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  ACLU Sues Cities That Banned Medical Marijuana
Posted by CN Staff on December 01, 2010 at 10:39:46 PT
By RoNeisha Mullen, The Detroit News 
Source: Detroit News 

medical Detroit -- The ACLU of Michigan today filed lawsuits against three metro Detroit communities that have adopted ordinances banning medical marijuana.

The suit, filed on behalf of Linda and Robert Lott of Birmingham, alleges the cities of Livonia, Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham each have adopted ordinances effectively banning the couple and other patients from legally using medical marijuana.

"We're seeing a lot of cities that are passing very burdensome ordinances that stand in the way of patients and their doctors on this issue," said ACLU attorney Dan Korobkin. "When patients use medical marijuana in compliance with state law, they shouldn't be penalized for it."

Linda Lott, 61, who has suffered from multiple sclerosis for 28 years, is legally blind and uses a wheelchair. Linda uses medical marijuana to control muscle spasm and "ease her pain."

"It's simply unfair for these cities to try to play doctor and tell me how to treat a disease I've lived with for 28 years," she said. "I could have a terrible spasm, and a little bit of marijuana would take it away in just a few minutes."

Michigan voters approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes in 2008. The act, which decriminalized the use of medical marijuana for debilitating medical conditions, passed by 71 percent in Birmingham, 63 percent in Livonia and 62 percent in Bloomfield Hills.

But local governments have been struggling over how to interpret the law. Some have adopted moratoriums on the use of medical marijuana and others have banned it outright. Some local police departments have said federal drug laws banning marijuana supersede Michigan's medical marijuana act, and some users who say they have the legal right to smoke marijuana have been arrested.

The ACLU lawsuit seeks to have the city ordinances banning medical marijuana be declared invalid. The suit maintains that patients and caregivers who comply with the state law should not be prosecuted.

Source: Detroit News (MI)
Author: RoNeisha Mullen, The Detroit News
Published: December 1, 2010
Copyright: 2010 The Detroit News
Contact: letters@detnews.com
Website: http://www.detnews.com/
URL: http://drugsense.org/url/Wcao9nJB

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Comment #3 posted by ekim on December 04, 2010 at 21:30:53 PT
This is from the mayor of Lansing.
http://www.drugwarrant.com/2010/12/thank-you-aclu/#comments

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #2 posted by afterburner on December 02, 2010 at 07:42:44 PT
That's ...
what I'm talkin' about!

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #1 posted by FoM on December 01, 2010 at 10:49:25 PT
Related Article From The Detroit Free Press
ACLU Sues Livonia, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills on Medical Marijuana

December 1, 2010

URL: http://drugsense.org/url/4jSjIkFl

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