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A HEALTHCARE ISSUE


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A new medical marijuana bill was recently introduced in the state House of Representatives to legalize the establishment of medical marijuana distribution centers.

(Read more: Minor in Possession)

New Medical Marijuana Bill:

House Bill 4271the Medical Marijuana Provisioning Center Regulation Act — would let individual communities decide whether to allow such centers and where they could be located. It was sponsored by state Rep. Mike Callton, R-Nashville, from rural Barry County northeast of Kalamazoo.

 

Close up of the marijuana plant

 

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Callton expressed that he was encouraged by having eight republican co-sponsors to the new medical marijuana bill. Eight Democrats also co-sponsored the bill. Callton stated “I had several more conservatives ask me if they could co-sponsor, but it was too late” to get them listed. The bill will now be assigned to a committee.

On Feb. 8, the Michigan Supreme Court issued a ruling widely interpreted to ban virtually any public facility that distributes medical marijuana. Calton, acknowledged in Lansing as the first chiropractor to be elected to the Michigan Legislature, said that accessing medical marijuana should be considered “a health care issue, not a criminal justice issue.”

(Related: What to do if you are pulled over with marijuana as a medical patient)

Although he voted in 2008 against the statewide ballot proposal to allow medical marijuana use, which voters passed with a 63% majority, he was persuaded by a number of chiropractic patients of the value marijuana has in easing pain, reducing the symptoms of cancer treatment and providing health benefits, especially to elderly people.

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