In this episode, Danielle and Amanda chat with Steve Miller of Komorn Law and a retired law enforcement officer. Steve retired from law enforcement after nearly 25 years of service, he retired in 2013 due to some health issues, at which time he discovered the healing power of cannabis which was helping with his symptoms. Upon retirement, Steve obtained his private investigators license and started working with Michael Komorn at his law firm.
Steve explains Section 4 and Section 8 of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act and how their law firm is actively fighting cases where these are being violated due to lack of understanding by the police. Steve gives his perspective, as former law enforcement, where the disconnect is between what is written in the law and what is actually being enforced within the state of Michigan. Danielle gives perspective of the differences between the Michigan medical program and the Ohio medical program, by sharing her personal story of how she was suspended from working within the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program and how she lost her job working in the dispensary.
Steve talks about how he was trained to handle marijuana offenses as a police officer and how it was an easy target or an easy “in”. We discuss how the field training officers were training new officers to pursue certain vehicle offenses in an effort to find other offenses under the presumption that the type of person who would neglect to care for their vehicle are likely to have other offenses. Unfortunately, more often than not – they did find people who had warrants or other “minor” offenses – which ended up with them being arrested, ultimately leaving them in this “trap”. The conversation then turns to what policing looks like now in relation to cannabis in a legal market and what the courts look for when proving legitimate medical cannabis use under the discretion of a certified physician.
Steve talks about his personal experience with cannabis and how he started to observe that there was no real inherent danger to cannabis use, but because he entered the military right out of high school he hadn’t used it himself until after he retired. Following back surgery and noticing the slippery slope of opioid addiction – Steve made the choice to use medicated edibles or “medibles” to find relief instead. He did the legwork of figuring out what works best for him by keeping track in a journal on the effects of different products he tried, ultimately finding that the Rick Simpson Oil (RSO) has worked the best for him and his symptoms.
Danielle asks Steve if he had experience or any insight for patients who have or are looking to get their medical marijuana card but also have or want to obtain their CCW, which at this time is illegal. Steve explains why this is such a sticky area and why it is still best to be honest on CCW applications because although they go on your word, you could still be brought up on felony charges if they find out you lied on your application.
You can hear more from Steve and Amanda, and the rest of their co-hosts, on the Planet Green Trees TV show – every Thursday evening. Watch live on their Facebook Page or their YouTube channel.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/MidwestCannaConcierge)
