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Medical marijuana has turned into a windfall for the state of Michigan. Applications brought in $10 million last year, but not everyone is a fan.
Voters legalized medical marijuana in 2008. It was promoted as an initiative to help the critically ill, but Cass and Berrien county prosecutors say voters were fooled.
Medical marijuana is supposed to help patients suffering from severe illness, but does it? Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz says a large percentage of legal users are between the ages of 18 and 29.
"Those are not the sickest people in our society, those are not the people dying from cancer, those are not the people suffering from glaucoma,” said Fitz. “Those are people getting marijuana cards because and just cutting to the chase – want to use it recreationally.”
The number of AIDS and HIV patients using medical marijuana in 2012 stood at about 310 statewide. The number of people who used the drug for severe and chronic pain was just over 45,000.
"Over 80% of it is for vague things like back pain, muscle spasms, things that were not what the voters intended for the use of medical marijuana," Fitz said.
"I would say that to the best of my knowledge everybody that I gave medical marijuana to was helped by it," said Dr. Dennis Padla.
Padla only prescribes the drug to patients older than 21 and he monitors their prognoses.
"There's definitely a benefit in the right population,” he said. “However, it can be abused and it needs close monitoring by doctors that need to be ethical, and I believe for the most part they are.”
Fitz says there are a few that aren't. About 125,000 Michigan citizens have medical marijuana cards. The state population is 9.8 million. Canada has more than three times as many people, but just 26,000 legal users.
Since medical marijuana was approved about four years ago, Fitz says he actually hasn't seen an increase in the number of cases involving the drug.
Over in Berrien County, the prosecutor there says a large number of the marijuana cases he's seen involve the medical marijuana cards.