar with the classic “marijuana brownie,” but the selection has expanded and evolved. It now includes topical preparations in the form of ointments, oils and other more innovative products like trans-dermal patches. “Topicals” have many uses, with a documented history dating back to the 1800s. Other infused products are intended for ingestion in liquid or solid form. Liquids include not only infused beverages, but also tinctures, which are concentrates typically made with either food-grade alcohol or vegetable glycerin.

Solids are generally referred to as “edibles,” which include not only the classic brownie, but there now are high end chefs preparing full meals where nearly every course is a gourmet cannabis-infused product. A meal could include appetizers, soup, salad, main courses, sauces and of course, dessert. Many patients who require large doses of edibles to subdue pain or to help with other issues are dismayed when the only food options available are sweet desserts, loaded with butter and sugar.

“Many patients who require large doses of edibles to subdue pain or to help with other issues are dismayed when the only food options available are sweet desserts, loaded with butter and sugar.”

Michigan has a big problem with the law covering infused products. Specifically, the law does not cover infused products. In the Carruthers case handed down by the Michigan Court of Appeals in 2013, the holding was that the brownies in that case were not made from dried leaves and flowers, but were made from “cannabutter” and were therefore illegal. The rationale was that the criminal law prohibits cannabis, which is defined as follows:

Sec. 7106.

(4) “Marihuana” means all parts of the plant Cannabis sativa L., growing or not; the seeds of that plant; the resin extracted from any part of the plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the plant or its seeds or resin. Marihuana does not include the mature stalks of the plant, fiber produced from the stalks, oil or cake made from the seeds of the plant, any other compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the mature stalks, except the resin extracted from those stalks, fiber, oil or cake, or any sterilized seed of the plant that is incapable of germination. Marihuana does not include industrial hemp grown or cultivated, or both, for research purposes under the industrial hemp research act.

The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act allows a patient to possess 12 plants, and 2.5 ounces of “dried leaves and flowers.” The court reasoned that the failure of the Act to include the words “compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture or preparation” left those things untouched by any protections of the Act (and therefore illegal). Three years later, the legislature still has failed to act to correct this serious oversight.

Now we hear that the bill designed to correct this issue, House Bill 4210, is the logjam in moving any dispensary legislation forward. Michigan State Senators apparently have fear that the public might suffer harm from the availability of infused products. The problem with that is that people need these infused products and are going to get them one way or another. Through the regulated market or through the illegal market, commerce will occur. Prohibition of cannabis did not work, and prohibition of infused products will not work either.

The way to move this forward is with education, regulation and testing. Education is necessary so people can learn their options and learn what to expect. Regulation is so that there is consistency with the delivery of that product. Testing is to assure quality control. Accurate labeling will assure that patients obtain the information they need to avoid unintended consequences and further their preferred outcome.