by Cynthia Price and from ACLU sources
The Michigan Court of Appeals has declared that the City of Wyoming’s ordinance that bans medical marijuana is “void and unenforceable” because it directly violates the state’s Medical Marihuana Act.
As reported in the Grand Rapids Legal News for Feb. 25, 2011, the lawsuit was originally filed by local retired attorney John Ter Beek, a medical marijuana patient who suffers from diabetes and a neurological disorder that causes neuropathy and severe pain. The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan later joined the suit.
“In 2008, people across the state overwhelmingly voted to protect patients who use marijuana to treat their medical conditions from punishment and penalty,” said Dan Korobkin, ACLU of Michigan staff attorney. “Today’s decision by the Michigan Court of Appeals rejects the misguided efforts of a few local officials to undo the results of that historic election. Now that the law is clear, all cities should take notice and stop threatening to treat patients who have done nothing wrong like criminals.”
The ordinance was adopted by the Wyoming City Council in 2010 despite a public outcry. Ter Beek, who feared criminal and civil penalties if he grew or used medical marijuana in accordance with state law, filed the lawsuit which ACLU later joined.
At the time Ter Beek stated to the Legal News, “We’ll have to let the courts decide it.”
Now, Ter Beek joins the ACLU in applauding the decision. “The fact is medical marijuana helps people; it’s helped me,” he said. “I’ve tried narcotic-based drugs like Vicodin and OxyContin and nothing worked like medical marijuana. I couldn’t just sit by as our elected officials try to ignore the will of the people and take this option from me and thousands of others.”
In 2008, the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act was approved on a statewide ballot. Sixty-three percent of voters approved the law statewide, including 59 percent of voters in Wyoming. The Wyoming ordinance, while not specifically mentioning medical marijuana, prohibits any violations of federal law. Because medical marijuana is still technically illegal under federal law, the city used this terminology to ban medical marijuana.
The federal government, however, does not prosecute patients and caregivers who comply with their states’ medical marijuana laws, and the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act specifically states that registered patients and their caregivers “shall not be subject to arrest, prosecution, or penalty in any manner” for growing, possessing, or using medical marijuana.
Just 5 days before Wyoming adopted its ordinance, the ACLU of Michigan filed a similar lawsuit against the cities of Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Livonia. The ACLU sent a copy of that lawsuit to Wyoming city officials prior to their vote. The lawsuit against Birmingham is pending in the Court of Appeals.
In addition to Korobkin, Ter Beek is represented by ACLU’s Michael J. Steinberg, Kary L. Moss, Miriam Aukerman and Mike Nelson.
To read the decision, go to: www.aclumich.org/sites/default/files/TerBeekCOAOpinion.pdf. For the ACLU brief, www.aclumich.org/sites/default/files/TerBeekBrief.pdf.
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