COA Opinion: The uncompensated transfer of marijuana between patients constitutes a permissible, medical use of marijuana
In People v. Green, the Michigan Court of Appeals decided that, where one registered medical marijuana patient gives a permissible amount of marijuana to another registered patient, the uncompensated transfer does not violate the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, MCL 333.26421 et seq. The appellate court reasoned that the transfer, as opposed to the sale, of medical marijuana from one registered patient to another was expressly included in the term “medical use” under the Act. The uncompensated nature of the transfer distinguished the defendant’s case from that of Michigan v. McQueen, 293 Mich.App. 644, 653; 811 N.W.2d 513 (2011), in which the court previously ruled that the Act does not allow patients to sell to one another. Finally, the court rejected the prosecution’s argument that only transfers from caregiver to patient are sanctioned under the Act. Thus, the court of appeals affirmed the circuit court’s order dismissing the case.
