Michigan judges may no longer ban the use of medical marijuana by an offender on probation who is a state-registered medical marijuana user, according to the Michigan Court of Appeals.
The court’s 3-0 decision last week was in a published opinion establishing a precedent that judges must now use in subsequent cases statewide. The ruling means that judges and probation officers can’t overrule the protections granted to medical marijuana users by Michigan voters in 2008, when residents approved the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act with 63% voting yes.
Despite voters’ overwhelming approval of the law, it took 12 years for Michigan courts to fully recognize the law’s protections, said Michael Komorn, a Farmington Hills lawyer who successfully argued the appeal. The case involved 40-year-old Michael Thue of Traverse City, who pleaded guilty in 2019 to a road-rage incident of assault and battery, then was sentenced to a year on probation — but without permission to use medical marijuana.
To read more, click on https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2021/02/15/michigan-marijuana-medicine-probationers/6752623002/