Medical Marijuana Security Requirements in the State of Michigan
Posted by Safe & Vault on Jul 08, 2014
On December 4th, 2008, the State of Michigan enacted Michigan State Statute 333.264, better known as the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act. When citing the findings to support this act in part 333.26422, the state of Michigan presented three main reasons to support the legalization of marihuana for medical use.
- Modern research has discovered beneficial uses for marihuana in association with several debilitating conditions.
- 99 out of 100 marihuana arrests are made under state, not federal, law. Changing state law merely protects seriously ill Michigan residents.
- Michigan sites Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Washington as having already taken the necessary steps to protect their citizens, and now Michigan will join them in offering the same rights.
Part 333.26424 of the Michigan statute offers protections to patients, primary caregivers, and physicians to whom the Medicinal Marihuana Law is applicable. Inside of these protections, the law states that a qualifying patient, primary caregiver, or physician (as defined in part 333.26423) may be in possession of “2.5 ounces, 12 plants, and an incidental amount of seeds, stalks, and unusable roots,” so long as the marihuana is stored in an “enclosed locked facility.”
Michigan state law defines an enclosed locked facility as “a closet, room, or other comparable, stationary, and fully enclosed area equipped with secured locks or other functioning security devices that permit access only by a registered primary caregiver or registered qualifying patient.”
Michigan, as well as all other states participating in medicinal or recreational sales of marijuana, adhere to storage specifications for marijuana as a Class I drug per the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency. DEA regulations under Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 1301 specify that, in the instance of small amounts of the drug permit, a security safe or steel cabinet may be used. The safe or cabinet must provide;
- 30 man -minutes against surreptitious entry
- 10 man-minutes against forced entry
- 20 man-hours against lock manipulation
- 20 man-hours against radiological techniques
The Code also states that if a safe or steel cabinet weighs less than 750 lbs., it must be bolted or cemented to the floor in such a way that it cannot be removed. Depending on the quantity and type of the substance(s) being stored, the safe or cabinet must be equipped with an alarm system which, upon attempted break-in, shall transmit a signal directly to a central protection company or State police agency which has a legal duty to respond, or a 24-hour control station operated by the registrant, or such other protection. In some cases this may be a GSA Approved Class V safe or a TL-15 or TL-30 rated safe.
Many of the vendors and sellers of marijuana will fall under the classification of “Mid-Level Practitioner.” As defined in Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1300 – Definitions a “Mid-Level Practitioner is; “an individual practitioner, other than physician, dentist, veterinarian, or podiatrist, who is licensed, registered or otherwise permitted by the United States or the jurisdiction in which he or she practices, to dispense a controlled substance in the course of a professional practice.”
As of December or 2012, the state of Michigan had 122,349 residents who were being prescribed treatment under the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act.