People v. Hartwick

The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (MMMA) created an exception to Michigan’s prohibition on marijuana use and possession by allowing individuals suffering from serious or debilitating medical conditions to use marijuana for medical purposes. The law contained a provision immunizing qualifying individuals from prosecution if they complied with the MMMA’s requirements. Richard L. Hartwick (defendant) was charged with manufacture of marijuana and possession of marijuana with the intent to deliver after police found 77 live marijuana plants in Hartwick’s home. Hartwick, who possessed a medical-marijuana registry card, moved to dismiss the charges. Hartwick claimed that he was the caregiver for five additional medical-marijuana patients and that he was entitled to immunity from prosecution under the MMMA. At trial, Hartwick could not identify two of his patients’ purported debilitating conditions; he knew neither the amount of marijuana any of his patients were supposed to use nor the duration of the patients’ treatments; and he did not know the names of any of his patients’ doctors. The trial court denied Hartwick’s motion to dismiss, finding that the State of Michigan (the state) (plaintiff) had rebutted Hartwick’s MMMA presumption of immunity because it had shown that Hartwick was not providing marijuana to his purported patients for medical purposes. Hartwick appealed.