Attorney General: Police can seize medical marijuana

Here’s a solution, DON’T TAKE OUR DAMN MEDICINE. GROW YOUR OWN. -UA

freep.com 11/10

A provision of the Michigan medical marijuana law that prohibits police from seizing pot possessed by licensed medical marijuana patients is invalid because it conflicts with federal law, Attorney General Bill Schuette said in an opinion released today, one in which he warns officers who return marijuana to patients could be prosecuted as dope dealers.

“It is ‘impossible’ for state law enforcement officers to comply with their state law duty not to forfeit medical marijuana, and their federal law duty not to distribute or aid in the distribution of marijuana,” according to the opinion.

Schuette was responding to a request from state Rep. Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant, who asked whether police were required to return marijuana to medical marijuana patients who had been arrested or detained upon their release.

An opinion from the attorney general is generally considered binding legal opinion, especially on state agencies like the Michigan State Police, unless and until it is rejected by a judge.

It is the latest in a series of moves by the attorney general to narrow the scope and application of the law, approved by Michigan voters in 2008. Schuette, then a recently-retired state appeals court judge, led the campaign in opposition to the initiative.