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Marijuana Grower Pleads Guilty


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http://www.lenconnect.com/article/20140313/NEWS/140319491/-1/sports

 

A 30-year-old Britton man pleaded guilty to a reduced marijuana possession charge Friday after a hearing on medical marijuana defense issues in Lenawee County Circuit Court. Matthew Thomas Cruze agreed to a civil order to give up his Michigan medical marijuana card and to not be a registered provider to other medical marijuana patients. He is to be sentenced April 10.

Cruze was charged with delivery of marijuana and maintaining a drug house in Britton during November. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count after Judge Timothy P. Pickard explained what evidence is needed for a medical marijuana defense. Pickard said he has not seen a case in his court where a physician would testify about the amount of marijuana a patient should use or verify a patient relationship with ongoing care.

“Maybe you will be the first,” Pickard said. A defense motion to dismiss the charges was later withdrawn and a guilty plea entered to the reduced count.

 

 

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I have not once heard a physician suggest any amount of medical cannabis for relief of symptoms. I also never heard of any physicians studying strains and informing patients of choices. Since when would a judge need to hear evidence of this from a "case" ?

 

 

Thanks

 

Well you would have to think about it in a messed up way something  like no one would even think about it would be hard to type it out into words here

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My doctor always asks what strains I use and how much I need to use on a bad day. He doesn't recommend how much to use but it is in his notes if needed.

Thanks again

 

You are one of the luckies ones and out of 100,000 + patients  here theirs not many like you my Doc i have been too for over 15 years had even wrote me a letter for the Court to see and the judge wouldn't let it into Court 

 

i guess my point is about the story above if they want you they will do anything to stop someone just to WIN! it also wouldn't  have  help/worked for this case IMHO Money would have

 

It would not take someone long to find out how Court goes for so many Cannabis users/Patients with arrest inn Michigan up almost 400% just for Cannabis

 

P.S i read your post all the time 

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the article really does not explain why he was arrested in the first place. One out of context statement was quoted of the judge is all. It is possible he was violating in a huge way, and that's why his card was removed, and why HE decided to plead the case. I'd like to know more about this before I call it like "now I need to know more than any doctor or scientist I've met about the effects of marijuana'....because that's just ridiculousness, until it becomes law(oh shitzu!)

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I clearly state in my paperwork that most patients can be treated with 1 ounce or less per week but that exceptions may occur.  Several states indicate 2.5 ounces every 2 weeks is a limit for dispensary meds and the federal dose is 9 grams a day.  Doctors cannot 'prescribe' marijuana with a type, dose and route like other medications per federal law.  They can and some do make recommendations in generalities.

 

Dr. Bob

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I clearly state in my paperwork that most patients can be treated with 1 ounce or less per week but that exceptions may occur.  Several states indicate 2.5 ounces every 2 weeks is a limit for dispensary meds and the federal dose is 9 grams a day.  Doctors cannot 'prescribe' marijuana with a type, dose and route like other medications per federal law.  They can and some do make recommendations in generalities.

 

Dr. Bob

Very succinctly stated. Short and to the point. It's too bad the courts can't figure this out. They seem to want to make this thing way more complicated than the voters intended. They seem to think that the voters didn't know what they were voting for. Well, perhaps voter stupidity is why these very people are in office.

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Thanks.  It has been there for years.  Just another thing that physicians that put thought into this law and the protection of patients think about when they are driving down the road to the next clinic.  One of the many things that help you separate high standard from low standard clinics and decide what doctor you want at your defense table.

 

Think about that the next time you renew by postcard, skype or in a hotel...lol

 

Dr. Bob

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  • 3 months later...

Neither a patient nor a caregiver are required to give the courts information regarding their use or dosages. All of that information is privileged and confidential under section 6.  LARA can ask, but then they must keep the info confidential.

 

Are they implying that the physician lied when he signed his attestation that he is "in compliance with the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, Administrative Rules, and all amendments"  as it states on the LARA form?

 

The judge asking for this so called evidence was out of line in asking for it. The existence of a card clearly indicates that the doctor followed the rules. If not, it would not have been issued.

Edited by Joel
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Neither a patient nor a caregiver are required to give the courts information regarding their use or dosages. All of that information is privileged and confidential under section 6.  LARA can ask, but then they must keep the info confidential.

 

Are they implying that the physician lied when he signed his attestation that he is "in compliance with the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, Administrative Rules, and all amendments"  as it states on the LARA form?

 

The judge asking for this so called evidence was out of line in asking for it. The existence of a card clearly indicates that the doctor followed the rules. If not, it would not have been issued.

 

 

 

 

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Neither a patient nor a caregiver are required to give the courts information regarding their use or dosages. All of that information is privileged and confidential under section 6.  LARA can ask, but then they must keep the info confidential.

 

Are they implying that the physician lied when he signed his attestation that he is "in compliance with the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, Administrative Rules, and all amendments"  as it states on the LARA form?

 

The judge asking for this so called evidence was out of line in asking for it. The existence of a card clearly indicates that the doctor followed the rules. If not, it would not have been issued.

 

 

Thanks Joel

 

Am glad to see you here again i know it must be hard we did it for 1,500 days the only thing you or i can do is tell everyone our stories and how the System and the Courts

 

work i have learned a lot over the  long almost 5 years of fighting the good fight and being a legal Cannabis user the Video above will tell the truth as to how things go for legal users

 

my phone still rings with pt/cg a few times a week asking me how this can happen to them and their family and how they say ( I was Legal ) i got that there Card

 

we hope it works out good for you and thanks for fighting the good fight

 

Peace

 Bob and 

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  • 2 weeks later...

There is the real probability that a signed and notarized physician certification between any physician and any patient that meets the letter and spirit of the law can and will be admissible, negating the need to have the physician testify. Here are examples of document text that are intended to do that. There are a few changes I would make to bring them more current, and perhaps even to edit them to allow recommended dosage and certainly to state that required follow up appointments are agreed to, but the premise is solid. I see no good reason not to have them to back up registration and help ensure the Affirmative Defense wherever necessary. which I take to be any and every pt/physician relationship. Judge Pickard has picked up on Harwick and Tuttle and is just as wrong as the COA. There are no dosing requirements in the law, but only possession limits. Is there any reason that a physician cannot and should not recommend it ad lib, the medical abbreviation for "use as much as one desires; freely?" or PRN. which is "take as needed" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_abbreviations_used_in_medical_prescriptions) IF that were required? There are others. It falls squarely in their laps and not ours. If the court insists that the responsibility is the caregiver's, why not the same? But is it not absurd to require that from someone who is not a physician? Nonetheless, it is nowhere required in the law, but these cretin judges continue to make schit up out of thin air. 

 

==========================================================================================================================

 

MEMORANDUM OF ASSESSMENT, DIAGNOSIS, AND OPINION
This memorandum is not a certificate in support of an application for Registry ID Card though the MDCH, is not intended to be used as such, and does not have the
legal effect of a Registry ID Card. This is not a prescription or recommendation, but a statement in support of just one element of the Medical Purpose affirmative
defense under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.
Name of Patient: ___________________________________ Date of Birth: ______________
Dear Patient,
You have requested medical treatment and advice from me, as your physician. I have therefore made a medical examination of you
today, and have made a complete assessment of your medical history and your current medical condition. I cannot legally prescribe
non‐pharmaceutical marijuana for your medical use, and the law does not contemplate that I should make a recommendation in this
regard, and but I have formed a professional opinion as to whether you are likely to receive therapeutic or palliative
benefit from the medical use of marihuana to treat or alleviate your serious or debilitating medical condition or its symptoms and
this letter is a verification to the statement I have made to you in this respect. During the examination we each made statements
that were made for purposes of your medical treatment and diagnosis, in connection with treatment, and you described your
medical history, symptoms, pain, sensations, and general character, cause, or external source thereof, all of which were necessary to
your diagnosis and treatment. During the examination I made observations and a medical examination, in my professional capacity
as your physician, and from that examination and from information transmitted by you, based on your personal knowledge of your
health conditions, I have made a complete assessment of your current medical condition. I have your medical history in my file and I
have made a complete assessment of it. It is my regular practice, in the course of my professional services to you and others, to
make and keep a record, like this memorandum, regarding regularly conducted medical examinations, to state my assessments,
findings, opinions, statements, and, if requested, my diagnosis of your medical condition, made in the course of the examination,
and to prepare a specific form, like this one, where medically significant statements are made which may require later specific
verification under circumstances where you may wish to establish that I have made this statement to you, and still keep the details
of your medical condition private, as it is Protected Health Information. This record made and kept in the course of a regularly
conducted medical examination, conducted as part of my regular professional practice, will be kept in your confidential medical file
and only you have a right to have authorize access to this record on request. Below is a checklist specifying my professional opinion
and findings as stated to you (I have checked only those items that
apply):
 I am a physician, duly licensed in the State of Michigan.
 I completed a full assessment of your medical history.
 I completed a full assessment of your current medical condition.
 This assessment was made in the course of a bona fide physician‐patient relationship.
 I have formed a professional opinion.
 As your physician, I stated on this date that in my professional opinion, after having completed a full assessment of your
medical history and current medical condition, made in the course of a bona fide physician‐patient relationship, YOU ARE
LIKELY to receive therapeutic or palliative benefit from the medical use of marihuana to treat or alleviate the your serious
or debilitating medical condition or symptoms of the your serious or debilitating medical condition.
Diagnosis. Since the law does not specifically require disclosure of your medical condition (your specific diagnosis is your legally
protected health information private, according to HIPAA), it is not listed here.
Date of Certification: _______________________ Expiration of Certification: ___________________
Physician Signature: _____________________________________ Date: ___________
Name of Certifying Physician:
State of Michigan Physician License #:
Physician Address:
Phone: Fax:
Physician Information: Only a Physician may make this statement. "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. You can
check my license status at (517) 241‐9427 or online at www.dleg.state.mi.us/free/
Elements of the Affirmative Defense:
1. The Physician’s Statement [section 8(a)1]:
• A physician (Licensed MD or Osteopath)
• has stated that
• in the physician's professional opinion
• after having completed a full assessment of
• the patient's medical history and
• patient's current medical condition
• which assessment was made in the course of a bona fide physician‐patient relationship
• that the patient is likely to receive therapeutic or palliative benefit
• from the medical use of marihuana
• to treat or alleviate the patient's serious or debilitating medical condition or symptoms of the patient's serious or debilitating medical condition
2. The Reasonably Necessary Quantity [section 8(a)2]:
• The patient and the patient's primary caregiver, if any, were collectively
• in possession of a quantity of marihuana that was
• not more than was reasonably necessary
• to ensure the uninterrupted availability of marihuana
• for the purpose of treating or alleviating the patient's serious or debilitating medical condition or symptoms of the patient's serious or debilitating medical condition
3. The Medical Purpose [section 8(a)3]:
• The patient and the patient's primary caregiver, if any,
• were engaged in the
• acquisition, possession, cultivation, manufacture, use, delivery, transfer, or transportation of marihuana or
paraphernalia relating to the use of marihuana
• to treat or alleviate the patient's to treat or alleviate the patient's serious or debilitating medical condition or symptoms of the patient's serious or debilitating
medical condition.
Disqualifications: Section 8(a) provides that the defendant cannot assert the affirmative defense if possessing or engaging in the use of marijuana was in violation of
Section 7(b) of the Act. Section 7(b) lists certain disqualifying criteria that apply to the Section 8 affirmative defense and to the Act’s other more prophylactic
immunities for registry participants.
The defense may not be asserted for any of the following:
• Smoking marijuana “in any public place”;
• Smoking marijuana on any form of public transportation;
• Any use by a person who has no serious or debilitating medical condition;
• Any conduct where being under the influence would constitute negligence or professional malpractice per se;
• Operating, navigating, or being in actual physical control of any motor vehicle, aircraft, or motorboat while under
the influence of marihuana.
• Any use or possession in a school bus;
• Any use or possession on the grounds of any preschool, primary, or secondary school;
• Any use or possession in any correctional facility;
Patient Acknowledgement:
I have read and understood the essential elements of the Medical Purpose Affirmative Defense, and understand that this defense,
while a defense in court which may be the basis for dismissal of any prosecution involving marijuana, the affirmative defense, and
this statement, will not prevent law enforcement agents from arresting me or charging me with any offense in the same way the
Registry ID Program purports to do. I understand that the provisions of the affirmative defense are subject to judicial scrutiny, and
have yet to be clearly defined by courts. I understand that I must consult with an attorney regarding the legal protections afforded
to me under the affirmative defense. I further understand that this memorandum is not a certificate in support of an application for
Registry ID Card though the MDCH, is not intended to be used as such, and does not have the legal effect of a Registry ID Card. I
understand that this is not a prescription or recommendation to use marijuana, but a statement in support of just one element of
the Medical Purpose affirmative defense under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act. I understand that my physician will not assist
me in actually using or obtaining marijuana, and I acknowledge that my physician has not provided me with any information as to
how, where, and from whom I might obtain marijuana.
Signature
==============================================================================================
AND...

STATE OF MICHIGAN}
COUNTY}
Affidavit Authenticating Patient’s Memorandum of
Physician’s Assessment, Diagnosis, and Opinion
_____________________, being the undersigned affiant, and being first duly sworn, hereby deposes and says:
1) I am the physician for the below referenced patient, licensed as a such under Part 170 or Part 175 of the public health code
1978 PA 368.
2) I am fully familiar with the facts stated in this affidavit and the attached medical record and, if sworn as a witness, am
competent to testify to them.
3) That I am the custodian and the preparer of the patient’s original medical record, a true and exact copy of which is attached
hereto. As such I declare the attached copy to be authentic in all respects.
4) That said record is a memorandum of the patient’s medical condition, based on observations and medical examination by me in
my professional capacity as patient’s physician, and from information transmitted by the patient, having knowledge of the
facts, and my professional opinions and diagnosis, as then discussed with the patient, after I completed a full assessment of the
patient’s medical history and current medical condition;
5) Statements made during the examination were for purposes of patient’s medical treatment and medical diagnosis, in
connection with treatment, and described medical history, symptoms, pain, sensations, and general character, cause, or
external source thereof, and were necessary to such diagnosis and treatment.
6) That said record was prepared by me, on the date of said examination.
7) The the record accurately reflects that I then stated to patient that in my professional opinion, after having completed a full
assessment of the patient's medical history and current medical condition made in the course of a bona fide physician-patient
relationship, the patient is likely to receive therapeutic or palliative benefit from the medical use of marihuana to treat or
alleviate the patient's serious or debilitating medical condition or symptoms of the patient's serious or debilitating medical
condition.
8) That the record was made and kept in the course of a regularly conducted medical examination, conducted as part of my regular
professional practice.
9) That it is and was my regular practice in the course of my professional practice, for matters such as those discussed in the
attached memorandum, to make and keep a record, memorandum, and report regarding medical examinations, my
assessments, findings, opinions, statements, and diagnosis, and to prepare a specific form, like the one attached, under
circumstances where statements are made regarding the efficacy of marijuana for medicinal purposes, for verification purposes.
Dated: __________________________
/s/______________________________
Affiant
STATE OF MICHIGAN}
___________ COUNTY}
Signed and sworn to before me on this _______ day of __________________ , _______, by the above affiant.
___________________________________________
Print Notary:
Notary public, State of Michigan, County of ____________________ Acting in the County of :
My commission expires:
 
 
 
Kudos to Greg Schmid, Attorney at Law, who has provided these texts.
Edited by GregS
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