Get out of jail free
Anyone who’s played Monopoly knows the importance of having a “Get Out of Jail Free” card in their pocket. If a physician friend of mine is right, some Michigan teens have something similar stuffed in their wallets and purses.
The doctor and his colleagues have seen an influx of parents coming in with their teen sons and daughters. Their teens are suffering back pain, or headaches, or nausea, the parents say, and they believe their child needs medical marijuana to cure their maladies.
The certifications are less a cure than an insurance policy, my physician friend said, intended to keep teens out of trouble if they are caught with pot. If a police officer pulls over a car on a Friday night and smells a certain weedy substance, the teen can pull out his or her medical marijuana registry ID.
I very much doubt that families taking advantage of the state's loose medical marijuana law want their kids to smoke pot, or even expect them to. Instead, it’s seen as a way to help their kids avoid a criminal record for a stupid teen-age mistake.
I’m not sure that justifies twisting the law like a pretzel.
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