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• On the Blog Post 'Hey Mommy, Pass the Bong!' How MI's Medical Marijuana Law Gives 'Extra Protection' to Parental Custody & Parenting Time Rights

  Bob Townsend

  12:01 pm on Sunday, March 18, 2012

  The gateway theory is nonsense, and everyone other than those with a vesting interest in demonizing marijuana (like law enforcement, NIDA, and you) knows it.

  If, and that is a big if, you are who you say you are, your best bet here is good parenting and burying the hatchet with your ex so he starts listening to you about your concerns. If that is not possible, and it may not be, then get some evidence and work it through the courts.

  People cannot 'hide' behind the MMMA, the courts regularly throw out the ability to use the defense with the slightest error (such as not locking the front door to the house). If you have a case, do the work, get the evidence, and make it in family court.

  Otherwise it is too easy to dismiss your 'story' as the work of a vindictive ex spouse or a plant by those seeking to overturn this very useful law.

  Now if you will excuse me, I am in Marquette getting ready to see patients. Most are over 50 (the average age is 51 in my practice), they have clearly documented conditions, and prefer this to the narcotics and surgeries offered by their 'regular' doctors.

  Not one of them is going to try and get their grand kids high, or go on to crack. But some may be denied regular medical care by their 'regular' doctors because they made this choice, so they are not making it lightly.

  Dr. Bob

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• On the Blog Post 'Hey Mommy, Pass the Bong!' How MI's Medical Marijuana Law Gives 'Extra Protection' to Parental Custody & Parenting Time Rights

  Bob Townsend

  11:51 am on Sunday, March 18, 2012

  Ok, so let me see if this is clear. You and your ex are not having a good divorce. You heard a 'report' that the children got MMJ brownies while with him and wanted to run with it. The lab reports did not confirm the ingestion (carboxy thc stays in the system for 30 or more days) so DSS rightly told you there was no evidence for them to determine there was endangerment. Your lawyer told you the same thing.

  But that wasn't the result you wanted, so you decided to 'fight it out' in the media, using a very useful medication as the devil. You claim he got the card for inability to sleep and snuck in the comment about his lack of work. That is not a qualifying condition. So the story breaks down there as well, just to keep the lack of laboratory evidence despite a 'massive' ingestion of this relatively harmless substance.

  Then for good measure, you add the 'gateway' theory almost as an afterthought, again to try and promote your claim of child endangerment despite the negative investigation of DSS and the advice of your attorney.

  The picture you wish to paint here is that anyone can get a card for anything and that endangers children, both short term and in the long run as they inevitably move on to 'real' drugs of abuse like heroin or meth.

  My apologies, but I really am having a hard time following you. Again, my advice is to hug your kids, thank God it was marijuana and not vicodin, and work through your attorney, not the media, and make your case.

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• On the Blog Post 'Hey Mommy, Pass the Bong!' How MI's Medical Marijuana Law Gives 'Extra Protection' to Parental Custody & Parenting Time Rights

  Bob Townsend

  4:37 pm on Saturday, March 10, 2012

  Really MI Mom?

  You are obviously not very familiar with the MMMA. The MERE fact a parent has a card cannot be used in custody decisions, or visitations, but actual endangerment is. Clearly allowing a child to ingest marijuana is careless, just as with any other medication. That is your case, not the fact that it was marijuana. With marijuana, the child slept late and you didn't even notice it until weeks later when someone told you. Had he been taking vicodin for his pain instead of marijuana, you might well be planning a funeral.

  As it is, hug your child and thank God it turned out the way it did. Call your lawyer and make your case.

  I sleep VERY well at night, knowing I help reduce the use of narcotics (and perhaps prevented a tragedy) and improve the quality of patient's lives. Marijuana as a gateway drug? This has been disproven time and again but angry people, who lack a better argument, continue to bring it up. For the record, vicodin and other prescription narcotics are the gateway to heroin, not marijuana.

  Direct your anger in a positive direction, not against a medication that helps many in Michigan. Perhaps your ex husband isn't the poster child, but again, had he not had marijuana, it might well have been vicodin. Now hug your child again and count your blessings as you call your attorney.

  Dr. Bob
  PS, still waiting for that debate.

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