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Michigan Compiled Laws Complete Through PA 19 of 2024
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Section 333.26423

MICHIGAN MEDICAL MARIHUANA ACT (EXCERPT)
Initiated Law 1 of 2008


333.26423 Definitions.

Sec. 3.

  

3. Definitions.

  As used in this act:
  (a) "Bona fide physician-patient relationship" means a treatment or counseling relationship between a physician and patient in which all of the following are present:
  (1) The physician has reviewed the patient's relevant medical records and completed a full assessment of the patient's medical history and current medical condition, including a relevant medical evaluation of the patient.
  (2) The physician has created and maintained records of the patient's condition in accord with medically accepted standards.
  (3) The physician has a reasonable expectation that he or she will provide follow-up care to the patient to monitor the efficacy of the use of medical marihuana as a treatment of the patient's debilitating medical condition.
  (4) If the patient has given permission, the physician has notified the patient's primary care physician of the patient's debilitating medical condition and certification for the medical use of marihuana to treat that condition.
  (b) "Debilitating medical condition" means 1 or more of the following:
  (1) Cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Crohn's disease, agitation of Alzheimer's disease, nail patella, or the treatment of these conditions.
  (2) A chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition or its treatment that produces 1 or more of the following: cachexia or wasting syndrome; severe and chronic pain; severe nausea; seizures, including but not limited to those characteristic of epilepsy; or severe and persistent muscle spasms, including but not limited to those characteristic of multiple sclerosis.
  (3) Any other medical condition or its treatment approved by the marijuana regulatory agency, as provided for in section 6(k).
  (c) "Department" means the department of licensing and regulatory affairs.
  (d) "Enclosed, locked facility" means a closet, room, or other comparable, stationary, and fully enclosed area equipped with secured locks or other functioning security devices that permit access only by a registered primary caregiver or registered qualifying patient. Marihuana plants grown outdoors are considered to be in an enclosed, locked facility if they are not visible to the unaided eye from an adjacent property when viewed by an individual at ground level or from a permanent structure and are grown within a stationary structure that is enclosed on all sides, except for the base, by chain-link fencing, wooden slats, or a similar material that prevents access by the general public and that is anchored, attached, or affixed to the ground; located on land that is owned, leased, or rented by either the registered qualifying patient or a person designated through the marijuana regulatory agency's registration process as the primary caregiver for the registered qualifying patient or patients for whom the marihuana plants are grown; and equipped with functioning locks or other security devices that restrict access to only the registered qualifying patient or the registered primary caregiver who owns, leases, or rents the property on which the structure is located. Enclosed, locked facility includes a motor vehicle if both of the following conditions are met:
  (1) The vehicle is being used temporarily to transport living marihuana plants from 1 location to another with the intent to permanently retain those plants at the second location.
  (2) An individual is not inside the vehicle unless he or she is either the registered qualifying patient to whom the living marihuana plants belong or the individual designated through the marijuana regulatory agency's registration process as the primary caregiver for the registered qualifying patient.
  (e) "Marihuana" means that term as defined in section 3 of the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act, 2018 IL 1, MCL 333.27953.
  (f) "Marihuana-infused product" means a topical formulation, tincture, beverage, edible substance, or similar product containing any usable marihuana that is intended for human consumption in a manner other than smoke inhalation. Marihuana-infused product shall not be considered a food for purposes of the food law, 2000 PA 92, MCL 289.1101 to 289.8111.
  (g) "Marihuana plant" means any plant of the species Cannabis sativa L.
  (h) "Marijuana regulatory agency" means the marijuana regulatory agency created under Executive Reorganization Order No. 2019-2, MCL 333.27001.
  (i) "Medical use of marihuana" means the acquisition, possession, cultivation, manufacture, extraction, use, internal possession, delivery, transfer, or transportation of marihuana, marihuana-infused products, or paraphernalia relating to the administration of marihuana to treat or alleviate a registered qualifying patient's debilitating medical condition or symptoms associated with the debilitating medical condition.
  (j) "Physician" means an individual licensed as a physician under part 170 of the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.17001 to 333.17084, or an osteopathic physician under part 175 of the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.17501 to 333.17556.
  (k) "Plant" means any living organism that produces its own food through photosynthesis and has observable root formation or is in growth material.
  (l) "Primary caregiver" or "caregiver" means a person who is at least 21 years old and who has agreed to assist with a patient's medical use of marihuana and who has not been convicted of any felony within the past 10 years and has never been convicted of a felony involving illegal drugs or a felony that is an assaultive crime as defined in section 9a of chapter X of the code of criminal procedure, 1927 PA 175, MCL 770.9a.
  (m) "Qualifying patient" or "patient" means a person who has been diagnosed by a physician as having a debilitating medical condition.
  (n) "Registry identification card" means a document issued by the marijuana regulatory agency that identifies a person as a registered qualifying patient or registered primary caregiver.
  (o) "Usable marihuana" means the dried leaves, flowers, plant resin, or extract of the marihuana plant, but does not include the seeds, stalks, and roots of the plant.
  (p) "Usable marihuana equivalent" means the amount of usable marihuana in a marihuana-infused product that is calculated as provided in section 4(c).
  (q) "Visiting qualifying patient" means a patient who is not a resident of this state or who has been a resident of this state for less than 30 days.
  (r) "Written certification" means a document signed by a physician, stating all of the following:
  (1) The patient's debilitating medical condition.
  (2) The physician has completed a full assessment of the patient's medical history and current medical condition, including a relevant medical evaluation.
  (3) In the physician's professional opinion, the patient is likely to receive therapeutic or palliative benefit from the medical use of marihuana to treat or alleviate the patient's debilitating medical condition or symptoms associated with the debilitating medical condition.
  
  


History: 2008, Initiated Law 1, Eff. Dec. 4, 2008 ;-- Am. 2012, Act 512, Eff. Apr. 1, 2013 ;-- Am. 2016, Act 283, Eff. Dec. 20, 2016 ;-- Am. 2021, Act 62, Eff. Oct. 11, 2021
Compiler's Notes: MCL 333.26430 of Initiated Law 1 of 2008 provides:10. Severability.Sec. 10. Any section of this act being held invalid as to any person or circumstances shall not affect the application of any other section of this act that can be given full effect without the invalid section or application.Enacting section 2 of Act 283 of 2016 provides:"Enacting section 2. This amendatory act clarifies ambiguities in the law in accordance with the original intent of the people, as expressed in section 2(b) of the Michigan medical marihuana act, 2008 IL 1, MCL 333.26422: "(b) Data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reports and the Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics show that approximately 99 out of every 100 marihuana arrests in the United States are made under state law, rather than under federal law. Consequently, changing state law will have the practical effect of protecting from arrest the vast majority of seriously ill people who have a medical need to use marihuana.". [Emphasis added.] This amendatory act is curative and applies retroactively as to the following: clarifying the quantities and forms of marihuana for which a person is protected from arrest, precluding an interpretation of "weight" as aggregate weight, and excluding an added inactive substrate component of a preparation in determining the amount of marihuana, medical marihuana, or usable marihuana that constitutes an offense. Retroactive application of this amendatory act does not create a cause of action against a law enforcement officer or any other state or local governmental officer, employee, department, or agency that enforced this act under a good-faith interpretation of its provisions at the time of enforcement."For the transfer of powers and duties of the department of licensing and regulatory affairs, including its bureau of marijuana regulation, to the marijuana regulatory agency, and abolishment of the bureau of marijuana regulation, see E.R.O. No. 2019-2, compiled at MCL 333.27001.For the renaming of the marijuana regulatory agency to the cannabis regulatory agency, see E.R.O. No. 2022-1, compiled at MCL 333.27002.




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