| Graphic: Michigan Medical Marijuana Association |
A registered medical marijuana patient in Michigan is suing the Lyon Township and Oakland County because they’re trying to take his growing cannabis plants away from him.
Steven J. Greene got a notice from the township attorney on December 20 telling him he had 30 days to get rid of the marijuana plants growing inside his mobile home — on threat of seizure and prosecution under the township ordinance, reports Mike Martindale at The Detroit News.
A copy of the letter was also sent to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, which discovered the plants last year after both a storm and an attempted break-in set off burglar alarms at Green’s residence in separate incidents, according to Greene’s attorney, Thomas Loeb.
Greene, who is HIV positive, is on medical disability and uses marijuana to combat nausea from drugs used to treat his health condition, Loeb said.
| Photo: Compassion Family Ministries |
”He’s the type of person the Michigan medical marijuana laws were created for,” Loeb said, “a card-carrying, certified user for medical purposes. I just want to stop them before my client is arrested.”
The lawsuit will go before Oakland Circuit Judge Martha Anderson. A similar suit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Wayne Circuit Court last month against local anti-medical marijuana ordinances in Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Livonia.
Lyon Township adopted in July an ordinance outlawing any land use in the township not permitted under federal law.
The ordinance focuses on growing marijuana, said Township attorney Matthew Quinn.
“We aren’t challenging medical use of marijuana by qualified residents,” Quinn claimed. “Our ordinance focuses on any land use which violates federal, state or local ordinance.
“People can grow marijuana elsewhere, but Lyon Township doesn’t want it,” Quinn said — despite the fact than an overwhelming 63 percent of Michiganders voted to legalize medical marijuana in 2008. Medical marijuana carried every county in the state, including Oakland County.
Michigan law allows state-certified patients to possess and grow marijuana. State-certified caregivers can provide it for up to five certified patients, growing up to 12 plants per patient.