Man Facing Federal Charges In Medical Marijuana Case

[Ganjarden]

WEXFORD CO. -- A Wexford County man who uses medical marijuana - is facing a day in court.....even though he says he has approval from the state to use it.

Dan Benac says he was cited for using marijuana in his car during a visit to the Leelanau Sands Casino, which is on Tribal land in Leelanau County. He was visiting the casino with his wife for a Euchre Tournament, and it was too early to check in to the hotel, so Benac says he had no choice but to "medicate" in his car.

But when a tribal officer approached him, things went downhill from there. "He asked if I was approved for medical marijuana, which I said I was, but I didn't have my medical card yet. He said 'yeah I've heard that before.'"

Dan Benac says he has chronic pain from degenerative disc disease. After years of procedures and prescription pain medications, he turned to medical marijuana. "I felt as if I didn't want to have to take pain medication anymore, my doctor said my liver is getting bad from all the pain medication, and now that medical marijuana has been legalized I decided to apply for it."

Benac says he's been waiting since October for his state-issued medical marijuana ID card, but because he couldn't show it at the time, a tribal officer confiscated his marijuana cigarettes.

And because it happened on tribal land, the case is in the hands of the US District Attorney. Now Dan has to go to federal court for doing something that's legal in the state of Michigan. Federal prosecutors were told by the White House and the U.S. Attorney General back in October... that as long as people are following state law, federal attorneys should not prosecute medical marijuana users. Even so, the federal law is still on the books.

I contacted the Michigan Department of Community Health which handles the medical marijuana registry. Spokesman James McCurtis tells me the state is experiencing a backlog of about three months, and if Dan Benac didn't get a denial letter, he can use other supporting documents as evidence or proof he can use medical marijuana.

Dan says he has those documents, but no one wants to see them. And now he has a federal court date next week.

He also says law enforcement officers should be able to see if you're approved for medical marijuana use, just like they look up your driving record, criminal background, and other history if you get stopped. "All he has to do is access that, and 'oh, Dan Benac has been approved for medical marijuana? There you go, have a nice day.'"

I also talked with Cindy Hinkle - who works for a non profit medical marijuana education group called "3 Med." She says law enforcement officers need to be educated about the state law and the federal guidelines, and she's emailed the White House to let President Obama know about this case of federal prosecution.

What do you think?


NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 Magazine - Cannabis Culture News & Reviews
Source: WPBN TV7&4
Author: Bill Froehlich
Contact: WPBN TV7&4
Copyright: 2010 WPBN TV7&4
Website: Man Facing Federal Charges In Medical Marijuana Case

 

[Warbux]

I personally think the cards are redundant...You should only need to have a refferal from a Dr. The only reason for a registration card is for the powers that be to use as a tracking device,,And a reason to initiate traffic stops..No other "medicines" require a card, Or registration.....Can anyone say "discrimination"?

 

[Weed420]

Yeah I hate the states that have gone to a state ID card system. Here in Washington all thats required is your dr signed mmj authorization form.

 

[MedicalNeed]

Sounds like a lawsuit is going to be lost by the state of Michigan, as this is without a doubt their fault!

So with all this foot dragging, and Denial of Safe Access.

I'm am predicting Future voters should write in Time tables for approved applications and also restrictions on Memorandums against Dispenser's, etc to be included in all Cannabis voter memorandums with fine and penalties to counties and city's who like LA have had over 14 year to sort out issues and are just now doing so.

 

[Purple Goose]

I personally think the cards are redundant...You should only need to have a refferal from a Dr. The only reason for a registration card is for the powers that be to use as a tracking device,,And a reason to initiate traffic stops..No other "medicines" require a card, Or registration.....Can anyone say "discrimination"?

I personally think they should tie legal medical marijuana use to a persons Drivers licence or social secuity number mainly because if a medical user has his wallet lost or stolen anyone who gets ahold of there card then knows they use cannabis and has there address at which point the patient is then in danger of being robbed for there medicine Like the recent News story About the elderly lady who had a medicinal grow all legal that some local thugs caught the smell of and robbed the lady at gunpoint. So by making patients carry a card that is unmistakable in identifying them as cannabis patients if it falls into the wrong hands they become targets so if the Govt would only tie the information of who is legal or not into our Drivers licence ,Social security or some other govt identification that the police or other officials can use to check there eligibility the chances of things like what happend to the guy in the original post of this thread would be headed off at the pass and save everyone the extra costs of taking a man to court needlessly