On March 20th, 2012 the Michigan Court of Appeals decided the case of People v. Anthony Orlando II, 2012 Mich. App. LEXIS 568 and held that an individual must have physically seen a physician and received the proper physician statement prior to the commission of an offense for which the Medical Marijuana Act (MMMA) may be used as a defense.
Section 8 of the MMMA, MCL § 33.26428, provides an affirmative defense that will only be presumed valid if the defendant has seen a physician and received a physicians statement before the commission of the offense. In this case there was no physician seen prior to the offense, ultimately leading to this decision in People v. Anthony Orlando II, 2012 Mich. App. LEXIS 568.
