Michigan Prosecutors Not Pursuing Charges Against Dispensaries [VIDEO]

Michigan lawmakers gathered this week in the Senate to discuss how to make the state’s medical marijuana program more functional. However, while legislators work to remedy some key issues, others argue they are not focused on more pressing problems.

For example, medical marijuana dispensaries have been banned in Michigan since 2013, but there are still dispensaries all over the state, and people are curious how this has gone unpunished.

Matt Newburg, a criminal defense attorney, says some prosecutors are choosing not to go after dispensaries because the opinions of marijuana are shifting all across the country. “How the process works is law enforcement will take a report, they provide that report to the prosecutor’s office, and the prosecutor’s going to decide whether they’ll authorize charges,” he told WNLS.

Yet, some lawmakers argue that more regulations are needed in order to prevent an upsurge in dispensaries popping up next to churches and schools, while other believe less is more. “I don’t think over legislating the marijuana statute is the answer. And frankly I don’t know what the answer is. Right now what I do know is it’s not, it’s not working,” said Newburg.