The prescription and use of medical marijuana.

In People v Redden, ___ Mich App ___ (#295809, 9/14/2010) the Court of Appeals discussed two areas of concern in medical marijuana cases.  Whether the patient (defendant) was prescribed the medical marijuana during the course of a bona fide physician-patient relationship and whether the defendant has a serious or debilitating medical condition. 

MCL 333.26428(a)(1) states that a medical-purpose defense shall be presumed valid if: A physician has stated that, in the physician’s professional opinion, after having completed a full assessment of the patient’s medical history and current medical condition made in the course of a bona fide physician-patient relationship, the patient is likely to receive therapeutic or palliative benefit from the medical use of marihuana to treat or alleviate the patient’s serious or debilitating medical condition or symptoms of the patient’s serious or debilitating medical condition . . . .

The MMMA does not define the phrase “bona fide physician-patient relationship.” When words or phrases are not defined in a statute, a dictionary may be consulted. People v Peals, 476 Mich 636, 641 (2006). Random House Webster’s College Dictionary (1997) defines “bona fide” as “1. made, done, etc., in good faith; without deception or fraud. 2. authentic; genuine; real.”

Section § 7(b)(5) states that the MMMA “shall not permit any person to . . . [u]se marihuana if that person does not have a serious or debilitating medical condition.” MCL 333.26427(b)(5). Section 3, the definitions section of the MMMA, states: (a) “Debilitating medical condition” means 1 or more of the following: (1) Cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, agitation of Alzheimer’s disease, nail patella, or the treatment of these conditions. (2) A chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition or its treatment that produces 1 or more of the following: cachexia or wasting syndrome; severe and chronic pain; severe nausea; seizures, including but not limited to those characteristic of epilepsy; or severe and persistent muscle spasms, including but not limited to those characteristic of multiple sclerosis. (3) Any other medical condition or its treatment approved by the department, as provided for in section 5(a). [MCL 333.26423.]

Section 3 does not define the phrase “serious medical condition.” MCL 333.26423.  With regard to the phrase “serious medical condition,” Random House Webster’s College Dictionary (1997) defines “serious,” in this context, as “weighty, important, or significant” and “giving cause for apprehension; critical or threatening[.]” Without knowing the nature of defendants’ medical conditions, it is not possible to determine whether they are “serious.” With regard to the phrase “debilitating medical condition,” MCL 333.26423(a)(2) indicates that this phrase includes “[a] chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition or its treatment that produces 1 or more of the following: . . . severe and chronic pain; severe nausea . . . .”

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Both issues center on the underlying concern that persons not be allowed to abuse the allowed use of medical marijuana for a non-serious or debilitating medical condition and that the use of medical marijuana be legitimately prescribed during the course of a legitimate patient-physician relationship.