Michigan State Police Face Improper Marijuana Reporting Class Action

A Michigan federal judge heard arguments this week in a class action lawsuit filed by registered medical marijuana patients and caregivers who say the Michigan State Police crime labs current marijuana reporting policy violates their Fourth Amendment rights.

The federal class action lawsuit filed in June alleges that the marijuana policy written in 2013 was designed to intentionally “strip medical marijuana patients of their rights and immunities, charge or threaten to charge citizens with greater crimes than they might have committed, obtain plea deals and increase proceeds from drug forfeiture.”

According to the complaint, this practice basically comes from a lab policy instructing the Michigan State Police crime lab techs to treat all THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) as synthetic when not 100 percent certain it originates from a plant.

Per Michigan law, individuals who are accused of manufacturing or selling synthetic THC or marijuana can face criminal charges that are far more serious than those accused of producing or selling marijuana grown as a plant.

“These deprivations result from the Michigan State Police Forensic Science Division intentionally misrepresenting test results regarding marijuana, at the behest of the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan and other law enforcement agencies, to support the charging of felonies when none occurred,” the lawsuit states.

In bringing the class action lawsuit, plaintiffs Brandon Shoebe, a licensed medical marijuana caregiver, Maxwell Lorincz, a medical marijuana patient, and Jason Poe, also a licensed medical marijuana patient among others contend that because science is not actually used in determining whether THC is synthetic or plant derived, it is not only unfair to plaintiffs but is equal to falsifying results.

The plaintiffs all feel they have been unfairly charged for allegedly possessing marijuana that was synthetic; they also claim the marijuana was plant derived.

Specifically, they allege that the marijuana reporting policy makes it possible for prosecutors to bring charges against plaintiffs that are far more severe, often felonies instead of what would have been a misdemeanor charge had the marijuana been classified as derived from a plant, rather than synthetic.

They say that Michigan State Police crime labs, in conjunction with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Dept. and Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan misreport “marijuana oils and edibles as synthetic” and as having “unknown origins” and do so intentionally.

“The problem is, the way that the Oakland County lab and the Michigan State Forensic Science Division is reporting still would allow for arrests, still would allow for these patients and caregivers to not have immunity because they’re reporting it as something other than marijuana,” said Michael Komorn, the plaintiffs’ attorney, told Fox 17 News. “And the law enforcement community, as far as we know, is still arresting people for possessing these substances.”

News reports say the lawsuit would directly impact anyone caught with marijuana in the state, along with about 180,000 medical marijuana patients who are registered.

Chief Judge Denise Page Hood told the parties she would issue an opinion and decision on whether the current marijuana reporting policies violate the plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment and due process rights.

The plaintiffs are represented by Michael Komorn of the Law Office of Michael A. Komorn and Timothy A. Daniels of Figari + Davenport LLP.

The Michigan Marijuana Reporting Class Action Lawsuit is Lorincz, et al. v. Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue, et al., Case No. 2:16-cv-12290, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Detroit Division.