Michigan’s State Supreme Court Rules That Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Are Illegal

After a long stretch of time where the law regarding where you could and couldn't get your medical marijuana legally, the state Supreme Court has finally ruled that dispensaries are not an option.

The legalization of medical marijuana temporarily reignited the economy here in Flint, as new pot shops were popping up every couple of days. The problem was that the laws weren't clearly defined and the market became a free-for-all of sorts. That all came to a screeching halt when a dispensary in Mt. Pleasant was shut down and ruled to be operating outside of the law in late 2011.

Since that time, medical marijuana has existed in this weird gray area, for lack of a better term. Some operations shut down in response to the Michigan Court of Appeals' ruling against the dispensary in Mt. Pleasant, because authorities could then technically shut down dispensaries since a legal precedent had been set. However, some communities waited for further ruling from the state Supreme Court, which came down earlier today (2/8).

According to Huffington Post, the state Supreme Court ruled 4-1 that dispensaries are illegal and that purchasing medical marijuana from them is not covered under the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act. Leaving our state's roughly 126,000 medical marijuana users with just two options -- grow their own or have it grown for them by one of the 26,000 licensed caregivers.

This has got to be frustrating for potheads. First medical was kind of legal, then not, then who knows and now it's legal for medical use but kind of harder to get... ugh. Last November, marijuana was decriminalized in Flint, but police said they wouldn't honor the voters decision. We're not really sure how that all shook out, but we're not willing to go burn one in Downtown Flint to find out.

Washington and Colorado have recently legalized marijuana, but even they have had problems after the fact. We just need pot to go legal on a federal level so that all the loopholes are eliminated and people can "smoke if they wanna smoke." Come on, America. Let's grow up and stop demonizing weed.